This year, we held the 9th Annual Mini Tournament at Theydon Bois Tennis Club – our ever-popular tournament with children and adults.
Matches are played on LTA Red Ball courts, and, as always, I should like to thank Lyn O’Brien from the Essex LTA for all her help and advice since the outset of this event at Theydon Bois Tennis Club, and for the loan of the additional equipment of mini nets and small racquets.
The Tournament is aimed at allowing the younger members of the club (5 to 9 year olds) to take part in a ‘proper’ tennis competition, and so to help this along, they are partnered by an adult (Mum, Dad, Grandad, Uncle etc). They are then arranged into small ability groups, each of which plays a Round Robin format, using simple scoring.
The games can become highly competitive, especially if they involve Mum and Dad, and rival siblings, but the focus is most definitely on the children! Matches are always played in good spirit, and great fun is had by all, and this year was no exception and we had a good number of entries which was great to see.
The evening was warm and the matches which were cheered on by additional Mums and Dads, Grandparents and friends who came to encourage their teams. The whole event ran very smoothly, no doubt helped along by the food and refreshment that was also once again provided – sincere thanks to our ladies - Caroline, Ann and Robin - who come along every year to help in this department.
All Section winners received a gold medal, whilst other competitors received a silver Competition medal and certificate
The event winners were
Red Group 1: Evie Shirley, partnered by his Dad, Matt.
Blue Group 2: Izzie Cowell, partnered by her Dad, Mark.
Orange Group 3: Joe Oates, partnered by his Dad, James.
June Snellin/23 June 2017