Not even windy weather could spoil the day as Tennis South Canterbury held its first tournament since completing a $1,000,000 resurfacing project.
Last week 72 junior players took to the court playing 145 matches over two days for the Junior Spring Open.
Gale force winds caused an unwelcome racket on Monday, but the players persevered to solidify a successful first outing back for Tennis South Canterbury.
Administrator and tournament organiser Anna Telfer said the tournament couldn’t have gone better.
‘‘We ended up with more players than we expected, we had a great atmosphere, play carried on even with the wind, and the kids coped pretty well because it was awful conditions.’’
She said the club received great feedback on the new court surfaces.
‘‘A lot of people who hadn’t been here before were very impressed and the ones who had were like ‘oh wow this is really great’.
‘‘It was all very positive; the kids were excited to play on them and some even stayed afterward to keep playing.’’
Of the 72 players, there was a wide spread of ages with some travelling from as far as Te Anau to play. The under-10 age group saw the most participation. But there was only one entry into the under-16 girl’s category. Miss Telfer said that would be something the club would look to improve going forward. ‘‘Unfortunately, we couldn’t go ahead with the under-16 girls’ section, she didn’t want to join the boys so it was quite disappointing not to have that section go ahead, the aim is definitely to try to find some more 16-year-old girls, we’ll have to get them out of the woodwork somewhere.’’
South Canterbury was well represented at the tournament with several going on to win their respective age brackets.
The under-16 boys was won by Caleb Kelly , 16, who also took out the under-16 boy’s double with his partner, Jonty Porter, 16 .
Charlotte Fenn, 12, was the runner-up in the under-12 girls but managed to claim victory in the under-12 girls double alongside Mia Mcharg,
12 .
Now back into the swing of things, the club will turn its attention to a busy end to the year.
They will be hosting the South Canterbury Primary School Championship on October 30, the South Canterbury Junior Closed School Championship on December 9, and the Senior section on December 10.
The club is also starting their usual interclub competition and will hold a summer bash doubles team event in November.
