The 12s/14s/16s Thread 2008.

Salmon · Tennis legend

The 12s/14s/16s Thread 2008.

Salmon · Tennis legend

This week, Luke Bambridge plays the 14s Cat 1 event in Piestany where he is the 13th seed. He is joined by Joshua Ward Hibbert (haven't heard of him before), Jathan Malik and Jonathan Cornish.

Link to draw.

Luke Bambridge is slowly turning into a special player. He's 1995 born, meaning that he's a year underage, but is ranked 30 which is the second highest of all players from his year!

Salmon · Tennis legend

All lost before the third round.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Nothing major this week, I think. Next week, Jonny O'Mara will start his quest to improve his 14s ranking with a tournament he's playing in Oslo.

http://www.riksanlegget.no/documents/TE14_Boys_Acceptancelist.pdf

I remember Robson reaching the final here in 2006, so it's probably a good tournament for Brits to give their rankings a boost!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Draws - http://www.riksanlegget.no/documents/TE%20FROGNER%20MD.pdf

domara · Junior player

Hi greenleaf, yes you are spot on Jonny has gone there to do exactly that. we felt he was a bit worn out late last year and what with all the changes that happen at this time in his life ie moving to high school -not to mention approaching adolescence!! (give me strength )etc we felt a bit of a break from tournies would do him good so he has spent the last 6 months or so just quietly training at Stirling with his coaches including getting the opportunity to regularly hit with alan mackin-no bad thing!. hes just phoned after winning his first round in Norway so good start but we aren't expecting too much just yet. He said he played pretty poorly (probably a bit match rusty) but thats fine in my book-if you can win playing poorly then that definitely shows some progress for him and shows he must have been mentally pretty strong as he usually likes to be the showman. Thanks for your interest in the juniors guys Jonny loves to read all the posts
regards
Jonny's dad

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Welcome to the site, "Jonny's dad", please keep us posted with his progress. Finding info on Juniors is never very easy!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Hi, Jonny's Dad (I'm Arka, by the way - just with a different username).

I'm glad that you've explained it as I was worried Jonny had picked up an injury given that he hasn't played internationally for so long (although I read on his site about the British ones). Congrats to him on winning his first round match!

So how many weeks does he spend in North Europe? The websites of the tournaments in the next few weeks aren't of much use when it comes to entry lists (or else I can't find them), I'm afraid.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 15:01, 2008-06-02

domara · Junior player

Hi Madeline, Greenleaf (aka Arka-good to catch up)- Jonny is just there for this tournament then back to training at Stirling and School of course. Hes still a bit young to do a tour type of thing so we just tend to look at suitable one off tournaments. he'll be doing Solihull, Bournemouth and probably Barcelona in the hope of getting some points this year so that should make it easier next year for a good go at the under 14 titles-hes still relatively small for his age, (especially in tennis terms)and theres no doubt size and power can make a huge difference in this age group, (as in most-but especially I feel at around 13/14) but the good thing is this means he has to play smart tennis which should hold him in good stead for the future and so i feel theres no rush but he will need to still get in plenty of match practice
Jonny O's dad

Salmon · Tennis legend

Okay, thanks for the info. If he makes good use of a few of these tournaments, he'll have a good enough platform for next year (rankingswise, that is), I'm sure.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 15:12, 2008-06-02

domara · Junior player

jonny lost the first set today not feeling (or playing!) too well and at 2 1 up second set was sick and had to pull out! probably the heat-its been very hot in Norway this week-disappointing but no excuses-onwards and upwards!!!
www.freewebs.com/jonnyomaraonline

Salmon · Tennis legend

Oh, that sounds bad!

Anyway, he'll have plenty of opportunities later this summer, with tournaments in Edinburgh, Bournemouth and Solihull as options.

domara · Junior player

No worries, all part of the learning process. He had a lot of success at under 12 and was number 1 GB for the whole of last year so having to battle it out again is probably just what he needs. it will certainly help him to decide if hes got what it takes to be a pro anyway! I don't expect to see his best at under 14 til next year-this year is more a learning, conditioning, growing, and mental strength improving year weirdface

-so if he comes through all that we may have a future player. The only problem I see is that he is getting interested in golf again and he is no mean player-he might see where that takes him!
Regards to all from a beautifully sunny Arbroath (where the smokies come from)
PS hes still in the doubles with another scottish boy Adam Stevenson-though he couldn't train this morning as still feeling woozy

Salmon · Tennis legend

And in any case, 14s results count for little. You maybe number 1 in Europe and have an ATP Career High of 540, or be 154th in Europe and end up in the top 10. It's much more important to train hard instead of looking at results and rankings (leave that to us fans

).

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 14:47, 2008-06-04

domara · Junior player

That is so very, very true. Unfortunately unless you are a very wealthy person (and don't have to worry with such trivialities as having enough money to eat and paying bills blankstare ) your player needs to have a decent ranking to attract external funding, so you can at least show some evidence of success. Imagine me as Jonny's father speaking to a potential sponsor/partner and saying something like "well I know he's only ranked 253 in Scotland But i think hes really good and has potential" not exactly convincing is it?
Also, ranking does help you of course to get into the right tourneys, often at main draw, and match practice is crucial so i can see why we have to go through this process-but as I said in my first sentence in general I agree with your posting wholeheartedly

Jonnys thoughts for Norway:
Its important to know where you are wanting to go
but its more important to know how to get there
regards