Sidmouth Tennis Club’s junior section continues to grow and thrive under the watchful eye of experienced club coach Sue Wiltshire, who, together with her team of helpers (Daryl, Greg, Rowan, Tim, Rose and Jess), facilitated another action-packed summer, writes Kate Truman.
The popular ‘Tennis For Kids’ course, part of a national programme established by the Davis Cup legacy with the intent of encouraging more youngsters to give tennis a try, was fully booked with a waiting list this year.
Children between the ages of four and eight years enjoyed being on court with their parents and learning new tennis skills.
Each of the junior participants was given a free tennis racket, three mini red balls and a T-shirt, as well as six hours of tuition. The course was a huge success and there is much interest in the follow-on course that is being offered at a reduced rate.
In addition to ‘Tennis For Kids’, Sue ran mini tennis camps and teenager camps throughout the summer holidays. These were also well attended and lots of fun providing coaching, skills, competition and fun games.
Meanwhile, junior members had the opportunity to take part in several organised competitions over the summer, both at home and away.
At Sidmouth, Oliver Knight won the Mini-Orange club championships and Mini-Greens are playing their final later in September. Jed Ionov-Flint won the Sidmouth boys’ Road to Wimbledon competition but was, unfortunately, unable to attend the county finals at Ivybridge and was replaced by runner-up Robert Boote. Sidmouth girls’ winner, Rose Bridges-Galvez, joined Robert in Ivybridge and although neither progressed any further in this national tournament, both gained valuable county experience.
Finally, the club entered several teams of juniors in the Aegon championships, a junior league offering both singles and doubles competition against other local teams. The boys’ U14 A team, in particular, enjoyed great success, remaining unbeaten in all of their matches. Congratulations go to Jed Ionov-Flint, Taine Benson, Jacob Green, Louis McCullough and Ben Lawler – and big thanks go to the team captain parents [STEVE - is this correct? team captain’s parents? OR team captain and parents?] who did such a fabulous job.
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