Newcastle Tennis Club’s juniors in fine form as season gets underway

15 April 2015

SPRING is in the air, the evenings are lighter and the courts are busier than ever.

Coaching has started again at Newcastle Tennis Club and coaches Sam Clegg and Jane McIlwrath have been putting the juniors and seniors through their paces.

Sam coaches juniors and seniors on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Jane takes junior classes on Saturday mornings.

Anyone, junior or senior, who is interested in joining the club, or coming along to try out this fantastic sport, don’t hesitate. You’ll be made very welcome and membership rates are keenly priced to encourage participation.

Contact the club’s PR0, Patrick Corrigan, via email (heights5@hotmail.co.uk) for further information or any enquiries.

Last week saw the launch of the Belfast & District Leagues and Newcastle’s juniors made a great start.

All fixtures consist of six matches, four singles and two doubles. First up were the U-14 A boys, Gabriel Corrigan, Jack Cunningham, Ben McGuigan and Ciaran Flanigan, who travelled to Helen’s Bay on Wednesday night.

It was a lovely day out and all the Newcastle boys played very well indeed in securing a convincing win of 5-1.

The scoreline was heavily in Newcastle’s favour, but the Helen’s Bay boys also played well, and best of all, there was a really strong sense of good fun and sportsmanship from both teams which made for very pleasant viewing.

Next up on Saturday were the U-18 boys’ team of Gabriel Corrigan, Scott Monteith, Matthew Doherty and Michael Flanigan, who hosted the Ballynafeigh B team from Belfast.

The weather was not quite as good as it could have been as it was quite cold and windy, but that didn’t stop them all getting stuck in.

Newcastle were in great form and came out on top by winning all six matches. Everyone enjoyed some well-deserved hot food in the clubhouse afterwards. Thank you to Ballynafeigh for travelling.

Sunday saw the first outing of the new U-14 boys B team of Joel McKibbin, Conaill Burns and Luka Hallissey in Division 5.

This team was created to fill the gap caused by last year’s U-14s who won their division and were promoted to Division 4. The team has some experienced players and some who have never played a match before. Newcastle were hosting Donaghadee. Unusually, both teams only fielded three players this time rather than four, so only one doubles and three singles matches were played.

Although the Newcastle boys worked hard, victory was for Donaghadee this time. It was a great experience for our first time players, and left them disappointed with the scoreline, but keen to try again, a great attitude to have.

The U-18 team of Gabriel Corrigan, Scott Monteith, Aaron McAnulty and Ciaran Flanigan were busy again on Sunday.

Up early in cold and rain, off they went all the way to Ballycastle. They left so early that they arrived too early and had time to swan around like tourists and have hot chocolate and cake and ice cream for a whole hour before it was time to warm up and start playing.

It must have had the desired effect, however, as all four boys played a blinder and came home with four of the six matches.

Ballycastle are a strong team, and the matches were tightly fought and could have gone the other way, so the boys should be very pleased with both their efforts and their results.

The club would like to thank all the parents involved for their support in bringing the juniors to and from the club promptly and sometimes early in the morning in order to be punctual for both home and away matches.

Special thanks go to Janet Flanigan who never fails to supply the best post-match grub when Newcastle boys are hosting.

More to follow over the next six weeks as Newcastle’s juniors play all over Down and Antrim. Watch this space, because next week, here come the girls. The U-14 girls take up their racquets and start their matches too.

The seniors won’t be far behind the juniors, with the men’s and ladies’ Evergreen Leagues starting at the end of April. The Mixed League also starts at the end of April and the Summer League takes place — yes, you guessed — in the summer.

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