"Haberdashers' was a lovely school, liberal yet disciplined; free-thinking - but they inspired you."
	Doug Watkinson, Script writer for TV detective series including Poirot and Midsomer Murders.

Under 13 team retain Nicola Mabbit Tennis Trophy

On Thursday 25th June, Habs were fully represented at all levels of competition at Queenswood School. The under 13, under 14 and under 15 teams had earned the right to be at the finals by winning the Watford District League in their respective age groups. Habs teams were joined on the day by the winners of the 3 other district competitions: St Albans, North Herts and South Herts. Even with the competition expected to be strong, hopes of a successful day were understandably high as all our teams had comprehensively won their leagues without losing a single match.

The under 15 IV of Charlie Rubin, Nick Mason, Oliver Rutherford and Freddie Ross played some excellent tennis throughout the afternoon, winning four out of their six sets. The two lost sets were both 5-6 reverses and these proved costly as they were eventually pipped to first place by Townsend.

Our under 14 VI were 1st pair Daniel  Rose and Daniel Kaye, together with Marc Rister, Nikhil Joshi, and Ed Almond rotating to make up pair 2. They faced their toughest match first and were beaten (5-6 and 1-6) by eventual winners Roundwood. The year 9 boys, although disappointed, demonstrated their outstanding team spirit by recovering extremely well from this defeat to win all their four remaining sets to finish runners-up.

It couldn’t have started any worse for the under 13’s as 1st pair Jacob Harris and Alfie Bambaji got thrashed 0-6 by Roundwood in their first set of the finals. However, Sam Kempner and Raaj Vadodaria steadied the ship by beating Roundwood’s 2nd pair 6-4. This excellent result spurred the team on to play their best tennis of the season and the boys were delighted to win and retain the Nicola Mabbit Trophy.

All of our boys have enjoyed the competition immensely, it was certainly a great time of the year to play in a tennis tournament and they deserve credit for the exceptional way they played the game and reacted to both victory and defeat.