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The weekend of the 24th and 25th March saw the cream of Devon and Cornwall’s most talented young tennis players between the ages of six and ten years old serving it out to become Flybe Mini Masters’ champions during a series of final matches held in Ivybridge, hosted at the South Devon Tennis Centre.
The Mini Masters’ series and finals are now in their fourth year, the winners of each of the three age categories in the Winter series take home a Flybe Mini Masters’ trophy, return tickets for their family to be used on the Flybe network and also win a Tennis Master Class with Lucy Ahl, Flybe ambassador and former British Number 1 Women’s player.
Lucie Ahl and Sue Eames Cornwall LTA Chairperson, presented to the players. The winner were:
Mini Green 10 & under Winner Freddie Stone (Penzance) Runner up Sam Hopper (Tennis Mad – Plymouth)
Mini Orange 9 & under Winner Louis Davey (Tarka North Devon) Matthew Rutter (Exeter Tennis Centre)
Mini Red 8 & under Winner Lucus Urquiza (Exeter Tennis Centre) Runner Up Oliver Cockram (Exeter Tennis Centre)
Georgina Loosemore (LTA Tennis Development Manager) said: What a fantastic weekend of tennis we have had with some nail biting matches. Each season the standard of tennis gets better and better and this is a credit to the players and coaches of Devon and Cornwall. Many thanks to Flybe for their continued support of tennis within the counties it is enabling so many more children to play and be enthused by the sport.
Some 300 young local tennis stars from across Devon and Cornwall have taken part in this winter’s Flybe Mini Masters series. The programme was initiated to support the development and growth of young tennis players across the two counties and is sponsored by the airline in conjunction with the counties’ local Lawn Tennis Associations.
Mr Lilley says: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to play a key role in giving the region’s budding tennis players the opportunity to further their dreams in becoming a future Wimbledon tennis star. Both the winter and summer Mini Masters’ series have given talented young sportspeople from throughout Devon and Cornwall the opportunity to experience competitive tennis.
“To have helped give junior tennis a higher profile has been a privilege and the popularity of our Mini Masters’ series has resulted in a heartening growth in volume and quality of young players taking up the game.”
The competition has been open to all young tennis players up to the age of 10 years old and heats have been held across 14 regional tennis centres and clubs with the top eight players from each county and age group qualifying to battle it out in the Mini Masters finals.
Debbie Hale (LTA Talent Performance Co-ordinator) said: “It is great to see so many young mini tennis competitors in action over the winter and really encouraging to see so many new faces on this season’s leaderboard.
“The continued work of Flybe with Devon/Cornwall LTA has been key to create more opportunities at grass roots for all players, beginner or advanced. The standard of the finals was high and we could see the future of British Tennis emerging from our counties due to the competitive opportunities we have provided with Team Flybe. ”
For more information on the Flybe Mini Masters Summer Tennis Competition visit the LTA website www.lta.org.uk see “players” & “competition”
Contact: Debbie Hale (LTA Talent Performance Co-ordinator -Devon & Cornwall) debbie.hale@LTA.org.uk
Devon LTA devon@lta.org.uk 01752 892664
Cornwall LTA cornwall@lta.org.uk 01637 839136
For further press information, or to arrange an interview, please contact the Flybe press office:
T: 0845 675 0681 E: pressoffice@flybe.com
About Flybe
- Flybe is Europe's largest and most successful regional airline with 203 routes serving 13 countries, operating from a total of 70 departure points, 38 UK and 32 European airports* (on sale for Summer/Winter ’10)
- Flybe is the UK’s Number One Domestic Airline - carrying more UK domestic passengers than any other airline; carrying more domestic passengers at London Gatwick than any other airline and operating over four times more domestic routes than any other airline (CAA statistics – May 09-May ‘10)
- Flybe is the only UK carrier to feature in the prestigious US-published Forbes magazine Top 10 on time arrival list of Global Major Carriers 2009.
- Flybe won both Best Short-Haul Airline and Best Environmental accolades at the 2010 Business Travel Awards. Other recent awards include: Air Transport World’s 2009 Regional Airline of the Year; Aviation Week’s Overhaul & Maintenance (O&M) European Airline MRO of the Year (Flybe’s aircraft maintenance division); the ‘Most Environmentally and Socially Responsible Budget Airline’ Award at The British Travel Awards 2009 for the second year running; and the 2008 Regional Leadership Award at the Global Airline Strategy Awards
- Flybe’s Training Academy in Exeter, costing £11.9 million to construct, is scheduled to open in 2010.
- Flybe launched the aviation industry’s first ever eco labelling scheme in 2007
- Flybe offers the UK’s first low cost customer loyalty scheme open to all passengers Rewards4all
- Flybe signed a landmark franchise Agreement with Loganair, the Scottish regional airline, in January 2008– the first of its kind ever for a low cost carrier
* Flown under the Flybe brand, of which 26 routes, 10 airports and one country are exclusively served by Flybe’s franchise partner, Loganair.
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