Borderers show pride in their district

Top players from both countries displayed their talents, giving the less experienced lessons in composure, skill, court coverage and brain play.

Being from a small area and having a relatively smaller pool of players than other districts, the Borders team always starts as underdogs, but take pride in the fact that they do not link up with neighbouring districts to enhance their chances of doing better.

Eventual winners West of Scotland take in Rothsay, Glasgow and Ayrshire, so they had many of the top Scottish players in their team, which is why it was all the more sweet when Linsey Young (Kelso) took their second seed scalp. Scottish development squad and ASP player Robbie Patterson (Eyemouth) took their top player to an exciting three-setter.

Despite losing to a much more evenly-matched Lanarkshire side, the girls Scottish development squad and ASP player Annabel Young (Peebles), Lizzie Edmondson (Eyemouth) and Linsey took all three singles, while Lizzie teamed up with Berwickshire High’s Leona Rhind to take the third girls’ doubles.

Against Lothian the top two boys did very well to take the first seed doubles game, where Robbie teamed up with Kelso’s Fraser Young before stamping his authority to take the top singles game.

In the Cheshire game, the Borders outfit had four three-setter games and managed to take two of them.

The second day matches were a bit more evenly matched again, with the Borders losing out to Cumbria (6-9) and Northumberland (6-9), but with respectable scores in all three boys’ singles and David McLeish (Peebles) winning his.

The team, who are supported by both Roxburgh and Berwickshire Sports Councils, was joined for the first time by Rowan Stanforth (Berwickshire HS) and Alex Young (Peebles) who both did really well in their first ever representative tournament. Mentions also to Rory Shaw (Peebles) and Rachel Scott and Katie ‘Skip’ Ross (Berwickshire HS) for their sterling efforts over the weekend.

The next venture for the Borders sides is the Scottish Schools Secondary Championships on Saturday and then the primary inter-area tournament on March 16.