7 year old Connor Kruse is racking-up his titles tally in tremendous fashion! The young Milton Keynes player has won his last three events and is proving a tough challenge for many of his competitors.
Mini Tennis is an adaptation of the game of tennis to enable younger players to develop the required skills, for example, the size of the court is reduced, the balls are slower and the rackets are smaller. Milton Keynes based tennis organisation, Tennis Works, have been very pro-active in organising and running 3 events every month in clubs and centres across north Bucks. There are two types of events that Tennis Works have been promoting, LTA sanctioned events and the Tennis Works Grand Slam Series. The difference between the two is that the LTA events only allows players to compete in their age groups and the Grand Slam Series allows players to compete according to their ability level. The problem Tennis Works have found with only running LTA events is that there are players who need to play on bigger courts due to their ability and physical size, likewise some players who are too old to compete on smaller courts may only have just come into the game and need to compete at their level.
In January 2010, Connor won the Tennis Works Grand Slam Series Orange event in Buckingham and this month he won the Tennis Works Grand Slam Series Red event and LTA Red event in Milton Keynes. Connor has been playing since September 2008 when he was spotted on a holiday play scheme that invited John Cavill, Head Coach of MK Ace Tennis, to run some coaching for the children. John, who works up to 10 hours a week in the schools and runs development and talent sessions for under 10’s, made contact with Connors parents through the play scheme and their willingness to support their child has lead to Connors early successes.
John said, “It’s always a delight to work with Connor and assist his parents, as they are very dedicated to doing the best. When I first saw Connor in the play scheme he stood out due to his athletic abilities and good concentration. He seemed very keen and that I hit an 83 shot rally with a 5 year old on his first attempt at tennis wasn’t bad either! The biggest challenge I usually find is getting the parents to support their players and in this case, Connors parents were very keen, so this is where his tennis journey began. It is great for Connor to follow the footpaths of other players I have got into the game which includes numerous county players, a National Champion and currently an 8 year old girl who is around the top 10 in the country.”
As the summer draws closer and hopefully the weather will be more suited to tennis, Connor will be competing in county-wide events as he continues to compete at the top.