Members of Burnham-On-Sea’s Nathan Edwards Tennis Academy have enjoyed more great results this month.
Its players have taken part in the Clevedon Tennis Tournament where the standard is always very high in the younger age groups.
Since Clevedon feeds into the major Bristol tennis centres, getting good results here is a real achievement.
The academy entered two boys in the ‘orange ball group’ (8/9 years old), Harry Burrows from Burnham and Dominic Boardman from Weston.
There were ten boys in two groups of five, played as a round robin and both had rather shaky starts but improved with every match.
Harry reached the semi-finals before losing to the very talented Ben Rogers from Avon while Dominic played the best tennis we have ever seen and reached the final and won in three great sets against Ben.
This was no mean feat as Ben is one of the top orange ball players in the area and trains many hours a week, and is physically much bigger.
Dominic showed huge resilience and excellent technique in dealing with such a powerful opponent – and was justifiably thrilled with his win.
Paul Maggs, head coach at Clevedon and a former top British top ten player, presented the trophy. Dominic joined the academy last September and also trains at Weston Tennis Club, where Jamie Allen is head coach.
The first week in August also saw the Torbay Open, the biggest tournament in the country being held. Although it is a Grade 3 county level tournament, its popularity attracts many top county and national level players.
The Torquay Tennis Club is yards away from the beach and the many attractions of Torquay, so many players and their families are happy to spend the week there, and the atmoshere at the club brings out the best in everyone.
It covers all age groups from under 8s to adults, with over 500 entries playing over 1,100 matches in a week. This year, Harry Burrow (9) and sister Ellen (7) entered for the first time along with Burnham’s Megan Rundle (8).
Harry encountered some of the country’s top orange ball players and did well to win several matches but didn’t make it out of the boxes this time but little sister Ellen and Megan were outstanding in the girl’s under 8s redball tournament and faced each other in the final where Ellen’s determination and true grit saw her emerge the winner against a much bigger and powerful opponent.
She was over-the-moon with the big trophy she received, hardly believing she had really won!
Ellen has only been with the Nathan Edwards Academy for about three months, along with brother Harry. Parents Kevin and Mandy have said they are very impressed with the coaching the children have received and are surprised by the rapid improvement they have shown.
They both attend the academy’s two group sessions each week and have individual lessons, Ellen with performance coach Jamie Allen and Harry with academy coach Greg Kyd. Megan Rundle is coached by Avenue Tennis Club coaches but attends the group training sessions with the academy.
Academy high flyer Oliver Punt (9) was recently accepted into the qualifying round for one of the top national tournaments in Solihull.
Twenty top boys aged 9 and under were automatically entered into the main draw with another 20 boys all considered good enough to play national level competing for a further four places.
It was an achievement just to compete at this level and Oliver won three of his four matches so only narrowly missed making it into the main draw.
Oliver and equally talented brother Thomas (7) are taking a break at present but are shortly expecting a visit from Dan Fella – the new Somerset and Dorset Talent Co-ordinater as they have both been identified as talented with Thomas being one only three boys in the whole of the south-west to achieve a Grade A from the recent talent ID Day and the only one in Somerset to achieve that level in two years.
The Academy welcomes support and sponsorship from local people and companies and Chairman Sally Edwards can be contacted via sally.dollydots@gmail.com or 07718986278.
