Bracknell Lawn Tennis Club Ladies First Team have stunned everyone and made history for the club this year as they won the Aegon Regional South-West (East) Division to gain promotion to the National Division next year.
It had been a slow start for the ladies who lost their first 2 matches. The team needed a win and the ladies approached their next fixture to division favourites East Gloucester with a determined attitude and strong team spirit. Bracknell Ladies pulled off an unexpected 10-2 win. This match also saw the debut appearance for the team of one of our juniors, Olivia Barnard, who successfully won both her singles and doubles.
The team then followed this up with a win at home to David Lloyd Ringwood, but with 2 wins and 2 losses the ladies went into their last match needing maybe 2/3 rubbers to stay up.
In their last match Bracknell Ladies were hosts to their local rivals Caversham LTC. After the singles rounds the tie was all even at 2 rubbers a piece. Bracknell Ladies then powered their way through the doubles to win both and take the tie 4-2. After the match the Ladies were buzzing with excitement that they had pulled off an amazing victory against Caversham. With the league being so tight, another loss by East Gloucester and Aylesbury dropping out of the league for failing to field a team, the win against Caversham turned out to be enough to put Bracknell Ladies top of the division and into the one and only promotion position.
Amanda Cook (Ladies Captain) said – “We all held our own in all our matches and we had a fighting spirit amongst the team pulling us together as one ‘TEAM’. We had a unity amongst us that saw us determined to improve on our losses and build on our victories”
Rachel Speight said “The box leagues at Bracknell made the difference for me this year. Competing against some of the top men at the club has really pushed my singles to another level”. Bracknell LTC runs an 8 division singles box league throughout the year open to both men and ladies.
Now Bracknell Ladies have entered unchartered waters. Never before have they qualified for the GB AEGON Nationals, but this was very much a ‘first’ the Ladies wanted to deliver.
The AEGON Nationals event is a prestigious GB-wide event, which includes many upcoming international players. Examples include professionals like 19 year old Laura Deigman (ITF junior world ranking of 194 and now playing on the pro circuit), who recently competed in tournaments in South Africa and Luxembourg to name a few. But Bracknell have 15 year old Hannah Brett, also competing on the ITF junior circuit and climbing up the ranks.
One of the most rewarding aspects of Bracknell’s performance and ethos was the mix of established players and emerging juniors, showing that coaching and player mentoring work incredibly well side by side.
Congratulations go to all the ladies that competed this season to deliver this amazing result and we wish them good luck and every success for next season.
Bracknell Ladies 1st Team. Shown here from left to right: Gail Trueman, Olivia Barnard, Hannah Brett, Amanda Cook, Rachel Speight, Rebecca Kent, Amanda Titmas