18/12/09 - Mildura Weekly
www.sunraysiaonline.com.au
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Tennis program set to serve up more success SUNRAYSIA Academy of Sport’s (SAS) tennis athletes have enjoyed a successful 2009/10 to date, with the group looking to finish the season strongly in the new year. All eight participants will compete at the Goulburn Valley Junior Tennis Championship, to be held in Shepparton in January, and the Renmark Grasscourt Championship in February, with SAS co-ordinator Vicki Telfer saying that players are confident they can perform well. “Our tennis program has gone from strength to strength in 2009,” she said. “And that’s thanks largely to the tutelage of our Technical Director of Coaching Mike Horsman, and all of the participant’s hard work and dedication over the last 12 months. “With Mike at the helm we expect our athletes to be very competitive at the next two tournaments, where hopefully they will perform well, and build on what has already been a great year.” Vicki said that the group’s efforts in the past year had seen squad members build a reputation across regional Victoria, achieving promising results at the South Australian Age Championship held in July in Adelaide, and the Frankston Tournamant in September. “At both tournaments our athletes performed extremely well, with Sarah Watts and Sheree Moore shining at the Frankston Tournament, while Nathan Mayes finished strong in Adelaide,” she said. “Sheree is only in her first year with the program, and the strides she’s made has been promising, while our more experienced campaigners like Nathan and Sarah have also continued to develop.”
A Daimler Brand
• UP AND OVER: Sarah Watts works hard to get the ball back over the net.
• ON THE BALL: Sunraysia Academy of Sport tennis program participants are: (back row) Sheree Moore, Nathan Mayes, Tennis Victoria’s Matthew Gregory, Blake Davis and Jack Wilson, and (front row) Zac Robinson, Sarah Watts and Liam Davis. Vicki said that all tournaments were played on a points system, allowing competitors to improve their Australian rankings. “Kate is our highest rainking female in Sunraysia with 635 points, while Nathan is sitting on 1993 points,” she said. “We’ll be trying to get our athletes involved in more points tournaments in the future, so that they can continue to move up the rankings.” Vicki said that the group’s most recent performance at the inaugural Victorian Regional Academies of Sport Tennis Challenge in Melbourne was also a highlight, with representatives facing off against teams from fellow regional sporting academies
including the SouthWest Academy of Sport (Ballarat), Gippsland Sports Academy, and the UB WestVic Academy of Sport (Warrnambool). Matches were played using an ‘American college’ format, with major differences including the exclusion of the ‘let’ rule, and inclusion of sudden death deuce points. UB WestVic eventually came out on top, with Sunraysia’s representatives finishing equal third. “It was the first time these academies have come together for such a tournament, so our athletes achieved a fantastic result,” Vicki said. “Our results also proved we’re our program stands against some of the others in the State, and hopefully we can learn from those programs, and continue to work towards more success in the future.” Vicki said that athletes had spent the majority of their time learning about tactics, developing game plans and strategies, and generally harnessing their skills. “There is more to tennis than just hitting a ball over a net,” she said. “Tennis is one of those sports anyone can play, but can only succeed in if they live, breath, sleep and think about the sport. “Mike is teaching our competitors how to become athletes, conveying what they’ll need to know to go places in the sport, and it’s extremely pleasing to see our participants transforming into tennis athletes. “Given that this is only the second year the SAS has run a tennis program, I think we’ve made great strides, and I have no doubt that within the next couple of years our athletes will have
access to a broader range of developmental tools.” Vicki said that with the success of the academy’s volleyball program in the last two years, including coach Paul Freckleton being named Australian Junior Volleyball Coach of the Year, and a record number of State representatives also academy products, that it was encouraging to see another sport start to do well. “It’s clear to all of us that the tennis program is heading in the right direction, and is providing Sunraysia’s junior tennis players with the chance to reach their full potential,” she said. “For a program that is still relatively young and is still growing we’ve received some great feedback from Tennis Victoria, and with our direct link to the Victorian Institute of Sport we’ll be looking to start offering more
to regional players at a subsidised cost. “Our volleyball program has almost become a benchmark for what the SAS can produce, and I strongly believe that with time our tennis program can achieve similar results.” Vicki said planning was already underway to ensure the program could reach further heights in 2010, including attempting to play more inter-academy tournaments. “I’ve personally been liaising with the five main regional academies to identify whether more inter-academy competition and training opportunities are possible,” she said. “Our aim is to eventually host athletes from Warrnambool, Bendigo, Ballarat, Barwon and Gippsland here in Mildura. “Due to our remote location SAS athletes are usually required to do most of the travelling, and while we’re willing to do that it would be nice to get athletes from outside the district to travel here.” In addition to competing, athletes will also have the opportunity to participate in high-performance training camps, with the first of these to be held in Renmark on February 15. “Mike is going to be running that camp, with around 30 athletes from both Sunraysia and the Riverland expected to take part,” Vicki said. “All of our athletes should get a lot out of the trip, with Mike to focus on planning and match strategies.” The tennis program’s current season will conclude in February, with a selection trial for the 2010/11 program to be held on Sundaay, January 31. “We’ve got a limit on how many athletes we can take,” Vicki said. “And ideally we’d like to increase our current numbers to our maximum intake. “Hopefully next year will be the beginning of a bigger and better program, and the start of another successful season for our tennis athletes.”
• ACE MOVE: Nathan Mayes is forced to get low with this return.
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