This past Friday morning, 7 February, Union High School’s Top 4 senior boys’ and girls’ tennis players set off for the Van Niekerk and Koen Tennis Tournament in Burgersdorp.
Over the two days that followed, the team faced off against competitors from Middelburg, Burgersdorp, De Aar, Cradock and Hoërskool Jim Fouché.
𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘴.
Upon arrival, the team was relieved to find the courts completely dry. Double and mixed doubles matches commenced almost immediately.
𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴, 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟯𝟳-𝟭𝟵.
The players showcased remarkable stamina, achieving four more wins against Burgersdorp (40-16), Jim Fouché (32-24) and Cradock (35-21).
Unfortunately, the competition proved tough against De Aar, resulting in a loss of 24-32.
𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 18:00.
The next morning, the players were once again relieved to find that the courts were dry enough for matches to start at 07:30. The boys had two remaining doubles matches against the second teams of Burgersdorp and Jim Fouché. They triumphed over Burgersdorp, winning 12-2, but faced defeat against Jim Fouché, losing 5-9.
𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 185 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 308 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥.
This achievement earned them a spot in the semi-finals, where they faced Jim Fouché again. Unfortunately, Union lost this round by a narrow margin of eight games. However, due to their strong performance in the previous day’s matches, they advanced to the final round against De Aar.
The players had to start their matches immediately without a warm-up, which, combined with high stress levels, led to poor decision-making and unnecessary mistakes. De Aar ultimately claimed the trophy, winning four out of the six matches played in the final round.
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿.
