For those aspiring young tennis champions for whom the regular season just isn't long enough, Gloucester District Tennis Association is to hold a late season junior tennis tournament.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Running from May 4 through to June 29, the tournament is open to players aged 7-15 years and will take place at Gloucester Tennis Club on Saturday afternoons from 1:30-3:30pm.
Competition will be based on a round robin format for the strictly doubles tournament, with players organised into age and standard appropriate pools.
Each player will in turn play both with and again all other players, along the way accumulating their own personal point score which will be totalled over the eight weeks of the tournament.
"They don't have to be there every single week, but obviously the more we get there the better it is and the more points the individual will tally," club coach and tournament organiser, Greg Billingham said.
It is hoped the tournament will provide an alternative to those less interested in traditional "winter sports", such as soccer, Australian rules football, the rugby codes, netball and hockey - as well as those who want to do it all.
"We're looking at running this over the autumn and winter months and perhaps capture kids who have already played their football and soccer of a morning and if they've still got a bit of leftover energy to come down and have a hit of tennis in the afternoon," Greg said.
This is the first year for the tournament which Greg hopes to make an ongoing fixture that helps to develop the pool of local tennis talent.
I find that the doubles format works better for the kids, and later on we might try a doubles and singles format depending on how this competition goes
- Gloucester Tennis club coach and tournament organiser, Greg Billingham
"I think there's room for it on the local sporting calendar and it's my hope that we can pick up a few juniors and then they can gradually move into the seniors comps," Greg said.
"We had four young students of mine play in last year's Gloucester Open in the under 12 division where they competed against some pretty stiff opposition from Sydney and got a lot of tennis experience from it."
Cost of entry into the tournament is $5 per session with competitors required to be members of Gloucester District Tennis Association for a once only junior fee of $15.
For more information contact the club at play.tennis.com.au/gloucesterdistricttennisassociation or via their facebook page.
