Hi All,

Now that the junior coaching is back up and running I wanted to update members on the performance of our juniors in various leagues and tournaments over the last few months.

Our juniors have represented the club in various DLTC leagues and Stars and Stripes events from U12 to U18 and have had some notable successes in the Stars and Stripes in particular.

We had a number of juniors who have played adult league for the first time this year – Cara & Sophie Fitzgerald, Kate Begley, Alex Wardlaw, Zach Bailey and Conor White. All of whom have contributed vital points with several of them being on teams that won promotion to a higher class.

You will have noted during the Senior Handicaps and Championships that several of our junior featured prominently winning multiple matches and playing some great tennis, often with parents or siblings. Mark Gill in the Handicap singles and doubles and Eva Kane in the Plate Singles having some great results. Special mention to Cara Fitzgerald winning the mixed doubles (with older brother Will) and Max Vidal winning the singles and doubles. Fantastic achievements.

It was great to see so many of our junior playing in the club championships as they are the future of the club.

Key to the development of our juniors is playing external competitions, this is where they really improve and learn how to play matches.

At the U8, U9 and U10 level the tournaments are organised on a round robin basis and we had several of our younger members playing multiple tournaments and winning lots of matches including Macdara White, Alecia Holmes, Cahal Smyth, Jack Pinschmidt, Ciara Emerson, Harry Brady and Hugo Brady. Special congratulations to Alecia and Ciara who were invited to participate in national squad training sessions.

From U12 to U18 the tournaments are played on a knockout basis. Some of the more notable results include

Kitty Cronin winning the U12 Girls Greystones Tour 100

Max Kane getting to the semi final of the U14 Boys Donnybrook Tour 250

Emma Holmes and her partner were runners up in the U14 Girls Templeogue Junior Open

Laura Emerson won the U12 Girls singles in the Claremorris Junior Open, was runner up in U12 Girls Naas Tour 500 singles, won the U12 Girls doubles in the Nenagh Junior Open and was runner up in the U12 Girls doubles in the Lansdowne Tour 1000

Conor Emerson won the U12 Boys singles in the Lisburn Tour 250, was runner up in the U12 singles in both the East Cork and Kilkenny Junior Opens, won the U12 Boys singles in the Belfast Junior Open and was runner up in the U12 Boys doubles in the Shankill Junior Open.

Alex Wardlaw who won the U16 Boys Donabate Tour 250, was runner up in U18 singles in the Longford Tour 250, won the U16 doubles in the Greystones Tour 500 and won the U18 doubles in the Longford Tour 250.

Max Vidal who played and did very well in multiple tournaments in France during the summer as a warm up for winning our club championships. Bien joué Max.

The Irish National Tennis Championships are held in Fitzwilliam and this year we had Max Vidal, Alex Wardlaw, Conor Emerson, Laura Emerson and Rebecca Begley who qualified for this event. Special mention to both Conor Emerson on reaching the semi-final of the U12 Boys doubles and Max Vidal on winning 3 matches and making it to the last 16 of the U18 Boys singles.

Finally… congratulations to Laura Emerson, Alecia Holmes, Ciara Emerson and Conor Emerson on being selected for the Leinster tennis squads for 2022/23.

Apologies as I am sure I have forgotten to include some performances and results.

I would like to thank all the parents, grandparents etc. for their key role in bringing the juniors to coaching, to the external tournaments and hitting with their children. Without your support none of this would be possible.

If you have not yet signed up for junior coaching please do so or contract Catalin, Rob or Chloe who will be able to advise on suitable classes.

Looking forward to a great 2022/23 coaching season.

Catalin