Triumph at the National Schools Winchester Fives Tournament

On Sunday, Freddie Hammond Giles and Josh Ferro (Lower Eighth) won the National Schools Winchester Fives Doubles tournament, completing the set by securing all three schools doubles trophies.

The final was an exciting and fast-paced encounter against Winchester College’s top pair, who have years of experience playing this variant of fives. The game features a distinctive buttress on the left wall, causing sudden changes in ball direction, to which the player on the right side must adapt. Freddie retrieved everything, at times tracking the ball across all four walls, while Josh delivered elegant and decisive winners.

In their first attempt at playing Winchester Fives, Nadim Cortas and Zen Okada (Sixth Form) reached the final of the plate competition. They played intelligently and improved with each match but ultimately lost to a Winchester pair whose serves were often unreturnable.

Image used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fives#/media/File:Fives_Gloves_and_Ball.jpg via Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/