Worcester U19 Bronze – Matt Bickerton
Worcester u19 bronze – 19 January 2019
I came into the Worcester U19 tournament unseeded but that didn’t stop me from giving it my all, my first matches were in my box although my first opponent fought well I managed to secure the first win 21-10 21-12. My next opponent was good and I found it hard to find my rhythm, but after a long match I managed to scramble back the win 21-18 21-18 after being down at 11 in both sets. That was it I was out of my box, first round match was against a tricky one he had a slightly unorthodox technique and had practiced his trick shots which was annoying because everything I threw at him seemed to come back but after a tiring match I managed to take this game in 2 sets 21-17 21-18, through to the quarters, this opponent had beaten the 3rd seed in his box so I knew this would be a tough match, it started a bit rough but eventually I finally found my rhythm and got into this game and my opponent rallied well but I took this game 21-14 21-11. I was now through to the semis and had the second seed to play against, a familiar face as I play many of the same tournaments as he did and we knew each other and this match could go either way, I got of to a brilliant start I was playing on point and took the first set 21-10, I got off too a good start in the second set but after a long day of playing fatigue started to set in and I could feel myself starting to tire, I played well but he played better in this second set and I lost 21-17. This third set I knew I would have to pull my socks up if I was to win, we both got off to a good start fighting for each point and half way it was 11-10 to me, both were tired, we rallied out the next points both winning few points then the other catching up, it was 19-17 to him I knew I would have to try to find the last bit of energy and managed to pull it back to 19-19 unfortunately today wasn’t my day and through battling a three setter he won the next two points, and then later on went on to become the winner of the Worcester U19 Bronze. Even if I didn’t win I’ll learn from this and come back stronger for the next one.
Results from the Worcester U19 can be found HERE.
