Runner-up Spot for Unseeded Ward at Aldershot

Dan Ward, who plays at Totally Tennis, was runner-up in the LTA South & South West Tour 16U boys singles at Aldershot Tennis Centre earlier this month.

Ward (pictured right), who was unseeded in the Grade 5 event, had a bye in the first round and then defeated third seed Joseph Lamburn in the quarter-finals in three sets 4-3, 3-4, 10-8. He caused further upset in the semis by defeating top seed Luka Williams (a former Totally Tennis player) in another three set battle  4-3, 3-4 ,10-8. He finished as runner-up after losing in the final 4-0, 4-2 to fellow unseeded player Joshua Mortimer, who had beaten the fourth and second seeds. Congratulations Dan!

Keen player Dan is a regular at Monday and Tuesday Drills at the indoor centre, trains with Queen Mary’s College (QMC) at Totally Tennis on Wednesday afternoons and plays in the doubles matchplay sessions on Thursday evenings.

Photos used with courtesy of the Basingstoke Gazette

October in Pictures | 2023

The Mixed Team (L to R Dan, Sandra, Lisa & Elton) played at home beating Oakley 6-2

50+ session with coach Kevin

Basingstoke Pickleball Club players Maisie Wise, Harry Feast and Lewis One all won titles at the HEAD International Luxembourg Open (read full article HERE)

Serving practice with coach Kevin for the QMC students at the indoor centre

October Half Term Tennis Camps

Pickleball taster sessions at Hampshire Court (above & below)

Basingstoke 5K – Move Against Cancer group celebrated their 4th birthday at Totally Tennis after the Basingstoke park run

Mixed Morning with coaches Nigel & Kevin

Seven Basingstoke Pickleball Club players competed in the 2023 National Finals in Bolton winning an impressive collective haul of 5 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals

ADAPT Performance Players Win at County Closed | 2023

Well done to all the ADAPT performance players who played and won at this year’s Hampshire & IOW County Championships 2023.

In the U12 boys singles, second seed William Durman was crowned champion after beating Oluwamurewa Egbeyemi in the final 6-2, 2-6, 10-5. He was also U12 doubles champion with partner Zachary Kleiner defeating second seeds Ollie Wright and Jasper Yu 4-2, 4-1.

In the U14 doubles event, Durman and Kleiner finished as runner-up after they lost to top seeds Daniel Rutorov and Edwin James Vopson 4-2, 4-1. In the U14 singles quarter-finals, Durman lost to second seed and overall winner Daniel Rutorov 6-3, 7-5.

Younger brother Edward Durman was U10 doubles champion with partner Campbell Purdie. It was an all ADAPT players final with Durman and Purdie beating teammates Connie Soon and Josh Reid 4-3. Second seeds Durman and partner Filip Kaminski were U11 doubles runner-ups after losing to top seeds Archie Rossiter and Daniel Vopson 4-2, 4-1.

Totally Tennis coach and top seed Isla Hignett won the woman’s doubles title with partner Charlotte Howard beating second seeds Scarlett Doman and Ivana Maynard 6-3, 7-5.

Totally Pickled | South East England Pickleball League

Totally Pickled, the team representing Basingstoke Pickleball Club, have been competing in the South East England Pickleball League (SEPL), an inter-club competition created by Pickleball England.

Totally Pickled are a new team playing in the SEPL league for the first time this season. The rotation of players includes Totally Tennis coach Kevin Tucks, Gillian Butler, Debbie Blackmore, Damien One, Matt Burt and mother and son duo Michelle and Glenn Tomlinson. The team started off playing in division 6 then had some tough matches and dropped down to division 7 but are now back up competing in division 6.

The South East competition takes place once a month on a Sunday at David Lloyd Woking. All matches are played on the indoor acrylic surface with Franklin X40 balls, the official ball of Pickleball England. Thirty-two teams are representing sixteen clubs in the South East 2023 league playing across eight divisions over a period of eight months that started back in March. The next three fixtures will take place on 13th August, 10th September and 15th October. At the end of the eight months, there will be a quarter finals, semi-finals and finals day on 12th November where the League Champions and runner-ups will be crowned. Each division has four teams competing in the top division (Premier Division*) followed by divisions 1 through to 7.  

Basingstoke Pickleball Club’s Maisie Wise is playing in the premier division with her team the LP Bears. Pickleball coach Rob Williams, who has been a guest coach at Basingstoke Pickleball Club, also plays in the top league with his team DLF Castles.

Fancy playing Pickleball? Basingstoke Pickleball Club meets every Monday evening (7:30pm-9:30pm) and Saturday afternoon (2pm-4pm) at Totally Tennis. Sessions are £6 per player. Find out more about playing Pickleball at Totally Tennis on our website www.totallytennis.co.uk/about-3 or telephone 01256 358816. Read more in previous post HERE

*Divisions were determined based on 2022 results and the average rating of the new teams.

League information used with courtesy of Pickleball England – click HERE for more information

Basingstoke Pickleball Easter Egg-Stravaganza Tournament

The Basingstoke Pickleball Easter Egg-Stravanganza tournament was held at Totally Tennis on Sunday 2nd April to raise money for permanent painted court lines. The necessary funds were successfully raised and the lines were painted prior to the event so everyone could benefit. All players were welcomed and it was a great mix of people who have been playing for eight years to others who have only recently started playing in the last couple of months.

The event, which was organised by Maisie Wise, was won by Gosport’s James Emery & Phil Nash (pictured on the left in the photo below with Lewis Oke & Michael Barry finishing as runners-up. Raffle prizes were donated by Framework Sports, Diadem Pickleball and balls by Pickleball England. The tournament was followed by lunch in the pavilion.

Maisie said, “It was fantastic to see so many players from the surrounding areas getting together to play pickleball! One of my favourite things about the sport is the community, and everyone who attended the tournament fit right in with how friendly and enthusiastic they were.”

She added, “A big thank you to Totally Tennis and Jill Gibson who have been so great with helping me to organise the event and keeping everyone happy on the day. Another big thanks goes to Framework Sports and Diadem Pickleball for their support and donating such fantastic prizes for the raffle, and to Pickleball England for your support and for donating the Franklin X-40s!“

Maisie (pictured above at the table) started playing Pickleball six years ago and has been playing competitively for eighteen months. She now competes in the South-East premier division and is sponsored by paddle and equipment company, Diadem.

Find out more about Basingstoke Pickleball Club on our website www.totallytennis.co.uk/about-3 or telephone 01256 358816

Read more about Basingstoke Pickleball Club in previous post HERE

March in Pictures | 2023

Assistant coach Kirsty represented Hampshire & I.O.W in the Girls U18 County Cup

The Mixed B team played away against Beechdown (L to R Harry, Sandra, Mike & Lisa)

Winter weather was back in full force

Totally Tennis A team played the B team (L to R Lisa, Mike, Kie, Kirsty, Sandra, Mark, Charlotte & Harry) at the indoor centre in Basingstoke & District Tennis League (The A team won 8-0)

Coach Isla with the banner promoting the new ‘Calling All Girls’ sessions starting on 20th April

The Mixed B team played against Andover at home in the local Basingstoke & District Winter league (L to R Sandra, Andrew, Lisa & Mike)

Coach Isla was one of the team captains (along with Joe) of the U9 boys & Girls Hampshire & I.O.W County Cup teams

Coach Kevin joined mother-and-son duo Michelle & Glen in the Pickleball Mothers Day Tournament held in Woking (L to R Kevin, Michelle, Glen & Gillian)

Wednesday morning 50+ players in action

Tennis Director & UCoach Tutor Nigel (pictured second left) at the Coach Network meeting held at David Lloyd Southampton

Jill and her dog Finlay completed their 100km walking challenge for Dementia UK

Great to see the Basingstoke 5K Your Way – Move Against Cancer group back at the club for their monthly park run meet-up

December in Pictures | 2022

Coach Isla coaching a private lesson with 4-year-old Romy

Our Pickleball Club continued to grow in popularity

Coach Isla braving the winter weather on the outdoor courts

Lots of fun was had on and off court (pictured above & below) at our adult big Christmas event

The winter weather set in but play continued on the indoor courts

Sport in Mind session

A fun, festive 50+ session on court followed by a Christmas party in the Pavillon

Coaches Kevin & Kie competed against players Colin, Chris & Mark at Escape Hunt Basingstoke (the players team were victorious)

The Dodgers Christmas tournament run by coaches Kevin & Kie

Twelve players entered the ABC squads Christma event run by coaches Kevin & Kie. Ben Applegate was the winner.

Coach Kevin with Giants Christmas tournament winner Dylan Mills and his fellow competitors (above & below)

Adult pay-and-play sessions with coach Kevin

Squad Christmas Tournaments | 2022

A series of junior Christmas tournaments were held by coaches Kevin and Kie in the first week of the school holidays for junior Mini Development (under 10’s) and Development (over 10’s) squad players.

In the Dodgers (orange ball) round robin tournament Jacob Wright was the overall winner with Victoria Strazewska finishing in the runner-up spot. In third place was Maurycy Zielinski, Arthur Lu was fourth and Ryan Williams finished in fifth place.

Next up was the older juniors, with twelve squad players competing in the ABC (yellow ball) fast four tournament. Ben Applegate took the top spot and Pablo Delgado was runner-up.

The final event of the week was the Giants (green ball) tournament which was won by Hamish Harwell.

Squad tournaments are a great way for players to put into practice all the skills and techniques they learn in their squad coaching sessions. Well done to all the players who entered and competed in the festive events.

AoC Regional Tournament held at Totally Tennis | 2022

The Association of Colleges (AOC) South East Regional singles competition was played at Totally Tennis’ indoor centre on Thursday 24th November attracting fourteen players from colleges across the region. The annual tournament was run by Queen Mary’s College (QMC) sports teacher and tennis referee Sarah Goldson. The players were representing colleges including Esher, Farnborough, Havant & South Downs (HSDC), Peter Symonds (PS), Richard Collyer, Bexhill and Basingstoke based QMC.

In the semi-finals top seed Owen Martel from (PS) beat fourth seed Callum Lowther from (HSDC) in straight sets 4-0, 4-0. The second match saw an all Peter Symonds battle, with teammates Dan Micklefield (2) beating Ashton Kerslake 4-2, 4-1. QMC was represented by Bobbly Miller and Jude Atfield. Atfield finished third overall in his group of four players that included fourth seed Lowther.

In the final, Martel dominated the match defeating Micklefield 4-0, 4-0. The 3^rd/4^th play off match was won by Kerslake who beat Lowther 4-2, 4-2 securing the top three players who went through to the next stage were all from Peter Symonds College

Goldson said, “It’s my 17^th year running the South East Regional Tennis Competition and it was good to get back to some refereeing duties!” she added, “The singles competition always produces some great tennis and the overall winner, Owen played some very impressive tennis.  As a region, we will be well represented in the finals by the top three players who went through.”

The AoC Sport National Championships will again take place at the University of Nottingham over the weekend of 14th-16th April 2023.

Isla Celebrates Victory with Hampshire County Cup Team

Assistant coach and performance player Isla Hignett was part of the victorious Hampshire & IOW ladies team who were group 2b champions in the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) Winter County Cup.

The nationwide County Cup events ran from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th November 2022 at the David Lloyd Club in Southampton against teams from Somerset, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

Hignett was joined by fellow Hampshire players Summer Colling, Freya Davies, Susan Aspley, Lisa Hanley, Charlotte Howard, Lauren Howard, Taro Keens, Hannah Smith and former Totally Tennis player Debbie-Louise Hale.

In their first match on Friday the Hampshire team beat Somerset 7-2, followed by another 7-2 victory against Warwickshire on Saturday and a 7-1 win against Nottinghamshire on Sunday to win the group and secure promotion to the next division. Hignett and Hale teamed up on Sunday to play in the doubles beating the Nottinghamshire pair Millie Wileman and Sarah Wright 3-6, 6-2, 10-6.

The Hampshire & IOW men’s team also played their Winter County Cup competition over the weekend. The team, who played at Easton Tennis Centre in Norfolk, were group 4b champions after winning all their matches against teams from Norfolk, Devon and Dorset. Former Totally Tennis player and coach Liam Hignett (and brother of Isla) was part of the winning team who also gained promotion to the next division.

The Winter County Cup Event is a ‘one-off Event’ played over three days at the end of November. Forty-four counties play in twenty-two groups of four counties per gender. Groups are normally placed in order of the previous year’s results with Group 1 being the premier. The Summer County Cup is held in July is one of the oldest events on the domestic calendar, dating back as far as 1895. 

Congratulations to both the Hampshire teams.

Additional information used with courtesy of www.lta.org.uk/compete/adult/county-cup/