Page 54 - OO_2019

www Postins (Ldr 86) and Philip de Voil (G 86) also finished in the top 200, coming 150th and 177th respectively. Cory Flanagan (Sc 16) and four other Troubleshooters reached the second round of the Queen’s Match, which is our best representation for a while. It is hoped their performances will inspire other young OOs to enter this annual international competition.
If you are an OO rifle-shooter but not a member of the Troubleshooters and would like to join this great and sociable club that has at least three meetings a year, please contact either myself (hall.gpr@gmail.com) or David Habershon (Ldr 68) (habs8714@outlook.com). We are always welcoming new members.
TENNIS
By Lance Ashworth (G 82)
The first outing of 2019 for OO tennis players was at the Multisports Weekend in March. It started off wet and extremely windy, but luckily no one called up to cancel, given the forecast and the weather on the morning. We ended up with a strong team, especially on the female side, with sisters Nina (K 95) and Bella Rieck (K 05), Sophie Walker (L 10) and Bella Ellis (Sn 14) turning out. We got off to a relatively slow start, with our two ladies’ pairs losing narrowly and the Piper ‘boys’, Chris (Sc 71) and Angus (B 85) (not actually related), also being beaten. Fortunately, though, Chris Rees (B 85) and Jason Burgess (LS 83) got us on the scoreboard, so after the first round we were 1-3 down.
In the second round Jonathan Bach (Lx 75) and Andrew Tobin (G 92) lost somewhat surprisingly, but Sophie was guided by Arthur Marment (D 77) to a crushing victory, Jason and Bella Ellis were even more dominant, and Chris Rees and I also managed a victory, bringing the scores level at 4-4.
The third round was shared, with victories for Nina and Bella Rieck, along with Jason and me, while Andrew and Chris Rees were narrowly beaten – as were Chris Piper and Jonathan Bach, so it was still level pegging at 6-6.
In the fourth round the OOs pulled away 9-7 with victories for Bella Ellis and Jonathan, Sophie and Andrew, and Bella Rieck and Chris Piper. Arthur and Nina Rieck were unable to give us a clean sweep, being edged out in the final game.
The OOs continued to show no sympathy in the final round, which they also claimed 3-1, following victories for Jason and Chris Rees, the Rieck sisters and for me and Sophie. Only a defeat for Bella Ellis and Chris Piper prevented a clean sweep.
The OOs therefore took the match 12-8, yet again earning a point for the OOs in the Multisports Weekend. The secret to our success was once more Arthur’s breakfast and his wife, Vanessa’s, amazing brownies!
The following month the D’Abernon Cup took place at Stoke Park on 6th April, when Will Taylor (G 15) and Oscar Marshall (S 15) were deployed in an effort to improve on our performance of the previous two years and get out of the group stage for the first time.
The Troubleshooters’ 50th anniversary dinner in the Laxton Long Room
Everything looked promising in the warm-up, although Stowe seemed a little more at home in the picturesque Arcadian setting and Marshall promptly opened with a double-fault. “Start as you mean to go on,” he announced. Although this was followed up by a brilliant game, in which Taylor proved a formidable force at the net, the OO performance was not enough to outdo a series of superb aces from Stowe, who took the tiebreak 7-3.
Next up were Bradfield, represented by a daunting duo who had a few years and a lot of combined inches on our wee OOs. Nonetheless, the OOs put up an admirable fight, Marshall and Taylor stepping up to the challenge as a beautiful return from Marshall put the Bradfieldians firmly back in their place. The fourth game proved the best yet of the tournament, with a series of Bradfield shots successfully returned in a savage point. It all felt a lot less friendly than the Stowe match, though, and Bradfield’s serves proved too much in the end as they claimed the tiebreak 7-2.
The OOs then faced Harrow and in a nail-biting match Marshall and Taylor were kept on their toes by one of Harrow’s more senior players (who was definitely the most stylishly dressed on court). His younger teammate put up an honourable fight and the match saw some lovely, long rallies, culminating in the first OO success of the day.
The final tie saw the OOs facing their most formidable opponents yet. Everyone had been watching the Westminster pair in their other matches throughout the day, quietly in awe of their skill, and the younger of the two, who could not have been more than 19, was particularly intimidating. Whilst the OOs put in a commendable performance, it was never going to be enough to challenge the infinitely more professional Westminster duo. They went on to win the tournament as we again were unable to get out of the group stage.
Three weeks later, we returned to the School for the Staff & OOs versus School match. Not content with having wind and rain thrown at us in March, in April we were greeted by Storm Hannah! The day before, the OO Sports Lunch had taken place at Queen’s Club in London, where, buoyed by substantial amounts of red wine, I recruited Andrew Smith (B 79) and Nina Rieck to join us. Despite going on out to drink whisky, Andrew appeared, but at just before 11am Nina sent a text to
SPORT
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