Tennis is all the Rage at Balby Academy of Sport
Monday 24th May 2010
 After weeks of practice the first fixture of the season had arrived. Mr Dodd had opened the courts at 7:45am before school as well as dinner-time and after school clubs which ran until 4:30pm in the build up to the fixture. Mr Dodd and Mr Lewis were quietly confident that the team had adequate preparation for their first away fixture of the season. The year 7’s consisting of Jack Beaumont, Rhys Smith, Korey Cornish and Carl Kenny had spent the previous weeks pocket money on purchasing new rackets for the upcoming fixtures. The year 8 & 9 fixtures solely compromised of year 8 students who were Ricky Wright, Luke Lowther, Luke Taylor, Josh Marshall, Lewis Towler, Rhys Lilley, Taurai Mavhuru & Lewis Mailey.
As the team arrived at Rossington the first thing that left them in awe was the sheer amount of tennis balls on the courts. They were used to one per court due to the large amounts lost over the fence. The students after a little practice began to get their first fixtures underway with 2 year 7 fixtures and 2 year 8 fixtures. The standard of tennis on the courts from the Balby Carr students especially was outstanding. People watching from the outside could not believe that this was their first fixture and it showed that the hours of practice was paying dividends. Cornish & Kenny were playing some outstanding shots which had their opponents running all over the court. The highlight was watching them ‘touch rackets’ after every point won just like the pros. The other year 7 fixture consisted of Beaumont & Smith who played as a fantastic back court and front court pairing even if Jack did complain that Rhys got all the plaudits for one shot after he had played 10 strokes from the back of the court.
 The year 8 squad consisted of the two pairings of Lewis Towler & Rhys Lilley as well as Taurai Mavhuru & Lewis Mailey. The first pairing started off in style and soon raced into a quick lead with both playing some extraordinary shots. Rhys was loving his new racket courtesy of Mr Dodd and he was determined not to let him down with a poor performance. In their two games the performances were exceptional with one Rossington student coming up and saying’ Wow that little lads a right player’ referring to Rhys Lilley. The second pairing was Taurai Mavhuru & Lewis Mailey who had been thrown together at the last minute after having no practice. This though was not evident in the games as they soon built up an exceptional understanding which made working together so much easier.
Due to a lack of year 9’s the year 9 squad consisted of two year 8 doubles pairings which were Ricky Wright & Luke Lowther and Luke Taylor & Josh Marshall. The first pairing included the captain Ricky Wright who gave an inspirational team-talk to Luke before the game as he was determined to start off with a win. As they were warming up they realised that the opposition had a girl in their side. During the game Mr Dodd & Mr Lewis had never heard Ricky be so quiet the usually vociferous Ricky was on his best behaviour in the hope of impressing the opposition. Luke though was determined to be victorious his net play especially was top quality. The final year 9 pair was Luke Taylor and Josh Marshall whose first words were ‘O no were not playing for year 9 are we sir?’ They were and their performances fully justified being selected for the year above. Despite playing against the year above they demonstrated fantastic Balby Carr spirit and determination to help the team to a comprehensive 10-2 victory in their 1st ever school tennis match
 Overall Balby Carr 10 Rossington 2
Year 7 Balby Carr 3 Rossington 1
Jack Beaumont & Rhys Smith- Lost 6-5 & Won 6-0
Korey Cornish & Carl Kenny- Won 6-4 & Won 6-2
Year 8 Balby Carr 4 Rossington 0
Rhys Lilley & Lewis Towler- Won 6-3 & Won 6-4
Lewis Mailey & Taurai Mavhuru- Won 6-5 & Won 6-3
Year 9 Balby Carr 3 Rossington 1
Josh Marshall & Luke Taylor- Lost 6-3 & Won 6-5
Luke Lowther & Ricky Wright- Won 6-1 & Won 6-1
Overall a fantastic result and performance from the lads and a massive well done.
Mr Dodd & Mr Lewis
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