Burton junior Steven McHale recorded a fantastic victory in the Staffordshire 10U tournament held recently. 

Partnered with Josh from Tipton Tebnis Club in this closed competition (open only to Staffordshire players), Steven and Josh played four matches in the tournament: the first was relatively easy and they won 4-1;4-1

The second match was more tricky, not least because Steven was playing against fellow club player and friend, Sibi Jothikumar, but also because the points were much longer, with Steven and his partner eventually winning 4-2;4-3. After taking the third round 4-2;4-2 the pair progressed to the final.

An excited Steven revealed that in the final the pair: "had a tactic, which I can't say as it's top- secret! We knew it was the final so we went on court and we got switched on. The first set was quite easy (4-1) but they were long points. The second set also had long rallies but we won that 4-1 again and the trophy was ours!"

Steven's coach, Alison Smith, is delighted with Steven's success: "Steven is a great little player who works very hard. He and Josh thoroughly deserved their win and I'm very confident we'll see a lot more success from this very talented young man in the future."

For his part, Steven is thrilled with his victory, and, in a very sportsmanlike way, paid tribute to  his young partner's role in his success saying: "Winning the County Doubles title is such a great feeling, but I couldn't have done it without Josh! "