Now in its 87th year, and one of the county’s longest established events, the Bury Junior Tournament opens the Suffolk Junior Tournament Circuit next week. This popular festival of tennis is now staged at Culford School, with its superb sporting facilities, including both indoor and outdoor courts. The school very generously supports the tournament with a discounted rate for the use of their facilities, and a big thank-you also goes to other sponsors Glasswells, Ensors, Wildtracks Activity Park and First Choice Marquees.
Play starts on Monday, with over 160 competitors enjoying Singles and Doubles from mini red 8 through to Open events. There have been especially good entries from Culford School, Red Lodge Tennis Club and Risbygate, with a host of aspiring youngsters in the 8s, 9s and 10s, which is very encouraging for the future. Indefatigible Chairman Sue Glasswell is once again at the helm of a hard-working committee, with Rick Gardner once again making the trip from Middlesex to referee the event.
Topspin Tennis will once again be on site, providing racket stringing and clothing. Spectators are more than welcome during the week, with home-made refreshments always available. The tournament now has its own website, so for photos of last year and this year’s information, visit: www.burywestsuffolktt.co.uk. Framlingham comes hard on the heels of Bury, followed by Lowestoft, Felixstowe and finally, the Suffolk Junior Closed.
In fact, entries are now open for the Suffolk County Championships , which are an LTA approved Grade 3 Tournament, running from Monday 25th August to Friday 29th August.
These County Championships take place across all counties in Great Britain during the last week of August to provide competitive opportunities for mini, junior and adult players, who have the opportunity to earn Grade 3 ranking points. They are a festival of tennis, and anyone can enter singles and doubles whether you consider yourself to be a club, park, school or county player. There is certainly something for everyone to enjoy.
The tournament will once again be held at the Ipswich Sports Club, with refreshments available daily, and Tournament Secretary Sheelagh Watts\comments, “ We are all eagerly looking forward to the 2014 County Championships at the end of August,; these events are a great opportunity for adults and juniors of all standards to compete locally. Last year was a great success with nearly 7000 players competing across Great Britain. I would like to encourage players to enter this year’s tournament now via the LTA website, as the tournament is the finale to the Summer holidays and great fun for all.”
For additional information contact Sheelagh Watts on 01473-251144, or visit www.lta.org.uk, with the competition and entering reference SUF 14S0074.
Finally, as our Men have begun County Week in Group 2 superbly with wins over Yorkshire and Norfolk, many congratulations to our Under 9 team, who won the East Region County Cup last weekend. The team of Joshua Mumford, Toby Dean, Seth Midwood, Justice Hall, Louise Booker and Tilly McLoughlin ( pictured ??) did the county proud with 6-3 victories over Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. No doubt some of these youngsters will be playing at Framlingham soon, which will be fully previewed next week.