On Sunday the 11th October our U13’s team took on the might of Cornwall and Dorset U13’s in Falmouth. Our team is probably one of the youngest U13 team’s in England, with the top 2 players still only 9 years of age! Despite the lack of age in our team, our kids showed grit, determination and some great skills to win both matches and progress to Stage 2 of the England Inter Counties tounament at the end of November. The team consisted of:

Billy ‘Wallbanger’ Whalley (Newton Abbot)
Ioan ‘Yo Yo’ Sharpe (Newton Abbot)
Max ‘Anchor’ Cockram (D&E)
Max ‘Chop Shot’ Bishop (Fort Stamford)
Seb ‘Enforcer’ Walker (Newton Abbot)
Toby ‘AWOL’ Roberts (Newton Abbot)

U13’s Coach/Sports Psychologist – Jon Sharpe
Team Manager/Kit Man – Matt Whalley
Travelling Support/Cheerleaders – Parents, Sisters and McDonalds staff
Devon Junior Section Coach/Cool Guy – Duncan Hefford

I would say that my favourite moment of the day had to be listening to the boys (without prompting) stating that winning as a team felt much better than winning as individuals. That being said, there were some fantastic individual performances from our little stars of the future. Regardless of how far we get this year, we’ll have at least another 2 years to make an impact in this age group with some great juniors waiting in the wings. We left cornwall with pride, smiles and some extra calories courtesy of our meal sponsor of the day, McDonalds.

Thank you to Cornwall Junior Squash for hosting a great tournament. There’s a rumour of a return match… this time with the dad’s battling it out alongside the boys. Fortunately, the dad’s in this Devon team know a few tricks!

Jon Sharpe