NSTA Junior Championships

2016 NSTA Junior Championships were played over 6 weekends, plus Finals Day, during February and March. Round robin singles and doubles were played on Saturday afternoons or Saturday evenings in 10s and 12s, and this year for the first time, an 8 & Under singles, boys and girls, was held.

176 players entered the tournament, up slightly on last year, which generated 200 events entries. Numbers in each age group increased, but very disappointingly, the only girls doubles we could hold was 10s. 10s and 12s doubles were played as round robins on one Saturday evening, when players were also treated to pizza.

The whole tournament was played in a wonderful spirit and it is very re-warding for the Association to see such a great turn out of so many of our young, keen juniors who display a great loyalty to the Association. We were blessed with great weather and it was wonderful to see parents attending each week to witness the matches.

Congratulations to all winners and runners up, and in particular to Hikaru Ikegami who took out both the 18 and 16 boys singles. Pedro Papangelis showed his huge improvement in taking out the 14 boys singles and Abby Latimer had a tough final against Sophia Thorne to win the 10 girls singles.

The introduction of 8 & Under boys and girls round robin singles was an interesting initiative, and particularly to see how ‘savvy’ the majority of the boys were. We saw 2 wonderful finals on Finals Day in these events with Miles Phijidvjan overcoming Jioh Kim 6-2 and Ruby Thompson defeating Beatrice Bayley 6-5 (5).

All finals were played on Finals Day, 20th March, and the Presentation was combined with the NSTA Championships. The combining of junior and grade finals provided a great audience for these little champions to play in front of, and allowed them the acknowledgement that they deserve. Melissa Anderson, 14 times NSTA ladies champion, was on hand at the Presentation to congratulate the winners and runners up, and to hand over the perpetual trophies that she herself won on many occasions durng her junior years in NSTA.

To everyone who took part in the NSTA Junior Championships, congratulations on your demeanour and behaviour. We have some wonderful juniors within our Association and we look forward to following their progress.