My IRC Experience – Toby Tapp
Following the Inter Regional Championships, we asked a couple of our representatives about their experience. This time we focus on Toby Tapp (SWVA no. 7)
It was good to play against people from my age group, as I am usually the youngest person in the local league. On the first day of the tournament we won our games against West Midlands, East and East Midlands. With a very long team meeting that night, delivered by our Coaches Jurek and Ben we went into the final day feeling good about ourselves.
Our first game on Monday was against the winners of this years tournament, South East. It was a very closely fought game with us just losing out in the final set. Then we played London, which were the favourites, having been completely destroyed by them losing in straight sets, we then had to play South East in the semi-final.
The momentum swung our way in the first set giving us a 1-0 lead. We then lost our ways in the second set, making it 1-1. The final-set saw us having a match point at 14-13 however we were unable to finish the match off and it ended 18-16 to South East.
This then put us in the third-fourth play-offs against East. Although we previously beat them we had lost our touch and finished fourth out of six.
A short video from the U15 Boys Semi-final
Video Player
Download – view in HD: IRC 2015
The accommodation we stayed in was only a few minutes from the venue and with the restaurant a couple steps from the reception it was very convenient. We also had a squad of only 8 so I was only off for a total of 1 set maximum, which was very good for me. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience and hope to get into the under 17’s squad next year.
Toby.