tennisMAD | Plymouth, Ivybridge, Callington, Stover, South Devon Tennis Coaching

Introducing the all new LTA Mini Tennis Awards Scheme

Ben Knight — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:15:51 +0000

The new LTA Mini Tennis Awards Scheme has been set up to offer all children from 3 – 10 years a great platform to get them involved in the sport of tennis. With smaller courts, nets and rackets and lower bouncing balls LTA Mini Tennis, offers the perfect introduction to the sport, with all the fun and energy of the real thing.
There are four stages of LTA Mini Tennis; Tots, Red, Orange and Green, each with their own court size and type of ball. This tailored approach enables players to develop vital skills and techniques at an early age.
There is also the LTA Mini Tennis Rally Awards scheme, designed to help mini players learn in stages and take part in exciting exercises with regular rewards which encourage them to develop their tennis skills at a pace that suits them.
Many sports have a mini version including, football, rugby and cricket which are helping to develop young talent in appropriate learning environments.
tennisMAD are pleased to announce that they will be running these awards at all their venues from January 2012.

Check out the updated calendar of events on the website; The new term starts on Monday 9th Jan

Ben Knight — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:01:15 +0000

The first term of tennis in 2012 starts on Monday 9th January, with a number of new adult sessions planned and also the launch of the new LTA mini tennis awards scheme for all players under 10.
Also look out for the upcoming HIGH 5 Multi Sport Holiday Camps taking place at Stover School during February Half Term and throughout the year. We have made some exciting improvements to the camps for 2012, including a daily mini bus service to transport children from Ivybridge up to the site.
We will also be running a tennisathon event during sport relief in March so keep an eye out for more details on these and many other exciting events to follow soon.

Callingtons First Series of LTA Competitions

Ben Knight — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:42:00 +0000

We at tennisMAD were very excited to be able to host our first ever set of competitons down at Callington before Xmas. It was great to see so many of the young players from the programme taking their first steps into competition, especially so many of the Under 8 Red ball Players. Due to the popularity of the events look out for more events which will be taking place in the dome in 2012.

Santa comes to SDTC

Ben Knight — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:31:23 +0000

Not to be outdone by the adults the kids pulled out all the stops for their tennisMAD Xmas Party. Judging the primary childrens fancy dress costumes turned out to be a really tough decision with so many great costumes. The highlight of the party was when Santa made an appearance with presents for all the kids. tennisMAD would like to thank Santa for taking the time to come and visit us during what we all know is a very busy time of year for him.
The same night we also held the ITA awards ceremony during the secondary Xmas party. This was our first presentation evening, where the players, parents and coaches all voted for the players they had been most impressed with over 2011. Below is a full list of all the award winners for 2011:
Players Player – Abbie Skelley and Henry Warrender
Parents Player – Chloe Sluce and Henry Warrender
Coaches Player – Bethany Matthews and Jame Scarr
Committed Players Award for never missing an early session – Kate Absalom, Polly Bushby, Chloe Sluce and Marty Metyko
Most Improved Player 2010/11 – Chloe Sluce
Most Improved Player 2011 – Jake Freeman
Big Boomer award, biggest hitter at the club – Abbie Skelley
Aspiring coaches awards – Mia Loye and Rhys Dunford
Aspiring leaders – Kate Absalom and Henry Warrender
Speedy Gonzalez award for speed around the court and workrate – Alex Bullard
Totally tennismad award – Jack Ive
Mr Muscles for working so hard in physical training – Harry Lakeman
Most Improved rookie – Fynn Ive

SDTC Adult Fancy Dress Xmas Doubles

Ben Knight — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:10:15 +0000

The Tuesday Morning Improver Adults went to great efforts again this year for the fancy dress Xmas Doubles Event. It was a great way to end the term, and tennisMAD would like to say a big thank you to all the adults on the programme for their support in 2011 and we wish you a very Happy New Year for 2012.

The tennisMAD facebook page is fully operational

Ben Knight — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:49:35 +0000

Although the page has been set up for a while, the tennisMAD facebook page is now fully operational. It contains loads of pictures from all the recent events as well as information about any upcoming events and competitions. If you haven’t already then please find us and become a fan which will help keep you updated about everything tennisMAD related.

Elliot Hamilton reaches FlyBe Red Ball Masters Final

Ben Knight — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:44:20 +0000

Their is now a very competitive series of mini tennis events for 5 – 10 year old players in Devon & Cornwall. This series which is sponsored by Flybe, culminates in the top players from the different age groups coming together for the Series Finals. The finalists are chosen based on the number of matches they have won and the points this has earned them (much like what happens with the pro circuit and the end of year masters event)
Elliot Hamilton one of the up and coming stars from the tennisMAD Academy at SDTC was playing on his home turf and used this home advantage to great effect to make it all the way to the red ball final where he was narrowly beaten. Elliot who has been playing orange ball events throughout the summer was competiting in his last red ball event before he become too old and completely moves up into the orange ball category.
A great way for him to finish his red ball competition days and lets hope he can achieve the same success in the oange ball events in the future.

Sam Hopper, Runner Up in Devon County Closed Orange Ball

Ben Knight — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:53:38 +0000

A big congratulations to Sam Hopper for reaching the final of the Devon County Closed Orange Ball event this summer. Keep up the hard work Sam, well done!

Scott Honey from Callington flies the flag for the East Cornwall Academy in Penzance

Ben Knight — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:14:45 +0000

Scott down in Penzance

Fynn down in Penzance

Well done to Scott Honey for taking the time to come down and play the Orange Ball event at Penzance. It’s great to see youngsters like Scott, John Moon, Thomas Gilmour also Fynn Ive from SDTC out their competiting at events like this. They will be the tennisMAD stars of the future and will no doubt be joining us on tour in years to come.

2011 was a summer of success for the tennisMAD Academy players

Ben Knight — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:07:15 +0000

Penzance 2011

Penzance Tour 2011, the players in their neon tour shirts!

The team listen on during the nightly meeting and awards ceremony.

It’s been a busy summer of competition for all the players, who after a long winter of training up to 10 hours per week have been putting their skills into practise on the tournament circuit with good success.
After having some good results at both the Plymouth Open and Torquay Open the coaching team took a record; 35 players on tour down to Penzance to compete in the junior tournament held there each summer.
This was the 9th year that tennisMAD have taken players to the event and it has grown in popularity year on year. With a very high standard of play in all age groups this year the players did really well to win a number of the events with players from the Academy featuring in no less than 13 of the finals. All the pictures from this trip can be found on our facebook page, so head there to see what went down!
The last week of August saw the Devon County Closed take place at SDTC and this was where the hard work over the winter really showed. Matyas Metyko won both the Under 12’s Boys Singles and Under 14’s Consolation Singles, with Polly Bushby beating fellow tennisMAD team mate Bethany Matthews in the Under 12’s Girls Final. Mae Dartnell did very well to reach the final of the girl’s Under 18′s singles having been unseeded.
In the doubles, Mia Loye and Seb Dartnell teamed up to play mixed and were narrowly beaten by a strong pair in the final. In the Under 14′s Girls doubles though the tennisMAD pair of Abbie Skelley and Betyhany Matthews were unstoppable in their quest to win the event, beating the number one seeds in the final and sporting some very loud, matching, neon pink ‘Double Trouble’ T – shirts and hoodies!
There is plenty more hard work to be done this winter but afetr an impressive 2011 we look forward to plenty more silverware in 2012.