South Canterbury produce Top Boy and Girl

South Canterbury boys dominated the Southern District Primary and Intermediate Schools Tennis Finals in Dunedin where the eight top juniors vied for places in the South Island finals.

South Canterbury was represented by Sam Lane, Jack Deeley, Adam Beck and George Tarbotton in the boys with Annabel Ellis, Charlotte Lamb, Amelia Race and Anna Cochrane making up the girls' team.

Lane confirmed his position as the top ranked boy in the Southern District by taking the title with a 6-3 6-4 win in the final over Paddy Ou from Otago.

He had earlier beaten Carlos Reid from Otago in his semifinal 6-4 6-3.

Beck and Tarbotton met in the consolation final with Beck taking a very tight match 6-7 6-1 11-9.

Deeley completed the clean sweep taking the plate final 9-3 from Mitchell Wilson from North Otago.

In the girls, Annabel Ellis completed the winning double for South Canterbury in taking the title with a 6-2 6-2 win over Laura Overton from Southland.

Ellis had progressed to the final with a 6-1 6-1 win over Jessie Stevenson from Otago. Lamb made the consolation final but went down 4-6 6-3 10-3 in a close match with Courtney O'Callaghan from Southland.

Lane and Ellis will form part of the Southern District team to take on Canterbury's top qualifiers to contest the South Island titles. (thanks Desmond)

All players are members of the South Canterbury rep training program headed by "the eye " .Players benefit from great coaching and realistic goals and approaches by the team, I always believe a coaches role is to give the correct pathway and sometimes one has to tell the players and parents some things that they do not necessarily want to hear, and that is a sign of a good coach ,its important to remain positive and most parents and juniors appreciate this.You cant beat experience and sometimes coaches that have never played at a high level can set impossible goals, and give players a game plan that their style of play cannot implement.