Page 37 - OO_2018

It was a beautiful, sunny day with no wind or rain, quite unlike normal Saturdays in Oundle! The match took place the day after the OO Sports Lunch, leading to Arthur taking a little time to warm up and Al turning up late, sporting a UDI (unexplained drinking injury!), which he claimed was due to a collision with a pavement the evening before.
The School looked ominously good, especially the first pair. After going down 3-1 in the first round, we swapped our pairs around, so that Jason and Lucas, Arthur and Spencer, and Al and Tom respectively paired up, leaving me with the luxury of being carried by Ed, who was supported by his wife and adorable puppy. This brought things back to an even keel, with the next two rounds of matches each being split 2-2, leaving the score 7-5 after three rounds.
We managed to win the final round 3-1, Ed beating the School’s first pair while I stood at the net admiring the standard of tennis! The match therefore ended 8-8. We opted against a sudden-death play-off, but most of the OOs stayed on for another set among ourselves. A fine result, with Jason winning all his matches with the considerable assistance of Lucas, who is a genuinely classy player.
After the success of last year, we repeated the evening of tennis at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London on 21st June. At one stage, we had 20 down to play. Sadly, but inevitably, we had a few late drop-outs due to work, call-ups to play for club teams and other unexpected events (including man flu in June for heaven’s sake!). As with last year, we discovered a number of new OO tennis players. We had all three courts to ourselves for three hours and we caught the beginning of the glorious hot weather.
Ultimately, previous attendees Arthur Marment, Catherine Pelton (K 07), Al Goldingham and I were joined by eight first- timers for this event – Andrew Tobin (G 92), Mark Shephard (B 01), Ed Dyson (B 05), Jacky Yu, George Marment (B 12), Harry Evett (B 16), Thomas Lambton (B 16) and Ryan Cheng (Ldr 17).
The tennis was even better than last year, with the new players raising the standard quite a lot. The format was nine games a match and we occupied the courts for the whole three hours. Arthur’s habit of offering a running commentary throughout the games, along with his incredible sliced shots, was the undoing of many opponents, including me and Ryan in a humiliating 8-1 thrashing. It is enough to make one consider giving up tennis!
As usual, the tennis was accompanied by a beer or two at the local bar, followed by a few more at the Seven Stars. Almost everyone stayed on afterwards and we were joined at the Seven Stars by Sophie Walker (L 10), probably the best female tennis player the School has had, but sadly also a young solicitor for whom 6pm to 9pm is not a time her bosses think should be spent having a life. A good time was had by all. We will repeat it again next year, especially as it seems to unearth new players each year.
I continue to play every Wednesday morning at 7.30am in a group that includes Al and Mike Goldingham (Ldr 99). It is always a good way of spending an early morning, watching the pair of them rallying hard, only to attempt an intercept and volley the ball out!
A great year so far. The club seems to continue to grow and be in rude health, but more OO members are always welcome.
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