Fives

This was an outstanding season for the OMs, with the club winning Division 1 and finishing second in Division 2. The Division 1 side, led by Sunil Tailor had a strong top six of Sunil himself, Vish Bhimjiyani, Charlie Plummer (Upper VI), Andrew Rennie, Jitesh Patel and Oli Sander, all of whom played the majority of matches which meant that we were always competitive across the pairs. In Division 2 the side was slightly more varied, but was always stronger in the absence of the two senior pros, Chris Vincent and James Hutcheson.

Probably the most pleasing aspect of the season was that not a single pair was conceded across both divisions - this is perhaps the most reliable indicator of a club’s strength. That said, there still needs to be a focus on recruitment of younger players, with not enough recent leavers playing more than intermittently at best. There is a strong link between the club and the school, and schoolboys are given plenty of opportunity to play for the league side, but it is vital that we maintain contact with them when they are at university, and give them every opportunity to play on their return.

In terms of individual achievements, we had Kinnaird quarter finalists in Vish and Jitesh, and Sunil (playing with Ed Taylor of the Old Salopians). We are still waiting for an OMs player to break into the last four of one of the majors. Andrew Rennie

On Sunday 9th September we had the second annual Summers Cup competition where a current Mill Hill/Belmont pupil plays with an Old Millhillian. This year consisted of 10 pairs made up of two groups of five. It was fantastic to see such good participation from the Old Millhillians with more keen to play than available pupils!

The group stages consisted of round robin matches of 15 minutes each and then the semi-finals and final would be a full set match. Winning group 1 was current Year six pupil Jake Turner and now Old Millhillian Charlie Plummer who played the runners up of group 2, Ollie Sander and Sienna Turner, in the first semi-final. A battle of the Turner siblings and two of last year’s Old Millhillians winning Div 1 team was a great match to watch and played in great spirit. It eventually went 12-9 to Charlie and Jake.

In the second semi-final, it was the group 2 winners of current year 11 pupil Stanley Shepherd and OM James Hutcheson playing against current year eight pupil Charlie Graville and OM Jack Weller. Another very good semi- final which saw Stanley play the best he had all day, supported well by the experienced James Hutcheson, saw them take the win 12-5.

(the school coach) and recent leaver Hal Gibson won the Midlands competition, beating Howard Wiseman (a former Kinnaird winner) and his partner in the final, so this was a fantastic achievement, and the first time a Millhillian pair have won the main competition of an adult tournament.

Schoolboys Charlie Plummer and Iain reached the quarter final of the schools open competition, and although they were disappointed to fall at this hurdle they have had a cracking season, both for the school and for the OMs and we look forward to them both becoming mainstays of the club on their return from university (although I note Iain is to play for North Oxford during his gap year as a fives coach - what exactly are the league rules on poaching, Gareth?). Charlie also won the EFA Young Player of the Season award at the EFA end of season dinner which is a fantastic achievement.

Thanks as always go to Steve Plummer and Andrew Rennie for their efforts with the school players. There would be no players, and therefore no club without what they do.

The final was a very close event with Stanley continuing his form from the semi-finals and Jake ably returning some of James’ high paced shots from the back step and producing some outstanding cuts for a boy his age. The score line was consistently very close with James and Stanley taking the lead 9-7 when unfortunately James suffered a knee injury which forced him to retire injured. Jake and Charlie were therefore crowned victorious, making Jake Turner the first Belmont pupil to have won the tournament, and Charlie Plummer to become the first person to win the trophy twice and the first to win as both a pupil and an Old Millhillian.

A fantastic morning of fives and great fun for all involved. Thanks go to all the Old Millhillians and pupils for coming out on a Sunday to play, as well as Mr Andrew Summers for coming along to present the trophy once again this year.