Report: 60 Scottish Masters players compete in first of its kind triangular in Newcastle

This month, a team of 60 Scottish masters’ players travelled to Newcastle for a triangular against Ireland Select and English Counties. From a Scottish perspective this pilot event had three aims; to give players who don’t normally play internationals a chance to play for a Scottish team, to encourage more club players to play competitively, and to have fun in a team setting. For the English organisers, it boosted numbers entering the Northumberland masters silver tournament held the same weekend, something worth considering for future Scottish events.

Interest was gathered mainly via our Scottish masters whatsapp group, with Ally Parker doing the bulk of the work to pull it all together. Massive thanks to Ally and let’s all hope he’s not too scunnered to do it all again next year! Some age groups were oversubscribed but with a few call offs due to injury, almost everyone who wanted to play was given at least one game.

The format was one court per age group 35+ to 70+, with 1 men’s doubles, 1 women’s doubles and 2 mixed doubles in each group. Thanks to the age group captains for coordinating, both before and on the day. Our first match was against an Ireland Select team, which actually included most of their national team. Although the match score suggested a comfortable win for the Irish, many of the games were closely fought with the Scots losing by only a couple of points.

Our second match against English Counties was also hard fought but again the final score went against the Scots.

For many of us the day ended with a group dinner where stories were shared, exaggerated and shared again.

Well done to everyone who played their best, sometimes with a player they’d never met before the match. Although a win would’ve been nice, this pilot was about encouragement, inclusion and fun, so with the number of new happy faces on show, I think it’s safe to say that we achieved our aims.

Open singles – Stewart Brown*, Sam Johnson*, Sid Singh, Mark MacKay, Craig Young

Women’s singles – Laura Muir*, Deepa Ajjikuttira*, Myrna Crooks*, Frances Mclure

Open doubles – Ewan Brunton* & Keith Campbell*, Ewen Macdonnell* & Alan Pirie*, Sid Singh, Craig Lamb & Mark MacKay

Women’s doubles – Kathryn McGregor* & Suzanne Zwane*, Lynette Pollock* & Fiona Simpson*, Julie Dunlop* & Suzanne Henderson*, Jill Smith*, Jody Barral & Frances Mclure

Mixed doubles – Ewan Brunton* & Kathryn McGregor*, Suzanne Zwane*, Ewen Macdonnell* & Margaret Robertson*, Alastair Davidson, Jody Barral, Peter Taylor