Nice for these 2 kids to go to Israel to pick up some points - are they not doing their GCSE's?Iknow these 2 and much as I applaud their attempt to "make it" in tennis does anyone know if they are actually continuing their education? Sure they are good players but are they really good enough to give up their studies?
I don't know their personal educational situation, but Oliver Golding has already taken GCSEs 2 years early and in an interview (on the LTA site) said he was studying A Level Spanish (is he going to join the growing number of Brits in Spanish academies?) .
I mention Olly because he is the same birth year as James and Laura and all three families are multi-talented, including acting skill. Laura and sister have appeared in at least one film, whilst James's half-brother is an actor. When there is that amount of ability, educational qualifications usually come easily by some means or other (there are various options which the LTA advises about). Indeed Laura and James may well still be at school, as a friend who teaches another junior in the odd week when not playing tournaments said that even missing so much schooling above average educational results are being achieved.
I was just commenting that it was intersting Laura and James were out in Israel at the moment - both are Year 11 and would be deep in GCSE revision if they were at school Fulltime. I just have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about kids messing around with their education pre-GCSE. Fine post-16 but unless you are a Laura Robson why not try and get a good Academic grounding and then turn to the tennis more seriously. I do know both these kids and am sure you are correct that they come from talented Families and will do well in exams BUT school is not just about exams as we all know. I am sure my kids could get good GCSE results at a crammer but I know they feel that they would miss out on so much by not having the interaction in the classroom.
Being really cynical I would say that in both these cases there is a case of "money" helping...
To my knowledge though most tennis juniors spread out their GCSE's over 3/4 years so they only do 3/4 subjects a year. Which means they don't do the 20+ exams in may/june of year 11.
