Boys' tournament idea is a knockout

ENTERPRISING Dover Boys' Grammar School pupils have received a special award for a computer program they devised which can be used to organise sports tournaments.

The boys formed a company to take part in the Young Enterprise competition.

They organised discos and a table tennis tournament which relied on a complex computer software program to run smoothly.

The program, which kept track of all the matches and more than 70 players, was so well-received that orders were placed from other parts of the country and the team attained affiliation with the English Table Tennis Association.

James Evans was managing director of the company, which they called Apex Enterprises, with Chris Hadley as company secretary and ICT director, Dean Baker as personnel director, David Tilbee in charge of operations, Tom Freeman as finance director and James Eberlein as marketing and sales director.

They had to keep proper accounts and deal with stocks, taxation, dividends, share capital and all the other financial aspects of running a company.

It was when they started to organise the table tennis tournament that they discovered there was no tournament software available, and they were told that if they could design it, it would be well-received around the country.

Chris Hadley and Tom Freeman wrote the program and the team won the local area heat and went on to the next round where they had to mount a professional display of their work.

They didn't win the South East Regional Finals but they did win a special award for innovation.

A spokesman for the Young Enterprise Board told the Mercury: "They performed exceptionally well."