Earlier this week I received a really up-beat e-mail from Ian Morgan of the Caesarean Tennis Club in which he told me that the Island is creating open senior tournaments for all levels of players this summer to help towards selection for the Island Games in 2009.
Having read the sports pages of the JEP avidly over the years, I wonder if ‘senior tournaments’ are the right two words to use, because some of our juniors are proving good enough to win matches or only to lose narrowly against players they would have lost to only a handful of years ago.
The younger generation are already upon us.
Similarly, one of the most incongruous photographs in the JEP this week was of Guernsey’s Luke Blondel shaking hands with former Jersey Muratti man Ricky Muddyman, having beaten him in the Hampshire seven-a-side tournament last Sunday. True, Blondel (11 handicap) only won by a technicality on the first extra hole after tying with Muddyman (five handicap) and Jersey’s Les Mielles went on to win the trophy.
However, Blondel is only 12 years old and doesn’t even reach up to Muddyman’s shoulders, which is why the picture stopped me in my tracks. But full marks to Ricky for accepting defeat so graciously.
Yes, the next generation is already upon us – and in some cases it would seem that the next-but-one generation is already there or thereabouts.
Beware: The young ones will wait for no man…
Earlier this week I received a really up-beat e-mail from Ian Morgan of the Caesarean Tennis Club in which he told me that the Island is creating open senior tournaments for all levels of players this summer to help towards selection for the Island Games in 2009.
Having read the sports pages of the JEP avidly over the years, I wonder if ‘senior tournaments’ are the right two words to use, because some of our juniors are proving good enough to win matches or only to lose narrowly against players they would have lost to only a handful of years ago.
The younger generation are already upon us.
Similarly, one of the most incongruous photographs in the JEP this week was of Guernsey’s Luke Blondel shaking hands with former Jersey Muratti man Ricky Muddyman, having beaten him in the Hampshire seven-a-side tournament last Sunday. True, Blondel (11 handicap) only won by a technicality on the first extra hole after tying with Muddyman (five handicap) and Jersey’s Les Mielles went on to win the trophy.
However, Blondel is only 12 years old and doesn’t even reach up to Muddyman’s shoulders, which is why the picture stopped me in my tracks. But full marks to Ricky for accepting defeat so graciously.
Yes, the next generation is already upon us – and in some cases it would seem that the next-but-one generation is already there or thereabouts.
Article posted on 4th July, 2008 - 3.00pm