Anyone for tennis? You bet there is!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

It proved to be a major success - not least because of the professionalism of the young ball boys and girls who are Northern Ireland's up and coming tennis stars of the future!

So who are Ulster's best young players? What sort of practice and training are they involved in? Can they make a name for themselves in tennis?

Jim Watt, Training Director for Ulster Branch Tennis Ireland, has been involved for some years now in bringing forward programmes to develop our best young players.

He says: "Few people except parents and of course those closely involved in tennis realise just how skilled and talented Ulster's top young players are.

"Not only that but the dedication, effort and sacrifices they are willing to make to push themselves to a higher level is something to be admired.

"And to have a chance of reaching the top level they must train and play all year round, parents and coaches sometimes being prepared to travel hundreds of miles over Ireland and beyond, to give them the practice and experience they need."

As far as squad training is concerned, currently in Ulster there are 14 young players who are training at an 'elite' level.

There are four of these namely Lynsey McCullough (Larne) aged 15, Tony Rush (Killinchy) aged 12 , Peter and Sam Bothwell (Hillsborough) aged 11 and 9 respectively who reside in Dublin where they attend school and are part of the Tennis Ireland National Training Programme at Dublin City University (DCU).

This involves them training 15-24 hours per week (depending on age) at the Tennis Ireland National Centre.

Apart from these four, there are several other young players on a local training programme.

Emily Madill (14) Belfast Boat Club

Elizabeth Murphy (13) Belfast Boat Club

Ross Campbell (12) Belfast Boat Club

Ryan West (10) Downshire Hillsborough LTC

Cormac Meehan (10) Windsor LTC

Fraser McFall, ( 9) Belfast Boat Club

Johnny Haldane (9) CIYMS

Rachel Doyle (9) Belfast Boat Club,

Emily Beatty (9) Downshire Hillsborough LTC

They have opted to train and play in Ulster and do so just as intensively as those in Dublin; however they get a few hours less and perhaps a little less time on court given the prohibitive costs of Indoor Courts locally.

Youngsters aged over 10 train 15 hours per week; under 10s train 12 hours per week. This includes 2 early morning sessions at Belfast Boat Club as well as some Indoor Court time at the Ozone Tennis Centre in Belfast and also outdoor Court time at Belfast Boat Club, Stranmillis.

They train Monday to Friday with Jim Watt and ex-top Spanish Junior Carlos Miranda and Boat Club's Coaching Director Ben Neal take charge of the training programme.

To gain a taste of what it is like to travel to tournaments and play away from home the young players are included in a Programme of selected tennis development trips overseas. For example three weeks ago they played in the Scottish Indoors Junior Championships in their appropriate age groups.

The Scottish Indoors Championships were very successful for Ulster local players with the 9 and 10 year olds playing in the U/12 Qualifying event for their National Indoors and all of Ulster's players won a match; Sam Bothwell (Downshire Hillsborough) beat Fraser McFall (Belfast Boat Club) 6/3 6/4 to gain a place in the 16 Man Indoor Event.

In the main event Emily Madill (U/16), Elizabeth Murphy (U/14), and Peter Bothwell (U/12) reached the quarter finals and Tony Rush won the Consolation event. In Doubles Elizabeth, Ross and Tony all narrowly missed out, losing in Doubles Finals.

At Christmas last year Tony Rush (U/14) and Peter Bothwell (U/12) both won the National Matchplay Titles. Ross Campbell (U/14) won the National Indoors at David Lloyd Riverview in Dublin, one of the most prestigious championships for juniors.

In both of these events Elizabeth Murphy (U/14) finished runner-up and Emily Madill (U/16) lost in the semi-finals of both Matchplays. In the under/10s National Matchplay Peter Rolston and Rachel Doyle also performed well winning 3 of the four matches they played.