by Steve Howlett | Sep 13, 2018 | County Squads, News, Uncategorized
In association with Top Spin Tennis, Norfolk LTA has appointed Wilson as ball supplier to the county.
The arrangement means that associated clubs can purchase Wilson tennis balls and clothing from Top Spin Tennis at substantially discounted rates.
In addition, Wilson has provided Norfolk LTA with prizes for the Norfolk Closed Tournament and is supplying free of charge mini tennis nets for our schools and disability programme.
Clubs wishing to take advantage of the arrangement should contact Ryan Martin at Top Spin Tennis on 01603 259714.
by norfolktennis | Sep 5, 2018 | County Squads, News, Performance Tennis
THE NORFOLK CLOSED TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
- Some incredible finals and a 6 time winner
The summer tournament season concluded last week with the inaugural county closed championships held at the East Anglia Tennis & Squash Club at Lime Tree Road.
Despite weeks of warm weather and sunshine, Tournament Referee Derek Perry had some cooler conditions to deal with when scheduling matches for players aged between 7-70!
The draws were full of players who train on the county coaching programme but it was great to see some other competitors who performed with great skill and some success.
The age group events were staggered throughout the week allowing for some competitors to take part in multiple events if they choose to. Emily Barrett, who early in the summer had represented the Ladies County Cup team in Division 1, had entered 6 events. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, she remained undefeated throughout the week to claim 3 singles and 3 doubles titles. She was pushed to the limit in the Ladies Final, recovering from a set down against fellow Ladies County player Rosie Pooley before winning 2-6, 7-6, 10-8.
Another multiple winner in the week was Matilda Cabrera Burns who won both the U/9 and U/10 Girls events.
Hannah Wilson Kemsley competed in 3 singles finals, twice losing to Emily in u/16. u/18 age group, however she became u/14 champion after beating Mia Bartram 7-6, 6-3 in the u/14 category.
There were 3 fantastically close finals in the male categories. In the U/18 event Alex Watkinson edged out Fred Withers 6-3, 4-6, 10-6. Kris Jenkins, coach to some of the competing junior players outlasted fellow Men’s county player Alex Mcnaughton 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in a tense finish.
It was great to see so many senior players competing. The Over 35 final between Robert Hall and Mark Eglington also went the distance with Robert eventually winning 6-3, 1-6, 10-5.
RESULTS
U/8
Rufus Snelling beat George Head 10-3
Esme Artherton-Howlett
U/9
Jack Bradshaw beat Nathan Collins 7-5, 7-2
Matilda Cabrera Burns beat Ellis Greenlees 7-0, 7-3
U/10
Blyth Hammonds beat James Henery 4-2, 4-1
Matilda Cabrera Burns beat Anghela Sianosa 5-3
U/12
Isabella Taylor beat Ruby Syer 6-3, 6-1
Oli Buckingham Green beat Jayden Durham 6-1, 6-2
U/14
Hannah Wilson Kemsley beat Mia Bartram 7-6, 6-3
Joe Henden beat Will Stoppani 7-5, 6-3
U/16
Emily Barrett beat Hannah Wilson Kemsley 6-0, 6-2
Scott Whiting beat Will Stoppani 6-2, 6-1
U/18
Emily Barrett beat Hannah Wilson Kemsley 6-2, 6-2
Alex Watkinson beat Fred Withers 6-3, 4-6, 10-6
LADIES
Emily Barrett beat Rosie Pooley 2-6, 7-6, 10-8
MENS
Kris Jenkins beat Alex Mcnaughton 6-3, 3-6, 10-8
Over 55s
Neil Henery beat Robert Ollman 6-0, 6-1
Over 45s
David Youngs beat Robert Hall 6-1, 6-1
Over 35s
Robert Hall beat Mark Eglington 6-3, 1-6, 10-5
by norfolktennis | Aug 24, 2018 | County Squads
9u county cup – Ipswich David Lloyd, 18/8/18
Norfolk boys and girls teams travelled to Ipswich to play 9u county cup. The teams were made up of Jack Bradshaw, Thomas Lloyd, Nathan Collins, Matilda Cabrera – Burns, Ellis Greenlees, and Olivia Marjarom. The other Counties Norfolk had to compete against were Bedfordshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Norfolk’s first match was against Suffolk. Up first was Nathan and Tom, both looking a little nervous and quickly going 1 set down. Nathan managed to dig in deep and win his second set, unfortunately he didn’t manage to convert the final set. Up next was Jack Olivia, Jack had two very close sets but lost both narrowly. Olivia’s opponent played a great match and was too good on this occasion. Then it was Ellis and Matilda’s turn, both played good matches however neither managed to convert them. So after the singles we were 6-0 down and had therefore lost the tie, however there was still the doubles to play and the team were excited about playing together. Nathan and Tom played the boys doubles, Olivia and Ellis played the girls doubles and Matilda and jack played the mixed doubles. All of the team worked hard with Jack and Matilda winning, to get the only win of the tie.
Next was Cambridgeshire, Nathan and Tom up first playing two very strong players. They both started much more positively than their first match’s, Nathan really stepped his game up winning 7-5 7-4. Tom was slightly out powered by a much bigger boy, but worked hard to try and do the things we had talked about. Jack and Olivia were next on, Jack played well but was outplayed by his opponent. Olivia played much better in this match and narrowly missed out on winning the second set 10-8. Ellis had a fantastic match losing in 3 sets. Then Matilda tried really hard but couldn’t quite convert the second set losing it 8-6. We kept the doubles pairings the same for this round, and each pair improved on their first doubles match’s, all working more like a team. All doubles were very close but they each narrowly missed out.
Lastly was Bedfordshire, both counties had lost their first two matches with Bedfordshire winning 2 more matches than Norfolk in the lead up to their tie. The boys started again, both Tom and Nathan having long 3 set matches with only a couple of points separating both boys and their opponents. Tom narrowly missed out on converting his match, but Nathan managed to convert the win. Jack also had a close match but managed to win his in 2 sets making the score 2-1 to Norfolk after the boys had played their singles. Next up was the girls turn, Olivia’s opponent played very well and made very few mistakes. Ellis had a very long 3 set match, after losing the first set easily she managed to come back and win the second 2 sets with great determination. Matilda also had a long 3 set match and also managed to get the win for Norfolk. After the singles the score was 4-2 to Norfolk. The team needed to win at least one doubles to win the tie for their county. With this in mind we kept the doubles pairings the same as they were improving each round. Tom and Nathan had an extremely close 3 set doubles match which they narrowly lost. The girls doubles also went against Norfolk so the score was now 4-4 with just the mixed to play. Jack and Matilda took this match in their stride winning in a straight forward 2 set and winning the tie for Norfolk.
The eventually winners if the event were Cambridgeshire, second was Suffolk, then Norfolk third, and Bedfordshire forth. Well done to all who took part and worked really hard throughout the day. A huge thank you to all of the parents for supporting all day.
Report by County Captain Kim Burgess
by norfolktennis | Jul 28, 2018 | County Squads, News, Performance Tennis
MENS REPORT
Going into the last day, we needed a 7-2 win and for South Wales to beat Yorks for us to stay up. After some changes Thursday I was pleased to be able to select Bloomers, Jenkins for Friday and mcnaughton/Davies who got us into a 2-1 lead. Jenkins then had to come out injured meaning Dan Wynne went in with Bloomers for second round. We won all three runners in the second round them, Crawley/fisher also winning. By this point we knew South Wales were going to get the win meaning we needed 2 out of the last round to avoid relegation. Wynne/Bloomers won, Davies/mcnaighton lost meaning fisher/Crawley needed to get the 7th rubber, they did so 7-6 6-4 meaning the great escape was achieved. ‘I couldn’t have asked any more from the lads on or off the court, for us to keep battling away and maintain group two status in both summer and winter county cup during this period is hugely positive and the boys deserve great credit in wheeling themselves out year after year for the county.’
Report by Nicky Crawley (Captain)
It was a tough week for Norfolk ladies. With only 6 players for the last 3 days it was always going to be a struggle in the heights of division 1. After a tough loss to Hertfordshire on Monday with Maddie and Amy winning the only rubber we had a chance on the 2nd day against the eventual winners surrey. Maddie and Amy won 2 matches with me and Talitha winning one meaning it was a 6-3 loss. Unfortunately, Amy had to leave to start her new job as a doctor so we were down to 6 players. The rest of the girls fought really hard for the remainder of the week but by the end had nothing left in the tank and lots of injuries. I would like to thank the girls for their commitment and effort last week in a difficult situation. We are looking forward to hopefully being back in Cromer next year and some home support.
Report by Sam Noble (Captain)
by Steve Howlett | Jul 5, 2018 | County Squads
Over the weekend of 30th/1st July the U/12 Boys and Girls were competing in the Aegon County Cup.
Norfolk Boys and Girls were grouped with Middlesex, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and local rivals Suffolk.
The six teams were split into two groups of 3 with the top two teams progressing to the Semi Finals. The winning team overall would then progress to the national finals.
The Boys started off against the strongest team on paper, Middlesex. Jayden Durham was first on court and raced into a 3-1 lead with some clever play. Unfortunately he couldnt close out the set (playing short sets to 4) and lost in straight sets.
Joseph Philpott played in the next singles match and played some great shots against an experienced opponent. Unfortunately a lack of consistency cost him the match. Our no.1 player, Oli Buckingham Green then played what became the match of the weekend against a player who remained undefeated throughout the weekend. Olly ran and ran and ran, showing amazing resillience to stay in the point. It was a long match and Olly eventually earned 5 match points which he was enable to convert to get over the line.
So defeat against Middlesex was followed by a match with Suffolk. A switch in the team order enabled Remi Pilgrim to come in for Joseph. This time it both Remi and Oli won convincingly to set up a doubles for victory. The pairing of Olly and Joseph lost this and leave the score at 2-2. This meant a doubles tie-break play off was needed, with Remi coming in for Joseph.
It was a fantastic tie-break which Norfolk eventually won 13-11.
On day 2 Norfolk were slow to get started against Essex with quick defeats for Jayden, Remi and Oli. The pairing of Jayden and Joseph played a good doubles match but it was not enough to prevent a 0-4 defeat.
A final match against Cambridge was then played out. Olly was the only matchwinner as the team suffered a 1-3 defeat. Joseph was back in for the singles and again played well to recover from losing the first set to force a tiebreak. Like Olly on Day 1, he stood at match point but was unable to clinch the match.
Overall the Boys played there hearts out and behaved really well. We can all be very proud of there efforts and perhaps on another day we could have finished higher than 4th in the group.
by Steve Howlett | Jun 5, 2018 | County Squads
10u county cup was on the weekend of the 26th/27th May, the Norfolk girls were at Easton Tennis Centre, so for once did not have far to travel, which was a novelty for us – yet a shock for Middlesex! The team consisted of Anghela Sionosa, Charlotte James, and Matilda Cabrera – Burns. After an extra team training session during the week the girls were ready to compete.
In Norfolk’s group was Middlesex, and Suffolk. The other group consisted of Essex, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Each tie is 3 singles and 1 doubles. First up for Norfolk was a very strong Middlesex team, the girls fought really hard however whatever our girls did the ball came back stronger. This was a tough start for them but it got them nicely warm and used to some hard hitting. Norfolk lost all 3 singles against Middlesex. They then played Suffolk, the girls looking more confident as a team. Matilda was up first, she had a close match but managed to stay in front all of the way through and getting Norfolk’s first win. Charlotte battled well however Erin from Suffolk was just more consistent, making the score 1-1. Anghela was too good for her opponent on the day and took the score to 2-1 in Norfolk’s favour. Matilda and Charlotte went on and played the doubles against Middlesex, the outcome was very much like the singles – Middlesex finishing on top. Matilda and Anghela played the very important doubles against Suffolk, they got off to a great start to go 3-1 up however the Suffolk team made a come back. Norfolk won the first set in a tie-break. They then took the second set more convincingly to mean Norfolk had beaten Suffolk 3-1, a great result which meant they finished second in their box.
Day two started with a tough semi final against Essex, all of the Norfolk girls played some of their best tennis, however Essex were too strong and won all of the singles, and the doubles to win 4-0. This meant that Middlesex and Essex were in the final, and Norfolk would play Cambridgeshire for 3rd and 4th place. Anghela and Charlotte were on first, both worked hard but couldn’t convert their matches so we went 2-0 down. Matilda then played the match of the weekend for us, and won in 3 sets The final set was 11-9 in the match tie-break. After this long match Matilda was too tired for the doubles, so Charlotte and Anghela played the doubles to try and make the score 2-2. They played well as a team however Cambridgeshire got the win to make it 3-1to Cambridgeshire.
Norfolk finished 4th over the weekend with Middlesex being the eventual winners. The girls fought hard all weekend and learnt a lot about working and supporting each other as a team. A very positive weekend was had by all. Thanks to the players and parents for their effort and support.
