22 December 2013 | Tennis Queensland

This year’s recipient of the Sue Fleming Sports Award was Mitchell James, a young tennis player who earlier this year also took home the Queensland Tennis Award for Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability.

Mitch was the winner of the South Australian Tennis Championships, the winner of the Victorian Tennis Championships, a semi finalist at the NSW Tennis Championships, runner up in the Australian Tennis Championships and also competed in the INAS World Tennis Championships in the Czech Republic where he came runner up in the men’s doubles and was a quarter finalist in the men’s singles event.

Mitch currently sits at number 2 in the Tennis Australia ranking, and was number one at the start of the year. In addition to Mitchells’ personal success on the court, he has qualified as a Level 1 Tennis Coach, he is committed to coaching at his local tennis club, volunteering in schools to run tennis programs, performing presentations in schools and contributing his time to assist in coaching tennis at multi-sport expos, as well as being a fantastic role model to younger players.

His very obvious passion for the sport began at just 5 years of age, and he now trains 14 hours a week, on top of fitness and strength training in the gym.

Not only was this a great win for Mitch as an individual, but also for the sport as the award covers finalists from various fields.

Life Stream and Tennis Queensland are very proud of Mitch and his achievements.

Photo by Tim Miller, Dreamcoat Photography