Player Profile: Samantha Smith

SAMANTHA SMITH

Squad: Holiday Camp

How old were you when you first started tennis?

I was 10 years old

How were you introduced to the sport?

A school club

What made you come to Totally Tennis?

I came with my friend

Who is your favourite professional tennis player?

Andy Murray

What do you like most about the sport?

Being on my feet

What do you consider to be your best shot?  

Forehand

How often do you play?   

Most weekends

Do you play any other sport?  

Basketball, football and netball

What’s your greatest achievement in tennis so far?  

Playing matches

Player Profile: Oliver Brennan

OLIVER BRENNAN

Squad: Holiday Camp

How old were you when you first started tennis?

I started playing tennis when I was 5yrs old

How were you introduced to the sport?

I saw a Wimbledon match on the TV and thought I should try it out

What made you come to Totally Tennis?

My friend recommended it to me

Who is your favourite professional tennis player?

Andy Murray

What do you like most about the sport?

Being able to challenge your opponent again and again

What do you consider to be your best shot?  

When I score a shot from the baseline

How often do you play?   

Every other week

Do you play any other sport?  

Table Tennis and Badminton

What’s your greatest achievement in tennis so far?  

Helping my friends to become good tennis players

Chendhilkumar Twins Compete in Oxford

Totally Tennis mini tennis players Guhan and Gevin Chendhilkumar participated in their first external tennis tournament outside the club last weekend. The twin brothers competed in the 9 and under Boys Singles event which was part of the Leys Mini Tennis Tournament in Oxford.

The tournament was played in a round robin format with the brothers competing is different boxes. In Group A, Guhan unfortunately lost his three matches 10-6, 10-7 and 10-4 respectively and finished in fourth place. Gevin fairer better in Group B where he finished third beating William White 10-4 but losing his other two matches 10-2 including his match against eventual event winner Shay Corcoran.

The brothers then played each other in an epic match that Gevin just edged 10-9. Gevin then defeated Benjamin Seville 10-5 to finish in fifth place overall.

Good luck for future events boys 😉

 

July In Pictures

See what’s been happening at Totally Tennis in July in pictures 🙂

Coaches Ben Jubin and Shyam Vithlani enjoyed a day at the Wimbledon Championships

It was the TT Tour Grand Slam Wimbledon event that William (above 2nd right) and Charlie (below 3rd left) won in their respective age groups

Kirsty Da Silva was runner-up in her first Grade 4 final in the GSM Bampton 12U Girls Summer County Tour in Oxford

This year’s Totally Tennis team retained the club’s unbeaten record in the annual Festival of Sport event against twin town Euskirchen. Head coach James McIntosh (pictured below) ran the tennis competition at the indoor centre

McIntosh and Jubin ran the North Waltham Primary Schools Wimbledon event at the indoor centre

Kirsty Da Silva (pictured left) and her partner Amelia Pirt won the Grade 4 Leys Junior Doubles 16 and under title at Leys Recreation Ground in Oxford.

Isla Hignett was runner-up in the 14 and under Girls singles Road to Wimbledon (RTW) County Finals held at Canoe Lake Leisure in Southsea.

The Sherfield School Boys team, which consists of four Totally Tennis performance players, completed in the Team Tennis Schools National Championships Finals 2016-2017 (formerly known as the Glanville Cup) at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.

Totally Tennis played host to a Benenden Tennis Festival with a Summertime Slam event open to both mini red and orange players run by performance players Miles Bromilow and Liam Hignett. 

Hayden Cummings and William Durman (pictured above L to R) were the overall winners in the two Benenden Festival events.

 

Benenden Tennis Festival Summertime Slam

Totally Tennis played host to a Benenden Tennis Festival last Sunday with a Summertime Slam event open to both mini red and orange players. The three hour event was run by performance players Miles Bromilow and Liam Hignett and packed with a whole host of tennis related fun, games and competition.

The festival is designed to give players new to competition the opportunity to learn about scoring and the rules of tennis while the more experience players get some match practice but the overall theme is for the players to have fun.

Games to get everyone warmed-up, including balloon tennis, around the world and knockout tennis, preceded the matches. The mini red competition was a round robin draw of seven players with lots of competitive matches. The overall winner was William Durman who won all his matches and Neel Chandrasekar was runner-up.

The Orange competition was split into two boxes with the top two players from each box going through to the semi-finals. The first semis match was an all sibling affair with Box A winner Geven Chendhilkumar facing his brother Guhan who was Box B runner-up, Geven was the victor 10-6. Meanwhile in the other semi-final the winner of Box B Hayden Cummings beat Box A runner-up Ansh Annaredy 10-4.

The final was watched by all the competitors with Cummings declared the overall winner beating Geven 10-4. The day finished with a presentation and prizes for all the competitors.

Bromilow said, “Congratulations to all the players who took part. We look forward to hosting similar events in the future and even some more Benenden Tennis Festivals.”

Healthcare provider Benenden has partnered with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to encourage people of all ages from the local community to get involved in themed competitions and live an active lifestyle. Benenden Tennis Festivals are a fantastic opportunity for clubs and venues throughout the country to host fun, themed competitions for local players.

Launched in 2016, the Benenden Tennis Festivals programme saw 870 venues get involved which created over 30,000 opportunities for players to take part in fun, local competitions. There are four themed festivals that clubs can choose to host this year; Aussie Open (celebrating the first Grand Slam of 2017), Women/Girls (a female only festival to celebrate International Women’s Day in March), Summertime Slam (celebrate Wimbledon and the summer of tennis in June or July) and Monster Smash (a spooky event in October or November to celebrate Halloween).

Hignett and Bromilow are part of the LTA’s Referee Development Group which teaches them the necessary competition organisation skills to run events – read more about that here

Additional information used courtesy of www.lta.org.uk/competitions/family/benenden-tennis-festivals/

 

 

Da Silva Wins Doubles Title in Oxford

Totally Tennis performance player Kirsty Da Silva (pictured left) and her partner Amelia Pirt won the Grade 4 Leys Junior Doubles 16 and under title at Leys Recreation Ground in Oxford on Sunday.

Da Silva, 12 and Pirt, 11 were the only pair to win all their three matches in the round robin competition. They beat Isabel and Georgia Black 4-2, 2-4 [10-7], Michaela Shakespeare and Oyinkansolami Durowoju 5-4(1), 2-4, [10-6] and Holly Craig and Beatrice Painter 4-1, 4-1 to win the event.

Congratulations Girls 😉

North Waltham Primary Schools Wimbledon Event

The annual North Waltham Primary Schools Wimbledon event was held this year at Totally Tennis’ centre in the War Memorial Park. There were two competitions, one for the younger year 3 and 4 pupils and a separate event for the older children in year 5 and 6.

Forty-five players entered the year 3 and 4 event with the players split into nine boxes of five players. It was a round robin format where players would play a match tie break to 10 points with the top sixteen players from the boxes progressing through into the knockout stages.

The final four contested the semi-final matches; Stanley versus Ben and Kirsten against Hector, Stanley and Kirsten progressing to the final which Stanley then won 10-6 to be crowned the champion.

In the year 5&6 competition there were few players with only thirty-five entires with the players split into six boxes of five competitors. The top eight players then progressed through to the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals Faith beat Finn 10-6 and Soloman beat Harry 10-7. The final was a close affair with Faith just edging the win over Harry 11-9 to become the upper school winner.

 Head coach James McIntosh said, “It was great to host the North Waltham Wimbledon event at Totally Tennis.” he added,  “There were so many players involved in the event and some great matches played across the day, everyone really enjoyed the event. “

Phoebe a teacher from North Waltham said “My colleagues and I were really impressed by the standard of tennis, especially in the last sixteen of the 3 & 4 competition.” she added, “The children really enjoyed it and the weather was on our side!“