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Words: Brendan Carroll
The Letchworth Squad took on Norton & Baldock B, in our first match of the season, away at LTC - and, thankfully, it wasn't as cold in there as it could have been. Even so, the temperature did affect the flight of the shuttle, with a couple of players remarking on a loss of power and an altered shuttle flight. So, a slight home advantage then...
We arrived to find a few familiar faces, with the team very much the same as last year except for one new addition - Ash Mir. He made up one half of a formidable men's pairing, the other half being Graham Boar. Mike Trice informed me that Graham's, usually, ridiculous smash was "off", due to a shoulder injury. However, his back up smash was still dangerous! Simon and fought well with Ash and Graham, the latter duo pulling away quickly in the first game. Our boys caught up and then it was neck and neck for the rest of the set, N&B eventually taking it 21-17. The second game was level from the start, but finished the same way. I can't speak for them, but I'd say early nerves may have interfered with the lads' first match. Neither Simon nor Elon were playing as well as I've seen them play, but it was their first competitive match together - and they didn't let themselves down, taking both sets to 17.
Again, with two courts on it was difficult to concentrate on every match. Perhaps a third eye in the form of a video camera would be good! Liz and Jacqui had a tough game against Marilyn and Laura, who I've played against for three seasons now - and she just gets stronger every time. Our pair didn't play badly - it was just that their opponents played a better game. Jacqui said "It was our first match of the season and I think it showed, although it was also Norton and Baldock's first match of the season, and they didn't seem to have the same problems as us!" It has been pointed out the N&B are a more competitive club than we are and, as such, probably put more emphasis on working their match pairs more in club sessions. Something to think about perhaps.
Tina played with me, in our first match, against Mike and Cheryl - and I must say it definitely takes some of the pressure off when you have played against a person before. I know Mike can be dangerous, and so he was, pushing us all the way to the finish in both games. I managed to break my strings in the first five minutes of the match, but my spare worked just fine and Tina's superb net play gave us a 21-17, 23-21 victory. A very close, and very enjoyable, game.
Here again it became difficult to gauge what happened, because I was still playing my first match when our fourth was on, and then five and six went on together. N&B's mixed pairs were very strong; Graham and Laura beat Elon and Jacqui 21-11 & 21-10, while Ash and Cheryl overcame Simon and Tina with a 21-10 & 21-17 victory. I, as always, am fortunate to play against the same man in both matches, so I think I have a bit of a psychological advantage - one which Liz and I exploited to beat Mike and Marilyn 21-19, 21-18. Another close one! One rally in particular stands out, where I somehow ended up on the floor, played three shots on my knees, and then got up and we somehow won the point! As you can imagine I roared suitably loudly, after which Mike said "Brendan!" in a very stern voice - I thought he was going to tell me off for shouting. Instead he said, with a smile, "when you're down, STAY DOWN!!!" I apologised and we all had a good laugh, but stay down we didn't.
So a good performance from N&B meant that we start the year off with a 4-2 loss. Last year we lost 6-0 to them at home, so I think we've already had a better start. I know some of the team were disappointed, but one very important thing to bear in mind is that our team is about 60% BRAND NEW. Although I've played with Tina before, it's been a while - which means our only established pairs are Liz and Jacqui and my mixed pairing with Liz. A bit more practice and little more match experience and I think we'll be a match for anyone in the league. Watch this space.
