Norfolk Junior Performance Report 2024
It has been an eventful year for Norfolk junior tennis in 2024.
Training has increased for county players year on year, and 2024 has been no different. U9’s to U18’s have the offer to bolster their weekly club coaching with additional weekly county groups. Consistency is important for players, regular indoor training on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at David Lloyd Norwich, and Fridays at Easton Tennis Centre to support player development. We are confident of even more opportunities indoors for our juniors in 2025 as we continue to grow and improve training and competition in the county.
Whilst some events have remained the same as always, we witness the evolution of the historic Lionel Cox competition, into a doubles only format, at U9, U10 and U12’s. This saw 4 players from each year group, boys and girls, compete in the event. With upgrades to Queenswood in 2025, we are currently exploring options for next years event. Of the 10 counties involved, our combined score left us 8th overall, something to improve on for next year. However, the increase in players and with more of a team feel to the event, it was certainly a hit with Norfolk players and their opposition counties.
The county cup events were all completed by September with one of our best team performances coming early on in the year (March), with the U18 boys gaining promotion in Cardiff. A huge congratulations to captains Nicky Crawley and Kris Jenkins for guiding their talented squad to Div 3. Our U8’s boys were also successful in their county cup event, winning our area event on home turf with captain Chris Lambert in charge.
The 12 counties event, always hosted at Corby, completed early on in the year, with Norfolk finishing 3rd overall in division 2A. Events are played between September and March each rotation for age groups 10 to 18, our most notable performance came again from our U18 boys who won their round. This seasons event has already begun, with a strong showing from our U14 girls in their round, led by captain Sam Hickman.
In addition to the team element of Norfolk junior tennis, I’d also like to celebrate our individuals who have strived to compete at the highest level they can in 2024.
Grade 2’s qualifying - Noah (U12’s), Riya (U10’s), Matthew, Dexter, Freddie & Alsie (U9’s)
Grade 1 qualifying - Noah (U12’s), Riya (U10’s), Freddie (U9's)
U16’s national qualifiers - James
U14’s G1 main draw - Amelia (also competing at Tennis Europe level)
There are still a lot of areas we are looking to improve upon for 2025 to support and improve individuals and teams within the county set up. I’d like to thank all the hard working captains in Norfolk junior tennis, and the club coaches who are supporting their players and sending them out to events and county training.
Congratulations to the following Norfolk players who end 2024 ranked inside the national top 100:
U/18 Boys
Ranking Player
76 James H
98 Jayden D
U/16 Boys
24 James H (James played 25 tournaments at this level throughout 2024)
91 Rico K
U/14 Girls
35 Amelia B (Amelia played a total of 41 tournaments across the country throughout 2024)
U/12 Boys
40 Noah G
Report
Chris Stocker (Norfolk Performance Officer)