Tennis title decided by closest of contests!

Harston & Newton Primary School dominated the South Cambs School Sport Partnership Year 3/4 mini tennis event held at Melbourn Village College earlier this week winning both the ‘Cup’ and ‘Plate’ competitions for the second year running but it was a close run affair!

With an entry of 16 teams into the event the competition was split into a separate Cup and Plate competition with matches played over 8 mini courts and umpired by tennis leaders from Melbourn Village College. In both competitions schools played each other in a round robin format before competing in a play-off match to determine their finishing position.

Qualifying into the final of the ‘Cup’ competition were the teams of 2 boys and 2 girls from Harston & Newton and Haslingfield primary schools; with both teams having qualified for the county finals last year and Haslingfield current county champions and Harston & Newton runners up it was set up for a competitive and tense showdown. The final certainly didn’t disappoint with the two boys from Harston winning their matches to take them into a 2-0 lead only for the girls from Haslingfield to come back strong in their matches to level the match at 2-2. This meant the title had to be decided on the number of points won and it couldn’t have been closer with Harston winning 34 points to Haslingfields 33!! So it was Harston and Newton that claimed victory by the narrowest of margins.

Both schools now go through to the South Cambs Finals where they will take on the top 2 teams from the competition held at Comberton Village College on Weds 24th May, to determine the overall SSP Year 3/4 Mini Red Tennis Champions for 2017. The top two teams from the SSP Finals will then qualify to represent South Cambs SSP at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sainsbury’s School Games Summer Finals on Thursday 29th June in St Ives.

In the ‘Plate’ final Harston & Newton B took on Steeple Morden B in what was a competitive match but this time Harston & Newton were clear winners with victory in all four singles matches.

The ‘Spirit of the Games’ awards which recognises the team that has best demonstrated the sporting values of respect, determination, teamwork, honesty, passion and self-belief went to Castle Camps who were nominated for giving 100% effort in all of their matches and showing great respect for their opponents and the umpires. In the plate competition Steeple Morden C were picked out by the sports leaders as the Spirit of the Games winners for their teamwork and good sportsmanship.
Millie from Guilden Morden Primary School was also recognised for showing respect and honesty.

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager and organiser of the event said; “It was great to see so many children getting their first taste of competitive tennis, there were some really close and exciting matches that were all played in a lovely, friendly spirit.

Well done to all of the teams and children who took part and a big thank you to all of the sports leaders who did a fantastic job of scoring the games and helping the event run so smoothly.”

FULL RESULTS

Further photos can be seen on our Facebook page.