ECF U18/U13/U13 Girls Championship - 28th February 2009, HeanorThis year, Sussex fielded not only U18 & U13 teams, but an U13 Girls team as well, and all teams aquitted themselves very well against very tough competition. The U18s battled well and finished mid-table with a score of 10.5 out of 24. A good day for the U13s and U13 Girls - both finishing second.
U18 Team: U13 Team: U13 Girls Team: My alarm went off at 05:15 … not a good start to the day! I imagine there were other tired parents and teenagers being dragged out of bed similarly early across the county, but all 3 teams duly arrived at Handcross in good time and we set off by coach just after 7am. The girls had bagged the back seats and conversation was in full flow for the next 3 and a quarter hours as we made our way to Heanor. The boys seemed to prefer playing electronic games and shouting to each other from time to time. Last year we arrived late at the venue and everything was ready to start; we were not popular with the organisers. This year we arrived early and, of course, things were nowhere near ready to start - it seems a couple of helpers had dropped out on the day. Myself and other team captains were roped into helping set-up and finally the U18s started about 20 mins late. The U13s in another hall were not so lucky – chaos ensued with the parings being labelled incorrectly – for a moment it seemed Robert Fitzgerald would be playing a simultaneous as his player code appeared on 2 different boards! As for the chess, all the players put in a great effort against really tough opposition. The U18s scored creditably, particularly given they were heavily outgraded on most boards. Congratulations to David Grant and Sam Aggarwal (an under 11) who scored maximums on boards 2 and 6 respectively. Special mention to last minute sub Matt Burch, who had given up his favourite activity to play (his only consolation was England lost in the rugby to Ireland and so he didn't have to suffer actually watching it happen!). The super-strong U13s were up against an equally strong Kent side and the jamboree system is a bit of lottery in these situations. Kent and Sussex easily triumped over everyone else, but Kent edged us in the 2 individual games where players from the 2 counties met - this was basically the difference between coming 1st and 2nd. The girl’s faced 4 tough rounds against a higher-rated Kent side and did really well. They drew the first round and competed well in the other 3 scoring 9.5 points in total, led superbly by Amy Hoare. Thanks to … • Andy Payne and Sharon Watkinson for getting the teams together
(and Sharon for the captaincy of the U13 Girls)
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