Tennis South Canterbury has served up a massive end of the year, hosting several high profile tournaments, as they make the most of their new surface.
In just over a month, the club has hosted the South Canterbury primary championships, the parent/ child tournament and the South Island primary/ intermediate championships, with the junior and senior championships set to happen later this month.
Kicking off a hectic end to the year was the South Canterbury primary championships held in late October.
The club had 73 entries in the competition, a number Tennis South Canterbury administrator Anna Telfer was very pleased with.
‘‘It hasn’t run in a couple years, so I think people were very excited to get back into it again.
‘‘I think we had about 100 in 2021, so it’s good to see the interest was still there and that it continues to be popular.’’
However, the standard of tennis was a bit varied, she said.
‘‘I think some of them might’ve just wanted the day off school. We had a good amount of serious players enter though as well, which was good.’’
The singles only competition was contested by pupils year 5 and above, from South Canterbury schools as far as Geraldine.
A draw was held online and a seeding system was used to keep the match-ups fair.
Year 5 and 6 pupils competed against each other, with years 7 and 8 doing the same.
The year 7 and 8 girls’ section was won by Charlotte Fenn, 12, of Craighead, while Digby Porter, 12, of Beaconsfield, claimed the boys’ section.
The year 5 and 6 girls’ was won by Abigail Marsden, 11, of Geraldine, and fellow Geraldine Primary pupil Kohei Wada, 11, won the boys’.
The winners then travelled to Dunedin to compete against Southland and Otago in the southern regions tournament in an effort to qualify for the South Island championships.
Both Charlotte and Abigail made it through to represent the region, along with Olivia Marsden, 12, who had finished runner-up in the year 7 and 8 girls’.
Next up for the club was the parent/child tournament, which took place on November 26.
Miss Telfer said the tournament was always a fun day for all involved.
‘‘There are always a lot of funny moments, and the weather helped because it was a gorgeous day.’’
The older group was won by father and daughter duo George and Neve Ball.
On the following day 51 of the best South Island youth players took to the Timaru courts.
The tournament comprised the top two players of each region plus a reserve player.
It was not meant to be for the three South Canterbury representatives, with Charlotte only managing a third place finish in the doubles.
The club received some great comments about their new surface after the tournament, Miss Telfer said.
‘‘Lots of teachers and parents said it looked great and the tournament director emphasised how great the facility was, which was nice of them.’’
It had been great to have so much tennis happening at the centre, she said.
‘‘It’s been a bit hectic, trying to cram everything into the last few months, but it has been good.
‘‘People do think, ‘oh, what are they doing down there? They’ve got all these courts and nothing is happening’, but there is actually a lot happening.’’
The club is now wrapping up its more social big bash tournament before hosting the junior and senior closed championships on December 16 and 17.
