Two titles for Gloucestershire padel teams at national event
By Heather Sheridan and Sally Pendry
Gloucestershire’s over-60s padel teams had a spectacularly successful weekend, winning the inaugural over-60s mixed and women’s pairs in the UK Padel County Championships at Rocket Padel in Bristol.
The teams were:
- Mixed Pairs: Sally Pendry (Captain), Dave Bradshaw, Gareth Jones, Heather Sheridan, Liz Sim, Louise Dalglish, Roger Bell, Tony Smith
- Women’s Pairs: Sally Pendry (Captain), Heather Sheridan, Liz Sim, Louise Dalglish, Sue Walsh
The mixed team battled through four matches to the final on Saturday evening, with plenty of scratch pairings and the late arrival of Gareth, who had travelled back from Spain that day to play the semi-final.
Gloucestershire were in group 2 with Yorkshire, Somerset and Sussex. Roger and Heather, and Sally and Dave, comfortably beat both Sussex and Somerset 2-0, which was enough to go through to the semi-final along with Yorkshire.
Resting Roger, Heather and Sally, who all had a men’s or women’s match to play too and at least one more mixed match in the semi-final and perhaps the mixed final too, Dave and Louise (Dave now powering through his third consecutive match with no break) and Tony and Liz, had a great win against Yorkshire ensuring we topped the group and would avoid playing Surrey in the semi-final.
On to the semi-final, where Roger and Heather, and Gareth and Liz, comfortably beat Suffolk 2-0, while Yorkshire were kept on court much longer by Surrey, only beating them in a champion’s tie-break.
And so, to the final, where we met Yorkshire again. Roger and Heather comfortably beat the Yorkshire 1st pair 6-1, 6-3. Gareth and Sally fought hard but lost to their strong second pair. At one match apiece, the championship would be decided by a ten-point championship tie-break, with the team comprised of one player from the first pair and one from the second. Heather & Gareth took on the Yorkshire pair for Gloucestershire.
Going 2-1 up, Gareth fell as both he and Heather went for the same volley (Glos won the point) and there was a moment of doubt that Gareth could continue. But all was well, and a few minutes later, we had a 10-6 win and a very happy team. We had won the championships! Time, then, to focus on the women’s pairs.
Gloucestershire were in group 2 along with Surrey, Suffolk and Sussex. With the mixed championships dominating the schedule on the Saturday, Gloucestershire had only one women’s match to play against Suffolk, which was played just before the mixed semi-final.
Fortunately, it was a straightforward 2-0 win for Sally and Louise, and Heather and Sue. On to Sunday where, after a late but very happy finish on Saturday evening, Heather and Sally were back on court at 9am against Surrey. Heather and Sally beat the 1st pair 6-3, 6-1, while Louise and Sue lost out to the 2nd pair. Heather and Louise lost a close champions tie-break 8-10.
Against Sussex, Sally and Louise, and Heather and Liz won comfortably 2-0. As group 2 runners-up we were through to the semi-finals to play the group 1 winners.
Against a Yorkshire team who were unfortunately struggling with injuries, Sally and Louise won in straight sets and Heather & Liz won 10-4 in the champion’s tie-break. Clever tactical pairings had won Gloucestershire the match 2-0. Surrey had a more comfortable win over Essex.
And so, to the final, where this time we met Surrey, who we had lost to at 9am that morning. Sally and Louise fought hard but went down in straight sets, while Heather and Liz, as the second pair, managed to clinch a 6-1, 6-4 win.
And so, like the mixed, the women’s pairs championships would be decided by a ten-point championship tie-break. Sally & Heather were very happy to take on the Surrey pair, racing to an 8-2 lead, eventually winning it 10-5. Tactical pairings had again proved very fruitful. We had won our second championship of the weekend!
These were two brilliant days when everyone had pulled together to make it work. Huge thanks to Sally Pendry for plotting her way through the weeks leading up to the weekend and through the weekend itself. And thanks also to UK Padel for putting on such a great national over 60s County Championships. We are looking forward to defending our titles next year!