Our New Year Rehearsal Tournament lived up to its name, New Year, New Generation, New Crew and New Winners!
With Alex, JJ and Reghan busy on Team USA duties at the British Junior Open, and with no fewer than a dozen of our high level compatriots doing great things at the UPenn Gold, it was left to the Next Gen crew to make this Rehearsal Tournament one to remember … and they more than lived up to expectations!
Four divisions were derived from three rounds of qualifying and at least five matches of good solid competition. Congratulations to everyone on their efforts, their sportsmanship and in some cases, their capacity to eat an unconscionable number of bagels. Also we saw the launch of our new T-shirts, a stunning pink and now we know what we can wear to squads on Wednesdays!
The Premier Division saw Mimi, our nationally ranked top 10 U/11 phenom, walk away with the hardware after running through the draw and beating finalist Andrew and upset-king Jayden Great preparation for next weekend's Mid-Atlantic JCT (which to be honest sounds a little like something conducted on a boat, but more of that later…)
D1 saw Anika run away from the field, with the podium filled by Tony and Neil. As we always say, it’s Tony’s world, we’re just living in it and the big guy played a storming event, as did Neil who is one of the hardest workers every week in squads.
Jesse was the big dog of D2, defeating Luke in a great match and Julian on the way to the title. Recovering from a tough loss to Tony in the qualifying, Jesse should be proud of his day's work. Likewise Julian is improving every week and this was reflected in all five of his matches.
Saving some of the best until last, D3 saw an overjoyed Dean defeat Siddhi and Ronnie on the way to the title. All three players had solid wins throughout the event, with great attitudes and ever developing skill sets on and off the court. D3 was very much watch TV to be honest!
Out next Rehearsal Event will be conducted February 4, as a warmup for Texas JCT event - a phrase I had not thought I would be typing until recently! Signups on our dedicated web page and expectations high for a return of the Big Dogs - see you all on the courts!