BUCS Individuals 2017
Having departed Oxford at varying times, all the members of OUTTC arrived safe and well at Nottingham for a fierce BUCS Individuals showdown! With record numbers of 16 players, we were ready to put our new training scheme in to practice and show the country that we’re a force to be reckoned with. Throughout the weekend our team spirit was strong. Every match was allocated a coach and those who weren’t playing were conscientious in their support. For sure we were the loudest club there even without Sonia’s penetrating ‘Tsa!’s . By the end of an exhausting first day all the ladies made it through to either the last 64 or the plate competition, with the men following suit, requiring matches from everyone again on the second day. Back to the hotel for pizza!
The morning of day 2 rolled around far too rapidly and we returned to the sports hall to fight another day. Double competitions and the next rounds of the singles kicked off rapidly and before we knew it only our captains and Pan remained in the competition. Danii danced through her rounds in the plate competition until being beaten out narrowly by the runner up. Turning to the singles, Ali played an absolute stormer to earn herself a place in the final 32. Sadly the Mens’ competitions ended here as they all lost their 64-round matches. With most people now cheering rather than playing the momentum was with our remaining players. Ali’s round 32 match was against 4th seed Yolanda King and from the start Ali had her worried. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough to breakthrough Yolanda’s defences and Ali’s campaign finished. After an impressive performance from we stayed to watch the finals which proved to be divisive and really interesting.
All in all, the new training programme appeared to be a success with many players overcoming challenges they’d been battling with for years and notably better shot executions. OUTTC certainly made their mark on BUCS Individuals 2017 with our player of the competition, Ali, heading up the team. Mens’ captain, Abe, put his writing skills to good use and instead of composing this report chose instead to give everyone nicknames for their notable events. Huge thank you’s go out to the drivers for the tournament; Danii, Jason and Louise.
Report by: Louise Todd (President 2017-2018)
