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Super 8 Tennis Report 2011

The 2011 tournament was held in New Plymouth this year and despite a lengthy drive over (largely due to some dodgy travel advice in Feilding) the team arrived safely on Thursday night eager to compete over the next three days for Tennis glory.  Disappointingly two of the Super 8 teams (Gisborne and Rotorua) could not make this year’s event, meaning a “B” and “C” team from New Plymouth Boys’ High School were entered to make up the numbers.

HBHS kicked off their campaign against Hamilton Boys’ (eventual winners of the tournament) and while we were competitive could not match their level of experience across the board, losing all four singles and two doubles matches. This result unfortunately, was repeated throughout the following two fixtures as our small and comparatively less experienced team came up against stern competitors from Napier and New Plymouth “A”.  Special mention goes to Stefen Kitching-Nicholson who played some fantastic shots against some of leading national players, and also Jake Vesty, a late inclusion in the team, who quickly became a crowd favourite with his unique style of “slicing” the ball with such audaciousness he was promptly dubbed “The Jedi” for the remainder of the tournament.

HBHS were then pitted against the New Plymouth “B” and “C” teams, and this was a far more equal contest; Lance Knauf convincingly won his 2nd fixture 6-0, 6-0 which was a highlight and on the last day of play we secured five of six matches. The overall placing was 7th which, though out of 6 schools that showed up, gave no indication of the passion, sportsmanship and commitment that the four HBHS students displayed over the three day tournament. The team entered the bus on Sunday tired but with their spirit intact, and as a young team many valuable lessons were learned in preparation for a more robust campaign in 2012.

Mr Jon Greer (Manager)