The Bucks Schools Tennis Competition for Year 3/4 (Mini Red) 2011 has begun at 17 places to play across Bucks. This competition is the priority schools competition of the LTA and is being coordinated by Mark Patmore the Bucks LTA Schools Tennis Competition Manager and is aimed at getting as many young people involved playing tennis across the County.
All the young players who take part in the festivals receive a certificate, free British Tennis Membership and a Golden Tennis Ticket which gives them all a free tennis session at any of the 17 clubs involved.
Monday 16 May - Aylesbury Festival Blog
St Marys A, St Marys B, Stone and Haddenham schools attended a great fun festival at Aylesbury Tennis Club organised by Robyn Dunn and run by Robyn and SSCO (Schools Sports Co-Ordinator) Miss Malone with her team of expert Sports Leaders from Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School Zoe, Annabel, Josie, Jemima, Kieran and Richard.
The winning school was Haddenham and runner-up was St Marys A who will go through to the District Finals to be held at Aylesbury Tennis Club on Wednesday 15 June.
Quote from the sports leaders "Everyone worked together and performed really well. The cheers are a good indication of all the fun the children had! All showed good sportsmanship and behaved really well - a great time had by all". Zoe, Annabel, Josie, Jemima, Kieran and Richard.
Buckingham Festival Blog
Monday 16th May, 2011
Buckingham Tennis Club kindly hosted a festival for the local schools in the area supported by tennis coach Ify Onywenenu.
The following schools took part:
- Bourton Meadow
- Cheddington
- Marsh Gibbon
- Newton Longville
- Oakley
- St Michael’s
- Quainton
The schools were spilt into two pools, playing a round robin. After the pool matches, the top teams played off in semi-finals to determine to two schools qualifying to the district finals in June.
The standard of play was excellent and all the young people showed a massive improvement during the festival, which was great to see. Congratulations to all the schools involved, especially Bourton Meadow and St Michaels who both progressed to the next round.
The teacher from Oakley school commented, “Thanks very much for organising the festival today, all of our children thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Special thanks to all the teaching staff who helped umpire and score all the matches and thanks to the club for hosting.
High Wycombe Tennis Club Festival Blog
Monday 23rd May 2011
Despite howling winds and children not playing in matches having to sit on the net posts to save them blowing away, 56 children, 7 teams from Carrington, Bledlow Ridge, St Pauls, Beechview and Disraeli Schools turned up to play in a fantastic festival at High Wycombe Tennis Club run by Partnership Development Manager Andy Cavill and Head Coach Guy Britton.
Carrington and Bledlow Ridge were eventual winners and will progress to the District Final.
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Newport Pagnell Festival Blog
Monday 23rd May, 2011
Newport Pagnell Tennis Club kindly hosted a festival for the local schools in the area supported by tennis coaches Sue Evans and her son Matt.
Sue has been working hard to develop links with the local schools and Tickford Park and Portfields attended this festival. The coaches started the festivals going through some skill based activities with the young people to get them ready for the matches later on.
The windy day did cause some issues as volunteers were needed to help hold the mini-nets in place on court, but all the children still managed to enjoy themselves and improve their tennis skills.
The official match between the two schools was very close with Tickford Park winning 109-95 against Portfields to progress through to the Milton Keynes Finals.
Special thanks to all the club volunteers who helped umpire and score all the matches and thanks to the club for hosting.
Burnham Festival Blog
Monday 23 May 2011
There was a buzz in the air as the six school teams arrived at Burnham to take part in the tennis festival. 48 children with teachers, parents and siblings to cheer them on, the car park was soon awash with cars. The first matches got underway and there was tension in the air as the 8 players in each team played 5 minute matches against their opponents. The wind howled around the players, making the balls and nets disappear in different directions but this did not deter the players who had awesome rallies.
Players, parents, all had a great and enjoyable time. The competition ran to time and amazingly the rain held off until the last point had been played.
The final scores were very close but the 2 winning teams were
Lent Rise A and Holtspur with St Mary’s & All Saints and Stoke Poges coming close and Lent Rise B and St Nicolas joint 5th
Wolverton Festival Blog
Tuesday 24th May, 2011
Wolverton Tennis Club kindly hosted a festival for the local schools in the area supported by tennis coaches Joe & George Nabbs.
The coaches started the festivals going through a warm-up and then some skill based activities with the young people to get them ready for the matches later on.
Three schools attended the festival and all played each other in a round robin competition. All the children enjoyed themselves and it was clear to see the improvement in their skill level during the festival.
The final result was:
1st Wavendon Gate – 179 pts
2nd Bushfield – 155 pts
3rd Stanton – 141 pts
Wavendon Gate now progress to the Milton Keynes Finals with the opportunity to qualify for the county final at the end of June.
Joe Nabbs & Pete Tolaini from the club said, “It was great to see the young people from the schools coming to the club to play tennis and hopefully the club can run more local events for schools in the future.”
Special thanks to all the club volunteers and thanks to the club for hosting, there were also young leaders supplies by Radcliffe School & Sports College who helped umpire and score matches.
Leon School & Sports College Festival Blog
Wednesday 25th May, 2011
Stuart Lovell from Milton Keynes Tennis Club supported the running of a festival at Leon School & Sports College to cater for the schools in the Bletchley area of Milton Keynes.
The coach started the festival utilising the young leaders going through a warm-up and then some skill based activities with the young people. These activities worked on their serve, return, volleying and ground strokes to give the young people some practice before the matches.
With the three schools involved all ready for action they then went into various matches against each other. Rickley Park now progress to the Milton Keynes Finals with the opportunity to qualify for the county final at the end of June.
Special thanks to Stuart Lovell for running the festival and also to the young leaders from Leon School & Sports College who helped umpire and score matches.
Gerrards Cross Bull Lane Festival Blog
Thursday 26 May
Despite torrential rain, thunder and lighting, 20 players, including 16 girls from Maltmans Green School, turned up at Gerrards Cross Bull Lane Festival! Incredibly, despite being totally rained off for the first hour, they all managed to play 4 matches each, even the tennis leaders joined in playing!
Milton Keynes Festival Thursday 9th June, 2011
Milton Keynes Tennis Club at Woughton-on-the-Green, kindly hosted a festival for the local schools in the area supported by tennis coach Stuart Lovell and other volunteers from the club.
This festival was originally scheduled before half-term, but had to be re-arranged due to poor weather. As the day started with rain at the venue it was not a good sign, but we were lucky to have glorious sunshine for the whole time.
There were 4 teams at the festival and they all played each other in a round robin competition.
The final result was:
1st Brooklands Farm – 225 pts
2nd Orchard (Year 4’s) – 172 pts
3rd Southwood – 170 pts
4th Orchard (Year 3’s) – 150 pts
Brooklands Farm now progress to the Milton Keynes Finals taking place at the same venue next week, with the opportunity to qualify for the county final at the end of June.
Special thanks to Stuart Lovell for running the festival and also to the other volunteers from the club who helped umpire and score matches.
Milton Keynes Tennis Club – District Finals Blog
Thursday 16th June, 2011
The Milton Keynes School Sport Partnership organised the Year 3/4 Mini-Red Tennis Finals that were kindly hosted by Milton Keynes Tennis Club at Woughton-on-the-Green.
More than 25 Primary Schools from across Milton Keynes took part in qualifying festivals at the various local tennis clubs in the area with the top 7 schools progressing to these finals.
Schools Competition Manager, Mark Patmore explained, “This is the 2nd year we have run this schools competition, and it is great to see more local clubs running festivals for the schools to help promote the numerous tennis opportunities that exist for young people across Milton Keynes.”
The teams were split into 2 pools with the top 2 teams progressing to the semi-finals. Olney Middle topped Pool A with 199pts, with Christ the Sower also reaching the semis scoring 145pts. In Pool B, Two Mile Ash finished ahead of Brooklands with 128pts and 92pts respectively.
Olney Middle dominated there semi-final against Brooklands Farm and progressed to the grand final thanks to a 59-26 victory. The second semi-final was a much closer affair with Two Mile Ash narrowly defeating Christ the Sower 48-45.
The 3rd/4th Play-off, was extremely close and Christ the Sower edged Brooklands Farm to 3rd place thanks to a 55-54 victory. In the Final the boys for Olney Middle opened up a commanding lead in their matches, but the girls from Two Mile Ash closed the gap but eventually lost 54-47 to Olney. Both these schools now progress to the Bucks County Finals taking place at Aylesbury Tennis Club, later this month.
Special thanks to Head Coach Stuart Lovell, volunteers from the club and young leaders from Leon School & Sports College who helped umpire and score matches.
Aylesbury Tennis Club – District Finals Blog
Wednesday 15th June, 2011
Aylesbury Tennis Club kindly hosted the Aylesbury Vale District Finals for the Year 3/4 Mini-Red Tennis Competition.
The following schools took part, who had qualified from local festivals:
- Bourton Meadow
- Haddenham
- St Mary’s
- St Michael’s
- Stoke Mandeville
- Turnfurlong
The schools all played against each other in round robin, with all the points scored by the competitors in their individual matches contributing to the final team school.
Even some slight drizzle could not stop the competitive atmosphere at the finals as all the players battled hard to win points for their school. The standard of tennis improved throughout and there were some talented tennis players on view from the area.
After all the scores were added up the final result was as follows:
1st – Bourton Meadow 263pts
2nd – St Michaels 244pts
3rd – St Mary’s 222pts
4th – Haddenham 201pts
5th – Stoke Mandeville 174pts
6th – Turnfurlong 168pts
The top two schools now progress to the Bucks County Finals taking place at Aylesbury Tennis Club, later this month. Special thanks to the coaches and volunteers from the club, as well as the young leaders from Sir Henry Floyd School.
Aylesbury Tennis Club – County Finals Blog
Wednesday 29th June, 2011
Aylesbury Tennis Club kindly hosted the Bucks Year 3/4 Mini-Red County Finals. These finals were a culmination of various local festivals and district finals from across the county.
The following schools took part, who had qualified from the district finals:
- Bledlow Ridge
- Bourton Meadow
- Burford
- Little Chalfont
- Maltmans Green
- Olney Middle
- St Michael’s
- Two Mile Ash
Mark Patmore, Schools Tennis Competition Manager commented, “Over 400 young people from over 50 schools have taken part in this competition throughout the county which is fantastic. Also 15 local tennis clubs have supported by running festivals for their local schools at club venues which should hopefully attract more young people into the clubs.”
The schools were split into 2 pools of 4 and played a round robin in their pools, with all the points counting to determine which play-off match they progressed too. The standard of tennis was extremely high throughout the finals, which was pleasing to see.
The results from the pools were as follows:
|
Pool A
|
Pool B
|
|
1st
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Maltman’s Green
|
187 pts
|
1st
|
Olney Middle
|
150 pts
|
|
2nd
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Two Mile Ash
|
136 pts
|
2nd
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Burford
|
140 pts
|
|
3rd
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Bledlow Ridge
|
109 pts
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3rd
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St Michaels
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128 pts
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4th
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Bourton Meadow
|
102 pts
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4th
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Little Chalfont
|
107 pts
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For the play-off matches the schools then played against the same placed team from the other pool to determine there final position for the county final the final results were:
1st – Maltmans Green- County Champions 2011
2nd – Olney Middle
3rd – Two Mile Ash
4th – Burford
5th –St Michaels
6th – Bledlow Ridge
7th – Bourton Meadow
8th – Little Chalfont
After the finals matches there was a big presentation as Bucks Tennis had provided medals for all of the competitors to mark the achievement of reaching the county finals. There were also certificates for everyone and a trophy for the winning school and the presentations was completed by Tennis Development Manager, Rob Ellis.
Special thanks must be given to the teaching staff who stepped in at the last minute to help umpire and score matches for the finals, whish was much appreciated by the organising staff.
The county finals were a great finale to the competition and a testament to the hard work by Bucks Tennis, School Sport Partnerships, Tennis Clubs & Coaches, Staff and most importantly the players from all the schools involved.
For further information on Schools Tennis
http://www.lta.org.uk/clubs-schools/Schools-tennis1/ / http://www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/schoolsandcolleges/