Rayleigh Tennis Academy
At Rayleigh Lawn Tennis Club

"This was the 5th year of the Rayleigh Junior Schools Tennis Tournament. 

 

Over Wimbledon fortnight Rayleigh Lawn Head Coach Ryan Wilsons and his Team of Assistants George Vile, Matt Cannon, Jack Roberts and Aaron Drage visited 7 Rayleigh Primary Schools where they ran class tournaments for all the Year 3 & 4 pupils. At the weekend all the individual class winners attended the finals of the competition, held at Rayleigh Lawn Tennis Club, Watchfield Lane, Rayleigh.

 

There were 4 tournaments: year 3 boys, year, 4 boys, year 3 girls, year 4 girls, took place.  Pictures can be seen on our Facebook page Rayleigh Tennis Academy or on our website www.RayleighTennisAcademy.com

 

All 7 schools that took part, Grovewood, Edward Francis, Glebe, Rayleigh Primary, Our Lady of Ransom, Down Hall and Wyburns all had at least 1 pupil reach the semi-finals. Grovewood had an exceptionally good showing, producing 2 of the 4 winners, as well as 2 of the runners up.

 

The tournaments were all run in tie-break format (first to 7 points) and the courts were Mini Red size (short tennis). The participants were placed into groups, with all the winners and in some cases the highest scoring runner up qualifying for the knockout stages.

 

The Girls Finals on Saturday started with the Year 3 Tournament which was won by Ruby Masheda of Down Hall School, who beat Keira Peake of Glebe, 7-4 in the final.  The Year 4 Girls Tournament followed, this was won by Naomi Sheffield of Grovewood School who showed she had great potential by beating Lily-Beth Ball (Rayleigh Primary) 7-1 in the final.

 

Sunday saw the Boys finals kick off with the Year 3 Tournament. Caleb White (Edward Francis) put in a great performance, being the only boy to reach the semi-finals who does not already play at a tennis club. The winner Quinn Williams (Rochford Tennis Club) became Glebe’s first winner of the school tennis tournament defeating Ben Hoskins (Rayleigh Tennis Club and Grovewood School) in the final. Ben also did exceptionally well as he only started coaching 3 weeks ago.

 

Next up was the Boys Year 4 finals. This event was of a very high standard and produced some excellent matches. All 4 players that reached the semi-finals play and have coaching at Rayleigh Lawn. Sid Franklin (Edward Francis) and Isaac Pearson (Our Lady of Ransom) reached the semi-finals. The final was contested by 2 Grovewood pupils, Luke Byron and Diwij Saigal. In an extremely close final that saw Diwij take a 5-4 lead, Luke came back to win 7-5 in what was probably the best match of the tournament.

 

Apart from discovering new talent, the tournament was about giving as many children as possible the opportunity to try tennis. Over the 2 weeks and across the 4 tournaments, around 900 pupils took part and all pupils from the schools that took part having been given the chance to book on our summer camps (book through website www.rayleightennisacademy.com) or to book a free group taster session at our club. We have had fantastic feedback and hopefully next year’s tournament will be just as good."

 

Reported: Echo