Team Manager’s Report
Well, it’s easy to know where to start this team manager write up.
Champions, winners, resilience, camaraderie, integrity, dignity, laughs, crys, enthusiasm, excitement, forged relationships forever.
These are just some of the words that describe an amazing weekend on and off the table, probably the best of my long career.
Started on Thursday for the 3 man seniors event that saw Kent Spitfires get to the quarter finals. The Friday saw the Seniors and Under 23s start and there was nothing spectacular in fairness that was going to set the trend of the weekend. Apart from aS comeback!! 14-8 down to Berkshire suddenly became 14-14 and Kent went into a 3 man play off, only to lose 2-1. So Berkshire went on to win the title instead of us!!
However, Friday and Saturday saw the As, Bs, ladies and Juniors enter their respective tournaments and from then on it was all the words described in my opening statement. All teams were there in the finals at the end in an atmosphere that was simply electric, given the comebacks that were evident in previous rounds.
Kent A made the final with a 23-21 win against a strong Essex team in the quarters with a certain Willie Anderson taking the final frame with a break and clearance. They then went on to the semi to play the mighty Berkshire but we matched them all the way to a 22-22 draw. That’s when the loudest cheer I have ever heard in pool happened. With Jasper Simmonds and Dave Fernandez snookered and looking like Berkshire could take the win both our players got out of the snooker, potted their last ball and perfectly set themselves on the black …. This happened almost at the same time so the crescendo of noise was incredible. In case you’ve not seen the video on Facebook it’s posted below, have a look and you’ll get the point. In the Final however, it was not to be this time, as Kent A lost 23 -21 to a significantly more experienced Leicester side, but a massive learning experience for our youngsters in the team.
The B team however had no such problems in their final as they marched to victory over Derbyshire, Ben Morgan potting the final black to start scenes of wild excitement in the room . But this was almost not the story as in the semi finals they delivered the comeback of all comebacks when they came through to win from being 19-11 down, astonishing fight back evidencing the team spirit of our all conquering B team. Congratulations you are all National Champions!!!!
Our Juniors came through the group and having watched some of their match against Somerset I am confident that the future of Kent pool is in safe hands. They came through their semi final with a solid win against Bedfordshire before succumbing to what must be said a more experienced and definitely older Leicester team. Talking of Juniors, I’d like to restart coaching sessions for the Juniors and will be looking for A, B and Ladies team players willing to support these in order that our Juniors improve and take 1st prize next year .
Our Ladies lost in their quarter final to Lancashire 23-20 and it was a close affair with Kent pulling back until the last couple of frames. It should be noted that Lancashire were not tested as much in either their semi or final winning 23-14. So Kent Ladies moved into the cup competition and went on to record 23-17 in quarters, 23-14 in the semi and 23-9 victory in the final to become champions. Again massive congratulations to our Kent Ladies .
So from my perspective there are so many positives to come from this weekend and we achieved great success across the board. We took the opportunity to get all of our winners on the stage afterwards and I think this demonstrates the strength we had in all categories. We will continue to build and progress our teams in order that we can continue with our dominance over the next few years. My voice box may just about recover before Sunday when we go again with Hampshire our opponents at home.
Best wishes
Wilbo