Tennis Blog

Mini-Tennis Orange Ball Tournament - 7 May 2017 May 08 2017, 28 Comments

Anyone For Tennis held a Mini-Tennis Orange Ball Tournament last Sunday (7 May 2017), which proved to be a huge success with 20 players made up of both girls and boys with ages ranging from seven to ten years old.

The tournament was divided up into four groups of five players, guaranteeing all players a minimum of four matches, with group winners qualifying for the semi-final stage. Congratulations to all players for entering in what was for many, their first ever tennis tournament.

Special congratulations to our four semi finalists: Francesco, Ryan, Agastya and Shantel.

The final was played out between Agastya and Ryan, it was Ryan who was victorious claiming the win in a closely fought encounter, in what was his first ever tennis tournament.

Ryan has been taking lessons weekly with myself (Coach Sam B) since January 2017 and has shown good improvement both technically and tactically. Crucially, he arrives on court with the right attitude required to improve.

One of the things I found most satisfying was to see the players on court and truly enjoying their tennis and embracing the experience.

The tournament offered the players an opportunity to put into practice what they have been working on during their tennis lessons, see the level of the other children around their age and also reflect on their own performances.

It is important to state at this stage in their tennis development that results are not the be-all and end-all. Ensuring that these children have a good experience in tennis and good memories from playing tennis is far more likely to yield long-term participation in tennis and offer increased motivation to practice and improve further, so that they can really maximise their potential.

Special thanks to my colleague, Coach Jorge, who was instrumental in running this successful tournament together with me. His efforts are very much appreciated.

Also special thanks to all the parents who willing gave up their Sunday afternoon to travel over to the East for this tournament! 

 

Yours in Sport,

Coach Sam B


Mini-Tennis Orange Ball Tournament - 12 June 2016 June 17 2016, 15 Comments

Anyone For Tennis held our first ever Mini-Tennis Orange Ball Tournament last Sunday.

It was organized by our Managing Director Dave, for 13 of our students, aged 7-9 years old. It was incredible seeing our students come together to play at this one-day event.

They were able to put what they learnt during their tennis lessons into practice with others of similar playing standard!

The Mini-Tennis Orange Ball Tennis format is played in a smaller and narrower court around three quarters the size of a regular court, using a lower compression ball.

This enables kids of young age to experience the game of tennis, holding longer rallies and constructing points in a court more in proportion to their body size and strength.

 

The competitors were split into two groups, who then played a "round robin" format, which guarantees each player at least 5 matches. The winners and runners-up of each group went into semi-finals and finals.

Matches were refereed by the students themselves, who were waiting for their turns to play matches. This kept them active between matches and also enabled them to understand the scoring system and serving order of the game.

Players were not allowed to challenge the umpire under any circumstances, so there were no mini John McEnroe antics! The umpire's decision was final.

Parents especially enjoyed watching the games from the sidelines while cheering their kids on! A special mention to them for being around and helping to supervise the kids as well! 

It was a fun afternoon, despite the blazing heat! Prizes were given to all players who participated in the group matches.

The semi-final matches were played between Riti vs Agastya and brother & sister Max vs Luisa. 

The final match, played between Riti and Luisa, was very closely-contested with Riti coming out on top, winning 10-8. 

The event was a huge success! We received feedback from the parents of our little superstars, who would like us to continue organizing many more of these tournaments in the future.

Mini-Tennis Red/Orange/Green Ball and Junior & Adult one-day competitions will be coming to a venue near you. Watch this space!

Interested in joining our one-day tournaments? Register your interest with any of our tennis coaches.

If you are currently not taking lessons with us, you may email us at anyonefortennissg@gmail.com or call/sms/whatsapp to 93351340