*FACT* Daniel Knott (pictured above) in 2007 became the youngest ever junior player to get Senior Status at the age of 9! He took the title off of Joe Shields who received Senior Status when he was 10...
FUN BBQ
Doubles fundraising tournament for HLTC. Over 20 players entered. They had a different partner each round and the players with the highest scores played a final - Evelyn Fleming and Jamie Porter beat Max Howitt and Louis Sharrock in a close final! The oldest player was 17 and the youngest player just 10!
HLTC photos on Shepway Schools Festival Day event 2009 working with Advantage Tennis
(Link) working with Shepway Schools sports partnership click here!!
Over 200 children attended the second Primary School Tennis Festival at Hythe LTC this Wednesday, taking the total number of participants over both days close to 600 children!!
The morning started with over a hundred year 1 and 2 pupils in teams of 12 from local schools learning tennis skills and earning points for their team in fun games. They learnt how to hit Serves, Forehands, Backhands and volleys and were treated to a demonstration of tennis from the enthusiastic coaching team before the final presentation.
The Runners up prize went to Dymchurch with a massive 156 points with Sandgate just beating with an impressive 160 points and all schools left with prizes for the team members and school.
The afternoon saw years 3 and 4 take part in a team tennis singles tournament. This time the teams of 12 took turns to challenge players from the opposing team to complete the match in the style of the ‘Davis Cup’ win that Great Britain recorded this weekend over Turkey!
The teams played a ‘round robin’ group stage with the top two teams going through to semi and finals. The semi finals featured 2 St Martins teams, and a team from Castle Hill and Greatstone. St Martins won both of their semis and met each other in the final, so unsurprisingly, it was a Winners and Runners Up pack for St Martins!!
Organiser Nick Skelton said “We are really excited to have introduced close to 600 children to tennis with these primary school tennis festivals. The more people we reach with tennis, the more chance we have of finding that future star and Wimbledon champion!!”
report by : Nick Skelton
The match consisted of 2 singles and 1 doubles match, with Hythe moving into an early lead with Daniel's positive start against Bethersden number 2s - Sam Barkaway. Daniel hardly missed a first serve all match and won many points after approaching the net and hitting winning volleys!
Joe's match against James started well with a 6-1 first set but James played some very positive attacking tennis to give Joe a scare in the 2nd - at 3-3 in the 2nd, it looked like James was flying high on confidence and would take it to a 3rd set but Joe was too consistent from the back of the court and took the set 6-3!
Going into the doubles, Bethersden played some very solid tennis with James dominating the court to come out on top 6-2 6-4, despite some inspired play from Daniel with a magical 'McEnroe-esque' serve and volley winner!
At the turn of the year, Joe made it into the top 5 in the county for 14 and under after getting some good wins in the tournament season last year! He will be looking to improve on those results this year and to start playing in the men's teams for Hythe LTC.
Most improved boy and girl juniors of 2009,
Jamie Dance for the Girls
Sam Keet for the boys
were presented with new crystal trophies
by Peter Saul
(chairman 2004-2009)
Sponsored by Peter Saul
