Repton School’s pupils have achieved a tennis double with both the boys’ and girls’ under 18s reaching the national finals in their respective competitions.
The players started their journey to the AEGON Team Tennis Schools National Championships in March with several hundred teams from around the country involved at the outset.
Each team has four players and to win their place in the finals they have had to out-match opponents from other schools.
The girls, who compete for the Aberdare Cup, have beaten Trent College, the Robert Smyth Academy and Alcester Grammar School while the boys, whose aim is the Glanville Cup, have out-played Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Notts High School, Loughborough Grammar School and Hills Road, Cambridge.
A total of 16 teams will vie for each title in the national finals which are being held at Graves Tennis Club in Sheffield next week. (July 9 – 12).
Repton is one of just three schools nationally to have qualified for both the Aberdare and Glanville cups.
In Sheffield the four players will take on their opposite number at singles and then team up for doubles. Girls competing for Repton are Izzy Hearnshaw, Lottie Jameson, Avisha Patel and Erica Sanders and members of the boys’ team are Alex Grocott, Alex Cole, Dominic Lea and Jeffrey Chow.
They will be accompanied to the event by their coach, Repton School’s Director of Tennis James Rushby Mr Rushby is a former world ranked doubles player who currently plays for Derbyshire in the first division of the UK County Tennis Championship. He also possesses a wide range of coaching and training experience both in the UK and abroad.
James holds the Level 4 LTA Tennis Coaching Qualification (Senior Performance Coach Award) and has directed programmes at both the Cliff Drysdale Tennis Academy in Miami and the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Texas.
Looking forward to the national finals, he said: “The girls have enjoyed an unbeaten season this year and having checked school records we find they are record-breakers in having not being defeated since 2007 in inter school fixtures. We are hoping this excellent form sees them do well in Sheffield.
“The boys have had an equally season and we are absolutely delighted that the training and dedication has achieved national finals places for each of them.”