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Want more tournaments? Go South.
Sam Gouneili and Yumi Karlshoej, above, are among 31 juniors who went to Olympia, Washington to play a tournament at Bally Total Fitness, April 29
- May 1, 2011. Out of 134 total players, 31 were from BC. Tournament reached its capacity few days before the entry deadline, otherwise more BC players would have been accepted. Our juniors want to play more tournaments.
The long drive, border line-ups and travel
costs, didn't stop the players and their parents going. Some parents
even had to take the time off work as matches started Friday morning.
These kids are motivated and their parents are committed. It's all about
playing tournaments. They understand what it takes to become a better
player.
Competitive opportunities are limited in BC. Only two
junior tournaments (singles events) in Greater Vancouver in the first four months of this year!
The next tournament is in May 19.
Photo 1 (left): Todd Fought of West Vancouver reporting
his winning scores. Todd beat Luke Thompson
of Eastern Washington, 6-3, 6-1, to win the Boys' 18 title.
Photo 2: Eleven-year-old Jack Davis of Coquitlam beat Payton Namba of Northwest Washington, 6-1, 6-1, in the final to win the Boys' 12.
Photo 3: From left to right: Eric Fought, Brandon Fung and his sister Stacey.
Photo 4: Tournament director John Campbell. John managed to
run most matches on schedule. Main draw was played in the club
6 indoor
courts and all consolation matches played outside
at a school near by, thanks to the good weather over the weekend.
Photo 5: Austin Hoole came from Victoria. He also
went to Indian Wells in March to be a ball-boy, the only Canadian ball-kid
there. For a picture of Austin with our Canadian rising star, Milos Raonic,
click here.
Photo 6: From left to right: Alejandra Enderica, Yumi Karlshoej and Harjit Gosal.
Photo 7:
Alexandra Sigouin and her brother Benjamin. Eleven-year-old
Benjamin played up one category. He lost in the Boys' 14 to the first
seed, Wyatt Demulling of Northwest Washington in a close match , 2-6,
6-4, 10-6.
Photo 8: Players had a good time in between matches, socializing
and
playing ping pong.
Photo 9: Parents watching matches. Rob Fought, third, left,
organized and brought group of players from Hollyburn Country Club to
the tournament,
including his two sons, Todd and Eric. Rob will be managing his
own tournament, the Hollyburn Junior Classic, on May 19.
Photo 10: Daniel Budd, left, and Tejas Phaterpekar.
More ....
Here are the rest of the players: Ivana Erdevicki, Harman
Gosal, Brendan Guay, kari Gunton, Patrick Hall, Camille Hemond, Carley
Hunter, Lindsay Hunter, Kelsey King, George Luca,
Jake Perkins,
Kiran Phaterpekar,
Neel
Phaterpekar, Stefan Ungurean, and
Tim
Portnov.
If British Columbia has the highest level of tennis participation amongst provinces,
then why don't we have more tournaments here in BC? Jack Davis,
photo 2, was shocked to learn how few tournaments there are for juniors
in BC when he moved from Ontario in August.
Want more tournaments?
Go to Washington State! They have
something happening almost every weekend and for that reason, they have
a bigger pool of players at their tournaments, attracting juniors from
both Oregon State and British Columbia. Juniors also have the advantage
of playing up to one month before their birthday in their age category,
regardless of what month in the year they were born. |
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