Tennis Works

In the last few weeks several players from the Cavill Academy in Milton Keynes have competed in county and regional events with some excellent results. On Saturday 18th July Zack MacQueen and Jasmine Lawes represented Bucks in a regional Mini Tennis Orange event in Suffolk. All players in the team competed well but unfortunately they weren’t strong enough to take the title.

During the week beginning 20th July, 7 year old Lauren Armstrong and 8 year old Jasmine Lawes and Emily Honor visited Gosling Tennis Centre in St. Albans for some highly competitive Mini Tennis orange tournaments that ran over several days. Lauren, who has only just been allowed by the LTA to play Mini Tennis Orange, won her first Orange tournament during the week. This meant she was invited back to the Champions event on Saturday 25th July, which involved all the winners of the week. Quite amazingly, she won this tournament and clearly stamped her status amongst the girls a year old than her. Over the past 6 months, Lauren and her coaches have been frustrated with a competitive system that has held her back from competing at her level. She has had to travel far and wide winning nearly every Mini Tennis Red tournament she entered, just to get enough points to play at the next level, when clearly she was ready a while ago. This result proves that players need to be pushed on due to their ability not age, as Lauren trains and competes with Boys and Girls who are up to 3 years older during her during squad sessions.

On Saturday 25th July, 8 year old Zack MacQueen won the Champions of Champions Mini Tennis Orange event at Bucks Indoor Centre in High Wycombe. Since September 2008, players have been competing in a series of Mini Tennis Orange events across Bucks and gaining points depending on good results. At the end of the year, the Cavill Academy had 3 out of the 8 boys and 1 girl competing. Unfortunately Matt Dixon didn’t make the knock out stages but Krishna Chintamreddy and Zack made the semi finals. Zack continued his run into the final but unfortunately Krishna was beaten by Ollie Lomax from Gerrards Cross who played Zack in the final. Over the past few months Zack has shown his strength at this level, which has won him several titles. He continued his success in the final beating Ollie 7-4, 7-3 with an impressive display of consistency and determination to stamp his authority. Zack did not lose one set during the whole event and again is need of pushing his talents by moving to the next level, which he is prohibited from doing due to his age.

In the girls Bucks Mini Orange Champions of Champions event, Emily Honor had a great run. She played some consistent tennis to reach the semi finals and finally lost the player who went on to win the event. She won the third place play off to wrap up a very enjoyable event for her. For Emily, this event was about competing against the best in her age group and understanding where she is in relation to them. Over the past 6 months she has made good steps to close the gap against the best, proving that she can compete with one of the best girls in the region.

Cavill Academy Director, John Cavill, said, “I’m delighted that the players have done so well and that both them and their coaches, Simon Tomlinson and Neil Claxton, are getting the rewards of the hard work they have put in. The Cavill Academy is independent and not governed by any other body. We create a programme for the players and NOT a player for the programme, which ensures that everyone has quality, attention and flexibility depending on their needs. Our ethos and methodology is the reason why our players are progressing so well and we are looking forward to more great results in the future.”

Released: 29 July 2009