The American tournaments are held on the last Sunday of the month from April to September, with a special event in October (see below). These are fun tournaments for players of all standards and ages and there is usually food and refreshments available. Some of the best egg sandwiches in Essex are to be found at these events!

 

The tournament consists of a series of doubles matches, played with different partners and opponents. Each match usually comprises six games. Depending on the numbers attending, four or five rounds of matches are played in an afternoon.  Each game won scores a point. The winner is the person with the highest aggregate points throughout the afternoon.

 

There is a monthly prize for the highest scores on the day and the "American Cup", now redesignated as The Ellen Gormley Cup, is awarded to the player with the highest aggregate score over the season.

 

The ‘Pink' tournament is the last American tournament of the year, usually in the third week of October.  Players are invited to dress in pink and there’s a prize for the ‘pinkest person’.  The proceeds from the afternoon go to the "Wear It Pink" breast cancer research charity.  Around £1,200 has been donated since we started this event in 2007.

 

In the 2017 events Will Jefferies was the overall champion.

The final event of summer 2017, the "Pink" event, saw 17 participants on 22nd October.  Some photos have been added to the Gallery.  The Pinkest Person Prize went to Clare Wheeler.  Hayden Bonnington won the "guess the pink object" competition and received a prize to help him celebrate his 10th birthday 2 days later.

47 different players took part in the 2017 events, compared to 45 in 2016.

 

25 players have attended the first three events of 2018;  Clare Wheeler tops the leader board, but things are very close with only 6 points separating the top 10 players.  Full details below:

 

 

Provisional dates for 2018 via the link:

 

Help is needed to organise games at the American events!  Contact a Committee member if you are able to volunteer.