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 Hoรซrskool Jim Fouchรฉ.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด.
Upon arrival, the team was relieved to find the courts completely dry. Double and mixed doubles matches commenced almost immediately.
๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ ๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐ด, ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ณ-๐ญ๐ต.
The players showcased remarkable stamina, achieving four more wins against Burgersdorp (40-16), Jim Fouchรฉ (32-24) and Cradock (35-21).
Unfortunately, the competition proved tough against De Aar, resulting in a loss of 24-32.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ 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 Fouchรฉ. They triumphed over Burgersdorp, winning 12-2, but faced defeat against Jim Fouchรฉ, losing 5-9.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง 185 ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง 308 ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
This achievement earned them a spot in the semi-finals, where they faced Jim Fouchรฉ 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.
๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ.
