LAST TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR AT BENONI

Gauteng East Tennis Association held their last one day tournament of the year on Saturday. We entered eight children from our Vosloorus programme which meant that in the four tournaments we supported throughout the year, we entered 34 children of which 26 played in a tournament for the first time.

Unlike in the past where the same few children played in tournaments, we took the decision to widen the net and expose more of the younger players to tournament play. For the last three events they have had a Red Ball event and this has been a tremendous fillip for the really little ones to be exposed to playing with children from outside Vosloorus and to mix social.

Following the clinic we held during the Rod Laver junior qualifying event, Desire Wilson, who runs junior tennis for Gauteng East, asked for two of our girls to attend Saturdays tournament and she would sponsor them. They played extremely well with Siyamthanda Silinga, aged 8, finished as runner up with her 7 year sister, Sindi third. It was Sindi’s first tournament and a wonderful achievement to finish in that position.

In the main event two of our young 11 year olds, Wandile Tshabalala and Sipho Mniki came third to cap a very successful day for our group. The others, although they did not feature in the main prizes, were able to pit their skills against better players and enjoy a morning of inter action with children from outside the Township. All of these aspects are very essential as part of their tennis education.

We really owe Gauteng East Tennis Association a huge debt of gratitude for organizing these events and they have become a stepping stone for our players towards the goal of entering the Tennis South Africa sanctioned tournaments. This time 162 children took part and with schools finishing their final year exams, it showed how important these tournaments are to the local players notwithstanding having the “distraction” of school exams!!