6 August 2015 | Tennis Queensland
The 2015 Queensland 12 years and under State Tennis Championships are being held at the Cairns International Tennis Centre over 4 days. There are 48 players representing 12 Queensland Regions: Capricornia, Darling Downs, Met East, Met East, Met North, Met West, Northern, North West, Peninsula, South Coast, South West, Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay. Each Region is represented by a team of 4 girls and 4 boys.
The Tournament Chair Vanette Tobin: “The children will play at least one match per day and will end up in a position of 1 – 48 by Sunday. The teams final 4 positions will be added together and the lowest score will be deemed the Winning Team. Every match will make a difference. As well, 7boys and 7 girls will be invited to represent Queensland at the National Bruce Cup competition being held in Hobart in October.”
Opening ceremony photo taken by the official photographer Dominic Chaplin from Pine Creek Pictures.
Day 1 (6th August 2015)
Travis Dragojlo Tournaments Coordinator Tennis Queensland is up from Brisbane: “Great to have a State Championship in my home town, fantastic to see players from different areas of Queensland participating in this great event.”
Brie Collins, Erica Sarnacki, Mackenzie Lizon playing for Peninsular Team are proud to represent the region. “It’s a fun day and we can’t wait for the rest of the tournament, best two days out of school. We get to socialize with players from all over Queensland.”
Nicky Mayer, manager of Cairns International Tennis Centre and her team are doing a fantastic job providing endless home cooked food and a super organized Centre. “We are rocking it”
Gary Smith and Jo Butland from Peninsula School Sport “Beautiful conditions for a great day of play with some good young talent on the courts today.”
Our Championship Convenors Helen Condon: “We are in Cairns, the day is beautiful and we are going through the matches at a reasonable pace and all players are trying hard.” Henry Condon: “The focus of this championship is sportsmanship. It’s easy to be a good winner, it’s not always to be good loser, but it the most important thing. I believe the Pat Rafter epitomized good sportmanship.”
Day 2 (7th August 2015)
Jake Hull vs Tom Sissons 7-6, 6-3
Jake Hull is playing for the Peninsula Team, living in Cairns. He trains 5 days a week, 10-15 hours. This year he went to the State training camp in Brisbane where the top kids in Queensland train for 4 days. Jake is coached by his dad Graham Hull and attends squad training with Jarrod Bruce at the Cairns International Tennis Centre. “It was a good match, I was hitting well. My serves were very good and Tom was a strong player. There were some good rallies. There were some downs and ups for my match where I was mentally down. I fixed that by getting my service game going again.” Jake feels confident for his next match.
Tom Sissons is playing for the Midwest Team, he is from Wishers in Brisbane. Alan Sissons, Tom’s dad “This is Tom’s first School Sports tournament, a great opportunity, well run and very organized. Tom is really excited to be part of the team, travel away and play against kids from other areas. On day 1 Tom played 3 matches, won two. Tom only turned 10 in July. He is training 13 hours a week, this includes off court strength and fitness training. He competes in about 4 tournaments a term.”
Tom Sissons: “It was a tough loss, my opponent Jake was very good. I could have played better. My first serves needed to be more consistent and I needed to run Jake around a bit more. I thought that when my first serve was strong Jake went on the defense I came into the net and won the point and that would break his mind a bit. I met Jake the first time at the Brisbane training camp. We had a lot of match play, we were at the Pat Rafter arena. The sports psychologist talked to us about nerves and he works with Kyrgios and Kokkinakis. Ash Norman spoke to us. It was cool because a team from New Caledonia were there and we played against them. I traded my Brisbane Pure Tennis Academy t-shirt with one of them.” Tom is coached by James Griffiths at the Pure Tennis Academy.
Jarrod Bruce: the match was forehand vs forehand, both strong. Trying to use their forehand as their weapon to dictate the play. Trying to run around their backhand. First set Jake played a lot of winners off his forehand and took the set 7-6. Second set Jake went down 3-1 and came back to win 5 games in a row.
Alec Braund vs Dominic Anderson 2-6, 7-5, 13-11
Alec Braund is playing for the Wide Bay team, he lives in Maryborough. Alec trains about 6 hours a week. This includes private lessons, fixtures and match play. His tennis coach is Bruce Rainer. Alec competes in the JDS Tournaments 13 and 15 years, the Junior Tournaments and he played in the two 2015 Rod Laver events. “I tried to hit the ball in, sometimes not enough winners but I wait for the error. I used my hard serves to push my opponent off. My backhands were consistent. Consistent rallies are my strength. I thought I was about to lose the tiebreaker at 9-5 to Dominic so I hit the ball in and came back to win 13-11.”
Dominic Anderson is playing for the Metro West Team, he lives in Yeronga, Brisbane. Dominic trains 5 hours a week, 2 squad training sessions and 1 private lesson. The squad training includes 30 minutes of strength & conditioning. He trains at the Lifetime Tennis Club and his coach is Heath Denman. Dominic competes in the Junior Tournaments in Brisbane.
“My strength was the forehand down the line and angles. It was a hard match, tough on the legs because of the long rallies. It was hard in the tie breaker when I was up 9-5 and lost. Alec kept retuning the ball.”
Clint Fyfe: it was a great match-up. Dominic was attacking, taking the ball early and coming to the net while Alec was using his speed and defensive skills to stay competitive. In the end Alec’s mental toughness got him over the line after saving 4 match points.
Leon Awee Tournament Referee “Fantastic day, kids are great. No dramas. Education and tennis is the winner. Well run tournament kids are well behaved. Tennis potential all around. Families have stayed at the venue. Community and business support. Large monetary footprint for the region. Great showcasing of Queensland Government facility. Good support from Tennis Queensland with Travis Dragojlo and Clint Fyfe visitation for talent sourcing. Very good sportsmanship due to the additional adjudication and fantastic sun smart support from Queensland School Sport.”
Maliyah Vili vs Kristen Cavanna 2-6, 6-4, 12-10
Maliyah Vili is playing for Metro North and lives in Nundah, Brisbane. She trains at the Nudgee Lifetime Tennis Club, coached by Gary Stickler. Maliyah’s squad and private coaching add up to 11 hours a week. Strength and conditioning is on Sundays at home gym and Maliyah is running with dad 3 times a week, she is 11 years old. “The game was hard work, I had to focus more than usual because it was such a long game. I had to run harder because Kristen is good at aiming and she gets every ball back. I used deep top spin to win because she liked coming in to the mid court. I was pressured when I lost the first set and I started giving up when it was 2-3. I knew I had another set to go and I still wanted to win, I did not want to give up and I came back to win the second set and the tie-breaker.”
Kristen plays for Sunshine Coast and lives in Pelican Waters. Trains at Caloundra Tennis Club, playing about 4 hours a week. “It was an emotional match because it was so close. My forehand won me points. My serve let me down I didn’t reach high enough. I lost focus on crucial points which made me angry. I got back into focus by playing my normal game. I am happy with my game, she was a good.”
Olivia Brown vs Katie Creighton 6-2, 6-4
Katie is playing for Darling Downs and lives in Toowoomba. Katie trains at Toowoomba Tennis Association, coached by Paul Norman. Training squads, private, fixtures, a total of 12 hours a week on court and 2 hours in gym. Katie played in the teams Carnival in December. “Today’s match was a long match, hot compared to home. My serving was pretty good with a few double faults. I won when I forced Olivia back into defence. I tried to stay positive because you lose points when you get angry. Olivia and I are friends from meeting at tournaments.”
Olivia is playing for Metro East and lives in Login. She trains at Cambridge Tennis Club, coached by Scott West for technique training, Brent Rowe for footwork and Sean Fyfe for physio, strength and conditioning. Totalling at 11 hours a week. Olivia played in the Teams Carnival too. Olivia only returned to training 2 months ago after fracturing her ankle. “This was a long match but if I made less unforced errors it could have been quicker. I was cranky with all my unforced errors. My serve had lots of pace and spin. I could serve accurately down the line or wide and won a lot of points.”
Day 3 (8th August)
Clint Fyfe: Lots of upsets. Good to see 3 regional kids make the semi-finals and Ameliija Swafer-Selff from Moura reach the final. Top seeds Casey Hoole and Lara Walker had easy wins.
Day 4 (9th August)
Erica, Mackenzie, Rina, Sam, Kanata, Jake, a few of the Peninsula players.
Mackenzie Lizon: “I loved my first match against Nicola O’Mara. I came back from 3 love down in both sets to win 6-4; 6-4. My serve was my strength. This is my first QLD State Championship, I will be back.”
Erica Sarnacki: “My favourite game was my 4th match on Saturday against Gina Bidgood. I only gave away 4 points. I was using my mind and remembered everything from practice. My serve, top spin and foot work was good. I’m so happy that I got into this event and I have talked to lots of players.”
Kanata Miyamura: “My best match was on Saturday, my 5th match against Andrej Jovanovic. I played consistently and waited for him to make the error. Some matches I played aggressively.”
Girls Finals: Laura Walker vs Ameliija Swaffer-Selff 6-1; 6-1
Laura Walker plays for South Coast and lives in Redland Bay, Brisbane. Trains at the Redland bay Tennis Club, Coached by Tim Low. Laura has played in this tournament since 2013 at 9 years old. Last year she made the team in Toowoomba coming 4th and went on to play in Darwin. She trains 12 to 13 hours a week. Lara builds up strength using resistance using bands at home and training at her dad’s fitness centre. “Ameliija played well. I hit a lot of winners. My serve was ok. My forehand winners were my strength. I was always thinking about picking the right shot, Amelia was very good at getting the balls back. Really excited about going down to Tasmania, I have never been there.”
Ameliija Swaffer-Selff plays for the Capricornia Team and lives in Moura, West of Rockhampton. She trains at the Moura tennis club and is coached by her dad, Andrew Selff. Ameliija trains about 10 hours a week with her dad. “I played pretty well, there were a lot of juices. My strength was my backhand down the line. I kept trying to win as many points as possible. I wasn’t too upset because I played pretty well and I’m going down to Tasmania.”
Boys Finals: Casey Hoole vs Alex Rice 6-2, 6-3
Casey is playing for Met North and lives in Grange, Brisbane. He is part of the National Team at the Queensland Tennis Centre on a scholarship and he trains at school. “It’s great hitting with the best players in Queensland and having the good coaches. I train about 10-11 hours a week. On Monday we have Squad for 12 and under with 13 players training for 2 hours. Clint Fyfe and Cacey’s uncle Mark Draper are his coaches. “In The final we had long Rallies. I had to move Alec around and come to the net to win points. My volleying was good and I did good coming to the net and putting the volley away. I was consistent. I tried to be more aggressive when I lost points. I had had a high percentage of 1st serves. This is my second Qld State championship.”
Alex is also playing for Met North and lives in Grange, Brisbane, Training at Brisbane Grammer School, coached by Charlie and Michael Fancutt. Alec is training about 7 hours a week. Once a week he joins the top Squad training group with Casey at the Queensland Tennis Centre. “A lot of games went to juice, they were very close. My serve wasn’t that good I had a lot of second serves. My back hand down the line was strong. I tried to consistently hit the ball in. I used a lot of top spin and hit the ball deep. I got annoyed with myself when I hit the ball short or out. I got myself back in focus by hitting more consistently rather than hard.”
Ellah Dunn and Billy Bougoure are excited to be in the Queensland Team
Ellah Dunn plays for South Coast and lives in Benowa Gold Coast. Trains at Miami Seniors, coached by Locky Treacher and Nathan Peach. Ella is 11 and plays 10 hours a week. “It was a good tournament I played well. Some matches were challenging I used my training routine and stayed positive. I enjoyed playing, my forehand crosscourt and down the line and my backhand are strong. I’m really excited about training in Brisbane and going to Tasmania.”
Billy Bougoure played in the Sunshine Coast Team, he lives in Kawana. Billie trains at Caloundra Club and is coached by Clint Fyfe. He plays about 7 hours a week. “It’s been an enjoyable and tough tournament. My matches have been very close. I had to play to their weakness and stay consistent. My serve is good. It was tough adjudicating in the hot sun. I look forward to playing in the Bruce Cup, it’s my first time I will be playing tennis for Queensland.”
The team going to Bruce Cup in Tasmania to represent Queensland, including a 2 day training camp at the Queensland Tennis Centre:
Girls:
- Laura Walker, 2. Ameliija Schaffer-Self, 3. Cassidy Mataia 4. Olivia Massingham, 5. Jessica Halo 6. Maliyah Vili 7. Ellah Dunn.
Boys:
- Casey Hoole, 2. Alex Rice, 3. Matt Harper, 4. Alec Braund, 5. Billy Bougoure, 6. Jordyn Larke, 7. Lathan Treacy
Results have been posted on the Tournaments website http://tournaments.tennis.com.au/sport/tournament.aspx?id=0A828D66-5A21-4785-996D-829AB664E032
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