There was a good turnout at Taunton Tennis Centre (Blackbrook Leisure Centre) last weekend for the Taunton Team Challenge event, held in conjunction with the LTA for children under the age of 14.

Regional Tennis Competition Co-ordinator Sam Kemp said: “Overall there were 32 players in the red ball event and 20 players for the green event, so 52 players in total.

“It was a really great day with players having a chance to play both singles and doubles matches, everyone left with a Team Challenge certificate and prizes. Everyone had a great time in the sun.”

Taunton Tennis Centre are running another Team Challenge event on September 23.

Taunton Tennis Centre has also been named as one of 50 venues across the UK to act as a Local Player Development Centre (LPDC), in a bid to find the next generation of British talent.

This is part of the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) 10-year performance strategy for British tennis, designed to help the best UK players to train and compete regularly with each other.

The LPDCs are to act as a first step on the player pathway, from beginners’ mini-red level tennis to major tournament success.

And Taunton’s selection allows for high potential junior players from the age of seven to receive support in playing tennis locally.

Youngsters who thrive under the local training programme would then be able to continue their development at one of 11 Regional Player Development Centres (RPDC).

The next step from there would be one of the two National Academies (Loughborough University and the University of Stirling).

The pathway ends with a Pro-Scholarship Programme for those players with greatest potential selected between the ages of 16 to 24, who are seen as being capable of reaching the world’s top 100 and beyond.

The LPDCs and RPDCs will become operational from September 2018, while the National Academies will open 12 months after.

There are five LPDCs in the South West – Delta Tennis Centre, Swindon; Exeter Tennis Centre; Taunton Tennis Centre; the University of Bath; and the West Hants Club, Dorset.

The new performance strategy is led by LTA performance director Simon Timson, and supported by an advisory group comprising of Tim Henman, Jamie Delgado (coach to Andy Murray) and Sam Smith, former British women’s No. 1.

SOMERSET Tennis is looking for its next generation of stars, with a coaching event being held later this month.

Next Saturday, July 21, Somerset’s leading coaches will be putting talented youngsters through their paces at Taunton Indoor Tennis Centre (Blackbrook Leisure Centre), to select players for the new County Tennis Training Programme starting in September.

The LTA has committed five years of funding for county training across all junior age groups to identify and develop future champions.

This initiative envisages the most talented players from these age groups coming together once per month throughout the year, to train in a high-intensity, group-based environment with the best players representing their counties.

Events for children aged nine years and under and eight years and under are running over the summer. 

The eight and under event is running on Saturday, September 22 at Millfield School. 

If your child plays tennis, is naturally athletic and enjoys competing, please contact Michele Philips on advantage.tennis@btinternet.com for more information.

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Yeovil & District League
Mixed Doubles Division 4
Stoke St Gregory 1, Wincanton B 10

STOKE St Gregory Tennis Club took on runaway league leaders Wincanton B in the heat on Monday evening.

Mary Kitson and Howard Roche once again paired up, together with Terri Owen and Stuart Mark, playing together for the first time. 

Stoke were heartened to learn that Wincanton had drafted in a last-minute replacement lady, Elise, a 16-year-old French girl playing in her first match. 

But hopes were soon dashed as she was far and away the best player on the courts with a vicious top spin forehand and backhand drive. 

Consequently Kitson and Roche lost against Elise and Jon, 6-0, 6-2.
Owen and Mark also had a bad start, losing their first three games against Claire and Ivor, but then turned it around to win the first set 6-3. 

Wincanton won the second set 6-0 and the set tie-break was very close, Wincanton winning out two points ahead.

In the reverse rubbers, Owen and Mark lost out 6-2, 6-0 to Elise and Jon, having some very long rallies. 

Kitson and Roche did a little better against Claire and Ivor but still lost both sets 6-4, not helped by Roche having to change rackets after breaking a string.

The final result was 8-1 in sets (10-1 in rubbers) in Wincanton’s favour, but it was an improvement on the Wincanton away game, when Stoke St Gregory lost all sets!

Yeovil & District League
Mixed Doubles Division 4
Yeovil C 2, Stoke St Gregory 8

STOKE St Gregory’s team of Mary Kitson & Howard Roche and Kathy Davidson & Stuart Mark claimed a valuable victory away to Yeovil C last week. 

Thankfully playing conditions were slightly cooler, as it had been raining earlier during the day.

Kitson and Roche, playing strongly, cruised through their two sets, winning 6-2 6-0. 

Davidson and Mark found it much harder going against strong opposition, and after some very long rallies they lost 6-2 6-2, although it was closer than the score suggests.

In the second round of rubbers, Davidson and Mark repeated the success of their team-mates, winning the first set 6-0, but eased off in the second set and fell behind, before pulling themselves together and winning 6-3. 

At the same time Kitson and Roche were engaged in a lengthy battle, with both sets ending up 6-6 and being resolved by a tiebreak. 

In each set Stoke won the tiebreak, meaning a final result of 7-6 to Stoke in both sets.

The final outcome was a win for the visitors, six sets to two, with Stoke gaining eight valuable league points to Yeovil’s two.

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THIS season Elms Tennis Club has entered four mixed teams in the West Somerset Tennis League.

The A team started the season in the second division and have played four out of the eight matches.

Currently in second position, captain Jo Robson has had a problematic start to the season with the non-availability of the club’s top two men, so has had to use both B team men. 

Peter Kilby and James Lee have contributed in maintaining their unbeaten run so far, while Jo and Emily Page-Symonds have maintained a winning combination in the ladies doubles.

With the return of Duncan Alexander to the team, they are looking forward to a successful last half of the season.

The B team have also reached the halfway point in the third division having played five out of their 10 matches, and currently hold a narrow lead at the top.

Neil Robson (captain), Clive Sawyer, Ali Kalwa and Kya Robson make up the team which hopefully can battle for possible promotion contention; special thanks go to Cathy Alexander, who has played in two matches to help push for promotion.

The C Team of Andy Groves (captain), Tim Browning, Cathy Alexander and Liz Martin have found the fourth division very competitive and currently lie fifth with three wins out of five.

Like the other teams, they have relied on the welcome support of club players Peter and Julie Kilby Fe Yates.

The D team, captained by Karuna Tharmananther, have enjoyed an excellent start to life in Division 5 by winning five out of the seven matches played, and as a result they find themselves in second place.

Richard Hardiman, Andy Gilbert, Sandra Eaton, Pauline Phillips, Liz and Kate Cutler have all contributed to this encouraging start with many close matches.