CAMP COURAGE
State Coach Len Cannell took a number of elite athletes to Margaret River for Camp Courage from August 11-14. Len was supported by National Academy Manager Tom George, Marisa Gianotti and Maddison Inglis. The theme of the camp were the National Academy Values: Compete, Commit and Respect. Activities for the camp included three on court tennis sessions, mountain biking in Boranup Forest, the world famous cape to cape 14km hike across beach terrain, team building activities, boxing & conditioning and group discussions. The athletes had a great time and gained valuable life lessons on resilience and team work.
RESULTS
OPTUS JUNIOR TOUR RESULTS – QUEENSLAND
The School holidays provide a great opportunity for more time on court and tournament travel. Damien Ward and Charlotte Connon travelled to Queensland for a junior tour with 15 WA players. The first tournament was played on the Gold Coast for 12/U & 14/U players. The GCA Tennis Championships is a silver OJT event and contained a very strong field of players. There were some outstanding results from the WA players with James Newton winning the 12/U Boys Singles and Doubles events, Lily Fairclough and Rhea Makesar were in the final of the 12/U Girls Doubles which was abandoned due to rain. Arden De Melo was a singles finalist in the 14/U boys event. Arden teamed up with Ethan Cook to win the U/14 doubles event.
State Coach Len Cannell and John Thorpe joined Damien and Charlotte and a number of WA athletes in Brisbane at the Rod Laver Lead in Gold Event. Zachary Viiala was the 12/U Boys Singles Winner. Tara Gilich finished 5th in the 16/U Girls event, Jaime Edwards finished 6th in the 16/U Girls event. Tara and Jaime were runner ups in the 16/U Girls Doubles event, Matthew De Groot finished 5th in the 16/U Boys event, Jerome Iaconi finished 6th in the 16/U Boys Event. The Rod Laver Qld Junior Championships follows the Lead In event where Zachary Viiala was a singles finalist in the 12/U’s.
QUEENSLAND ITF’S
National Academy Head Coach Andrew Roberts managed a group of players recently at the Queensland ITF’s. The first ITF was played on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The Elite Tennis International Qld Junior Winter International #1. Tristan Schoolkate and William Hann won the doubles event which was a great achievement. The second tournament, the Queensland Junior International #2 was played on the Gold Coast. Tristan Schoolkate was a singles semi finalist and teamed up with William Hann to make the semi finals of the doubles. They are both Grade 4 ITF’s. The ITF Junior Circuit is the premier level for worldwide competition among under-18 junior tennis players. The ITF Junior Circuit’s aim is to improve competitive opportunities and help develop players’ skills.
PRO TOUR
-Matthew Ebden was the singles finalist at Newport, USA for The Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open. Matthew narrowly lost to John Isner in the final. This incredible result sees Matthew climb to 150 in the world rankings. The Dell Technologies Open is an ATP Tour event.
-Storm Sanders was a winner of the doubles at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, England with Monique Adamczak.
-Astra Sharma has won a $15,000 Futures event in Targu Jiu, Romania. This is a great achievement as Astra continues her studies in America at Vanderbilt University where she is the number 2 ranked singles player in the country.
AUSTRALIAN TEAM SELECTIONS
FIJI B2 ITF
Tristan Schoolkate and William Hann were selected on an Australian Representative Tour to Fiji for the prestigious Oceania Closed Junior Championships. This ITF event was a high level B2 and was a great experience. Tristan was a singles quarter finalist, Will made the Round of 16 in singles. Together they had an impressive run to the semi finals of the doubles event. Andrew Roberts managed the tour.
EUROPEAN TOUR SELECTIONS – July, 2017
Derek Pham and Talia Gibson were selected to participate in the Tennis Australia 2004 birth year tour to Europe. The representative athletes played 3 x 14/u Tennis Europe (Category 2) events in Germany. Derek and Talia’s selections came after numerous high level results at National events and is a great reward for the hard work they are consistently displaying in practice and at tournaments. Derek and Talia performed at a high level against the International Competition with numerous victories.
Tristan Schoolkate has been selected for the 2001 birth year tour of Europe. The tour consists of tournaments in Slovenia and Holland.
BRUCE CUP
The Western Australian Bruce Cup has been selected for 2017. The Bruce Cup is the National Primary Schools Competition for 12/U’s. Congratulations to the following team members that will represent WA in Shepparton this October. The boys team: Zachary Viiala, Zachary Melanie, Cian Ingles, Kevin Herbert, Jay Fairclough, Wayne McNicol and Mauhan Dass. The girls team is: Jessie Culley, Lily Fairclough, Rhea Makesar, Layla Firns, Talia Edgar, Yelena Kelleher and Claudia Velkovska. A special thank you to the team managers Andrea Rundle and the team coaches Brad Ladyman and Alison Kirk for managing the team on this upcoming tour.
WELLNESS PRESENTATION
Ben Robertson the Tennis Australia National Wellbeing Manager was in Perth to present on the emotional health of young athletes. Emotional health is at the forefront of the Wellbeing Program. The program aims to produce tennis players who embrace the sport’s opportunities and thrive on the challenges both on and off court. The five pillars of the program are ‘learning’, ‘physical activity’, ‘connection’, ‘mindfulness’ and ‘giving’. The goal is to have emotionally healthy and happy tennis players. If players are happy off the court they will perform at a high level on the court. Program activities include Sports Psychology Performance, Nutrition Education workshops, charity work and school visits. The presentation was a great opportunity to discuss and share ideas with an expert in the field of wellbeing. This is an important issue in junior tennis throughout the country so it was fantastic to address this important topic.
PAST PLAYER UPDATE
The Tennis West programs aim to produce tennis players that are well rounded individuals with strong morals and ethics. Players that the State can be proud of and that reflect the Tennis West Values. One such past player is Caitlin Cridland. Caitlin was part of the Tennis West program for five years before she took up a Division 1 tennis scholarship at Winthrop University in South Carolina, America where she was team captain. Caitlin recently graduated cum laude from Winthrop majoring in chemistry with a minor in biology. Caitlin was selected as “Woman of the Year” for all sports in the Big South Conference and has received an academic scholarship to Virginia Tech University to complete a Phd in Bio-Chemisty. Caitlin wishes to pursue a career in pharmaceutical and cancer research. The Tennis West staff are proud of Caitlin’s achivements and wish her the best of luck with her Phd.
Latest
WA