The 2011 US Open Junior Tennis Champion, Oliver Golding, won the 12&U Powder Byrne Trophy as a 10 year old in 2004. Oliver has made rapid progress up the ATP Pro Rankings, from 970 this time last year to 483 today. The Twickenham born youngster has put the improvement down to hard work and learning to compete at a young age, which is why he is encouraging players of all ages to enter the Powder Byrne Trophy.
‘My mission has always been to be the best that I can be and in order to achieve this, from a young age I have always enjoyed competition. There is no substitute for playing matches and it’s great that so many youngsters have already entered the Powder Byrne Junior and Open Tennis Trophy. Certainly, the experience I gained as a 10 year old in winning the Powder Byrne set me on the right road. I encourage everybody to enter.” Said Oliver Golding.
Running from 21st July to 9th December 2012, the Powder Byrne Tennis Trophy is a Grade 3 LTA approved tournament and will feature Junior Boys and Girls Singles events for: 8 & Under (Red Ball), 9 & Under (Orange Ball), 12 & Under, 14 & Under, 16 & Under and 18 & Under, Men’s and Women’s singles, as well as the opportunity to play as a Father and Son, Father and Daughter, Mother and Son or Mother and Daughter combination, in one of the Family Doubles events, and new in 2012, a Men’s over 45’s veterans singles.
It is expected that a record number of competitors will take up the challenge, and with events for every age and every standard, the National tournament offers something for everybody. With higher rated players being seeded through to the later stages, this allows less experienced players to compete against players of a similar standard in the earlier rounds.
The unique postal format for the older age groups also means that early matches tend to be played locally and any club, school, public or park tennis courts can be used.
The 8 & Under (Red Ball) and 9 & Under (Orange Ball) event will start as 16 regional tournaments staged as one day competitions, between Saturday 15th September and Sunday 28th October, with the winners of each qualifying for the National Finals.
For the 8 & Under events and 9 & Under events, players will be guaranteed at least four matches in the regional tournaments, the 10 & Under through to 14 & Under events will be based on a round robin format in the early stages, so players will have at least three matches, with all other events having knock out draws.
You can view the Regional Event Calender here
Entries for the Powder Byrne Junior and Open Tennis Trophy 2012 close on Thursday 12th July 2012, except for the 8&U (Red Ball) and 9&U (Orange Ball) one day events, where entries will close no earlier than 10th September 2012.
Players may enter multiple events, including the 8&U and 9&U mini regional events, which have no limit to how many a player can enter. The Powder Byrne 8&U mini event is the only National tournament in this age group.
All National finals will be held on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th December at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in Buckinghamshire, an Olympic training venue.
Great prizes are on offer from Dunlop, Maui Jim and Powder Byrne.
To enter and for more information, please visit www.powderbyrne.com where you can enter online.
For further information contact:
Catherine Stanley (Octagon) - Tournament Organiser
Email: PowderByrneTennis@Octagon.com
Telephone: 0207 862 0027