Junior achievements
Sarah Cousins qualified for a European U14 Junior tournament in Dublin in August becoming the first
ever player from Fermanagh to achieve this distinction. Sarah obtained her first European ranking
points on winning her first round. During the year, Sarah was ranked as high as Irish Number 2 and
Ulster Number 1 during the year. She obtained the Impartial Reporter’s star of the future award at
U14 and Fermanagh Herald’s Sports Personality for July.
Jared Monaghan was another to have achieved recognition through the year and at one stage
obtained the number one spot at U16. He also made the U16 final of the Ulster Junior Open at the
Belfast Boat Club before losing out in three sets.
Others to perform with credit include Ronan McKeever, Daire Dillon,Matthew Duffy, Headon Hughes
Jordan and Conor McShea.
Sarah Cousins also won Ladies Singles title in the Limavady Senior Open, Laura Griffin the Senior
Ladies Singles title at Irvinestown .
Mount Lourdes team won the Ulster Schools Cup becoming the first girls tennis team from
Fermanagh to do so. The team consisted entirely of Enniskillen Tennis Club members – Claire Reihill,
Hannah Cousins, Sarah Cousins, Eimear Smyth and Laura Griffin.
Friday Club Nights
Louise organises activities each Friday Club Night ably supported by Josh Hannah. Many of our older
juniors also help out on a purely voluntary basis and we depend upon this support because the
numbers of juniors per week often exceed 100 each week. Club nights have never been better
attended and credit must go to Louise for her organisation and dedication week in week out
encouraging, supporting and creating the fun environment that keeps the juniors returning each
week.
Junior Open & Closed
Sponsors – Sincere thanks must go to our two main sponsors, Asda and Innes Redmond of Lakeland
Veterinary Services. Thanks to the generosity of parents and/ or club members, we replaced eight
perpetual shields for the Open with a modern trophy each having a figureen on top of a carved
pedestal.
Talent Club
The junior club has been classified by Ulster Tennis Branch as a talent club. Talent clubs are classified
by the number and standard of performance players it produces. This means that Matthew is
classified as a talent coach and receives invites to talent coach conferences organised by Ulster
Tennis Branch.
Coaching sessions by Matthew and Louise McGann and Josh Hanna
Two key performance squads taken by Matthew, one with approximately ten 10-14 year olds and
the other squad consists of approximately twelve 13-16 year olds.
Coaching by Louise – Louise heads up the Under 10 junior coaching and recreational squad coaching.
Next weekend she will be attending a course to obtain a PTR qualification specializing in Junior
Development. She is also taking her U10 squad to a tennis tens event in Dublin at the beginning of
December. Louise is working to develop the U10s some of whom will go on to attend a performance
squad and others who will take a recreational path. With the development of a performance squad
and recreational squads at this young age, it is hoped that these children will eventually feed into
the older squads.
Josh Hanna and Scott Gilbride both successfully completed a PTR coaching course. Josh has recently
set up coaching at five primary schools- Jones Memorial, Integrated, Maguiresbridge, Florence court
and the Model. Having completed the first series of coaching sessions, Josh is currently attempting
to form a squad under Matthew’s supervision which will allow those participants to advance to the
next stage and in so doing will also help to boost club membership. Matthew has also helped Josh to
start up a couple of recreational squads with children who have emerged from this year’s highly
successful summer camps.
Way forward
Josh will work at the grass roots level, building enthusiasm for tennis around the local schools. These
children will then feed into the club programme.
The under 10 and Recreational squads will be headed by Louise with Josh providing the link to the
schools and community tennis.
This will facilitate the formation of more squads at a recreational level with some of these children
then feeding into the performance squads.
The plan for the performance players is to increase their participation at a European level. We
currently have one European player. There are some performance squad players who are now ready
for the European tournaments so the plan next year is to increase the number to 4 participating
players in European competition.
Junior Committee
Thanks must also go to the Junior Committee – Evelyn Cousins, Anne Smyth, Brenda Davis, Johnny
Guette and Paula Dillon for their significant contribution throughout the year. Tribute was also paid
at the AGM to Matthew McGann for his massive contribution to junior tennis and for taking the
junior club to new levels of achievement. The dedication and commitment of Louise McGann was
also recognised for the pivotal role she plays in the very successful Friday junior club nights and for
engaging and motivating our youngest children to take up the sport.
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