Euro
Juniors assemble in Espoo
It's Euro Junior time again, this time the U15 and U17
versions, where teams from all over Europe assemble in Espoo,
Finland, for their respective team championships.
England are top seeds, and France second, in both events,
which see the pool stages take place on Thursday and Friday,
followed by the knockout stages, starting with
quarterfinals, at the weekend.
Fri,
Day Two, Update Three:
 Another
day down and all the pool matches are over. The England U15
Team topped their table today after beating Denmark 3-0.
Capitano James Peach set the proceedings off with a 3-0 win
followed by Kace Bartley who also won 3-0 after being 6-1
down in the second.
Robbie Keefe was made to work hard against Rasmus Gyde
coming through 3-1.
Players off for a quick dip in the pool and then bed, U15's
finally have a sleep in tomorrow morning :-) which means I
do too!
Switzerland tomorrow at 2pm.
Fiona Geaves
Day Two, Update Two from England:
 Not
sunny here in Finland anymore, it's more like England with
rainy drizzle.
The Under 17 team of Lyell Fuller, George Parker &
Alicia Mead tiptoed our way passed a very determined and
impressive Spanish team this morning.
The Spaniards came to within an inch of an upset with the
final game of the final match being watched by an excited
and anticipating full house.
It was Parker, however, who managed to prevail 3/2, by
remaining calm and playing some precise clinical squash in
the last two games to overturn a 2-1 deficit.
We now have a long wait until our next match, which is
scheduled for 19:00hrs tomorrow (local time) and to see whom
our next opponent is as we have a bye into the semi final of
the competition.
The quarter final matches will take place tomorrow morning
at 11:30 so we will find out then whom we play.
Lee Drew
England Update, Day Two:
 The
U15 team beat Belgium this morning 3-0. The boys overpowered
the young Belgians who put up an excellent performance and
fought for every rally.
The girls match between Amelia Henley and Tinne Gillis was
going to be the big battle. Tinne is ranked No 1 in Europe
and is an exciting prospect for Belgium as she is following
in the footsteps of her older sister Nele, who is ranked No
2 in the U17 rankings.
Amelia hit her lines and volleys extremely well and was
consistently finding her spaces keeping Tinne on the wrong
end of most rallies. Tinne battled hard to try and stay in
the match but Ameila retrieved and kept up the pressure
looking the more dominant player throughout the match, a
well deserved result and a very happy coach and team.
Denmark tonight in our last pool match.
Fiona Geaves
England Update #3:
 First
day down and two wins for the England U15 Team :)
This evening the team won comfortably 3-0 against Sweden
with team captain James Peach leading the way in his first
match of the event.
 Robbie
Keefe had his second win of the day with Kace Bartley
winning her first match of the event to take the match for
England.
Now back to the hotel for a sauna and swim for the players
:) and a good nights sleep ready for a 9.30am match tomorrow
morning.
Fiona Geaves
England Update #2:
A quick update from sunny
Finland.
This is the 1st time Finland has hosted the European junior
Team Championships and if proceedings so far are anything to
go by, then the competition will prove to be a very
successful & enjoyable one for all involved.
 The
Under 17 England team managed to follow in the footsteps of
the Under 15 team this morning to record a 3/0 team victory
against Scotland.
Today's team was Richie Fallows, George Parker & Ellie Lake
with team captain Lyell Fuller & Alicia Mead supporting and
waiting in the wings to take their opening bow in the event
tomorrow.
This evening all the players will be supporting the Under 15
team versus Sweden before preparing for an early match
against Spain at 9:30am Friday morning.
Will keep you posted from the England camp,
Lee Drew
England Update #1:
Here we are in Finland for the 2012 U15/U17 European
Championships.
 I
am coaching the U15 England Team and Lee the U17 Team.
The U15s got off to a flying start beating Norway, 3-0 with
wins from Patrick Rooney, Robbie Keefe and Amelia Henley
this morning.
Next match is at 7pm tonight against Sweden, until then, we
will be supporting our U17 Team who play Scotland at
11.30am.
Fiona Geaves
|
U15
Quarter-Finals
U17
Quarters/Semis
Day TWO matches
|
