Our boys "Green" Under-10s team successfully won their final on Sunday (14th October) to be crowned 2007 Champions in the Hampshire & IOW Junior Club League. This victory makes it a "mini-tennis double" for RLTCC following our boys "Orange" Under-9s success in the same competition. After successfully coming through their Island group fixtures, Ryde Lawn Mowers were drawn at home against Winchester in the Semi Final stages of the County Under 10 Team event.
Playing for Ryde were Owen Todd (10) and Regan Matthews (9). The Winchester team was going to be tough fixture as they consisted of two players currently playing in the Hampshire performance invitational squads. However, this challenge seemed to inspire both Regan and Owen who both played some wonderful tennis to defeat the Winchester team 3 –2, winning the deciding doubles 6-1, after the match was level after the singles 2-2.
In the Final Ryde were drawn away against a very strong Lee-On-The Solent team, which meant all the players competing in the final have been involved in recent County performance sessions, so a close final was anticipated.
In the opening singles matches Owen and Regan played against there opposite numbers. Owen started brightly and soon built up an early lead with some excellent attacking tennis. He continued this form to take the first match 6-1. Regan on the other hand took a while to get going, sharing the first few games. However, he soon found his attacking form to storm through to take the match 6-2.
With Ryde 2-0 ahead they knew they only required one more rubber to become champions. Regan duly obliged with a comprehensive victory against Lee’s number one player, 6-1. Owen shortly followed with another fine performance winning his match 6-1. A comprehensive 5-0 victory was sealed when Michael Foulkes joined Owen to play the final doubles rubber, both played some superb controlled attacking tennis to win the final doubles 6-3, a result which crowned Ryde the 2007 Champions.