The process for the National finals starts quite early on in the year, with a lot of qualifying matches being played in the summer term. As we continued to win our matches we finally ended up qualifying for the finals in Bolton. From hundreds of schools at the beginning we had reached the last four. Including myself, the players who travelled up were Hannah Davies, Alicia Williams, Emily Thomas and Pippa Chatikavanij. Kate Warne-Holland and Joe Dewhurst were the coaches who took us up to Bolton and helped guide and encourage us all throughout the weekend.

The first day the nerves were already running high but we got a solid 12-0 win against Wilmslow High School. This then gave us the confidence that we really needed and helped settle a few of the nerves. The next match was closer with an 8-4 win against Kirkham Grammar School and meant a meeting with Culford in the final.

On that Sunday, we all woke up raring to go as this was the chance that we had been waiting for to get a national title with Millfield girls having not won it for the past several years. Yet again everybody was on edge, but we all concentrated into playing the best that we could in order to give ourselves the best possible chance of winning. We started off with a win in number two doubles and a loss in number one. With Emily and Alicia wining their singles it meant that we took a commanding lead.

Finally, my match came and we took the title after I managed to take a 7-5 win. Hannah Davies, even though she had a dead rubber match, she performed really well and conducted herself with great sportsmanship but sadly lost 6-3.Nevertheless, it meant that we won the match against Culford 8-4 in rubbers and the title was ours. All the girls and the coaches were overjoyed and overwhelmed with the accomplishment that had just happened.

All of the girls really performed to their maximum potential during these two days which lead to us taking the title. A special mention to Emily Thomas who had the best win to loss ratio of games out of all the girls who played the tournament, with her ratio being 36 wins to 3 games lost. Yet again a big congratulations to all the girls involved for how well they played and their good sportsmanship throughout the tournament. Also, a big thank you to Kate and Joe for taking us to Bolton and their continued dedication to our development as players and as people.

By Odette Beagrie