This year, Somerset played host to Group D of the U8 County Cup.

The event took place on Sunday 27th April at the Taunton Tennis Centre, and we were pleased to welcome teams from our neighbouring counties of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. The boy’s event took place in the morning, followed by the girl’s event in the afternoon.

We were fortunate to be in the position this year of entering two boy’s teams, giving 10 boys the opportunity to experience and play in the County Cup with 5 girls taking part in their respective event. The format for the U8 matches comprises of a team of 4, playing a total of 10 rubbers (8 singles / 2 doubles) against each team.

With 6 Boys teams entered, initial rounds were played in two pools of three. Our Boys A faced tough opposition in their first match playing Devon, and despite drawing 4 – 4 after the singles, we ultimately lost 6 – 4 following the Doubles. The Boys A however went on to defeat Dorset B team 9 – 1 in their second match placing them in the 3rd / 4th Play-off where they defeated Cornwall 9 – 1 to secure a 3rd place finish. 

Our first Boys B match was against Cornwall and despite some great individual battles the team lost 2 – 8. In their second match, against a very strong Dorset A, (the overall winners) we did not manage to secure a win despite fighting hard for every point. This meant that the Boys B entered the playoff for 5th / 6th where, in a very competitive match we ultimately lost 4-6 to Dorset B.

In the girl’s event, it was a straight ‘shoot out’ with all 4 counties having one team and playing a Round Robin Format. Our girls battled hard in all three of their matches showing some good determination and fighting spirit which resulted in us winning a few rubbers but unfortunately not winning any matches overall, we therefore finished in fourth place. A real positive though, is that three of this year’s girls squad are eligible to play U8 next year so they have gained some very valuable experience.

Aside from the results, we as the coaches left feeling extremely proud of the way our players conducted themselves. The way they performed on court and how they supported each other as a team was fantastic to see. Overall, the standard of our U8 teams has improved dramatically since we first got together in October, aided, to a large extent by many of the players participating in the newly formed U8 Red Dragon Tour, a series of tournaments supported by Somerset LTA. 11 of our 15 players competed regularly on the Tour and between them had played more than 200 matches prior to playing in the County Cup.

Finally, it remains for me to thank a few people. Firstly, to Taunton Tennis Centre for allowing us to host the event and to Parul Patel our referee for her huge efforts on the day keeping all of us (coaches and players) on track. Thanks too go to Henry Parks and Seb Perrier for coming along and assisting with the scoring for the U8’s, their assistance was greatly appreciated.

A big thanks also go to Jon and Sophie our assistant coaches who put in a lot of energy and enthusiasm all day long, making sure our players were in the right places at the right time and keeping all the players energised and enthused as they have done throughout all our U8 County Training sessions.

Lastly, I would like to say a very BIG thank you to all our players and the parents without whom none of this would be possible. The support and the camaraderie on the day was amazing, and hopefully players and parents alike will have benefitted from the County Cup experience.

Roll on the 2026 event!

Tim Seymour
U8 Somerset Lead Coach