Junior Club Championships 2023

After the original date was postponed due to rain and wind, our Junior Club Championships finally took place on Sunday 8th October with plenty of cakes, enthusiasm and parental support!

We had entries in the Under 8, 11, 14 and 18 age groups with our largest number of entries in the U8 red ball age group. Many of these players have benefitted from regular, monthly match practice at the club and this was evident from their improved understanding of scoring and their competitive approach. It was also good to see tennis etiquette on display with shaking of hands at the end of matches, encouragement given, thanking umpires and rackets being spun to choose how to start the games. All very professional!

The winners were:

U8 winner: Monty Ruscoe

Runner up: Leo Amelinckx

U11 winner: Layla Miller

Runner up: Faith Lucas – Jones

U14 winner: Rose Lucas – Jones

Runner up: Freddie Hurley

U18 winner: Issy Younger

Runner up: Evelyn Green

A very special trophy, the Harold Walker Trophy for the Most Improved Junior Player, was also awarded to Evelyn Green. Evie has been an invaluable asset to the club coaching team and has challenged herself by entering both club and county tournaments this year. We are very proud of Evie and wish her well as she starts the first step of her coaching qualifications soon.

Next year we plan to hold the tournament earlier in the year to hopefully benefit from some sunshine and barbecue time! As our players become more confident, we hope to have even more entrants in each age group. We also encourage all our players to sign up with the LTA and register for their ITF world tennis number. This sounds very grand, but it just means that players receive a ranking and rating from the LTA based on the competitions in which they play. Do explore the link: ITF World Tennis Number (WTN) | LTA

Another HUGE thank you to our parent umpires and supporters this season. Your help is so appreciated. Keep an eye out for some winter tennis for our junior members in November and December!