Young tennis players from Burnham’s Nathan Edwards Tennis Academy were on top form when they played at a tournament in Taunton this week.
The event was the culmination of The Tony Pryce Mini Series, held at the Blackbrook Sports Centre, which consists of five tournaments, one a month for five months, in which players accumulate points based on their results.
From this the top six players are invited to the ‘Masters final’. Leaders at the Nathan Edwards Tennis Academy were delighted to see three of the six players in the Under 8 Masters were from their group.
Matthew Phillips (8), Oliver Punt (8) and Thomas Punt (6) all made it through to the event and each had to play a 10 point tie-break set against every other player.
Oliver was on excellent form and swept through to win the final demonstrating the talent which is now getting him noticed within the mini tennis world.
Little brother Thomas was fortunate to get into this event as he had been lying in seventh place overall but due to another player dropping out he was able to play.
He certainly made the most of the opportunity and achieved third place in the Masters final, a fantastic result for a child of 6.
There was only a one point difference between him and the boy who came second so we came very close to getting first and second places.
Matthew finished in fifth but did well to get in. Having players in this kind of event shows that the level of commitment from the children and parents, combined with excellent coaching standards can put Nathan Edwards Tennis and local children on the tennis map.
The previous week saw five of the Under 8 players take part in the Somerset County Closed tournament in Taunton. Fourteen boys took part, playing in three groups. There, Thomas Punt came second in his group, which was a great result against boys up to two years older and his best result to date.
Brother Oliver won his group and went through to play in the final where he narrowly lost to Somerset’s top under 8 player James Flatt who already plays in many under 9 orange ball events. Jonathan Bougourd (8) and Matthew Phillips (8) also took part and complete newcomer Louis Bourgourd (6) played his first ever tournament.
Despite it being his first tournament and a very tough one to start with, Louis showed great enthusiasm and good attitude, gaining plenty of points against far more experienced players. Several of the academy players will be attending a county talent ID day in September.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain funding to subidise the academy coaching and we would be very grateful to any local people or companies who would be willing to help. The group will be organising a sponsored bike ride on Burnham beach this Sunday, 12th September, at 12pm between the towns jetty and the Berrow Inn.
Anyone wishing to join in or be a sponsor should get in touch with Lisa, our secretary on lisa.jane.skinner@hotmail.co.uk or Joe on 07990851018 captain.fantastic@gmx.co.uk or Sally Edwards on 07718986278 or sally.dollydots@gmail.com.
Pictured are (top) Oliver, Thomas and Mathew at the Tony Pryce Masters; Oliver with Lauren Knight, the under 8 girl’s winner who is actually exactly the same age; and, above, Louis, Matthew, Thomas and Jonnie at the County Closed
