The first round of the Upper North East NSW Medibank Junior Development Series was held at Ballina/Alstonville Tennis Clubs earlier this month, with Tweed players dominating.
The MJDS series is played around Australia and on a junior player pathway and falls between the local fixtures and the prestigious Junior Tour tournaments.
The event is contested by existing junior tournament players and is also a great introduction for junior tennis players new to tournament play.
The Ballina event was the first of seven rounds, which will culminate in the Champion of Champions events at Grafton, then Inverell, where a squad to represent the NE/NW region will be picked for the NSW State Final in October.
With a field of 88 juniors representing clubs from Tweed Heads to Grafton, Tweed District showed up in force on the weekend, with 18 talented juniors making up 20 per cent of the field.
In a wonderful start to the series, the Tweed juniors won every event they contested and dominated with Semi Final, Quarter Final and strong pool placings.
The event was also attended by Junior President Peter Luc, Tweed Heads coach Bev Peck and many parents.
Junior President Peter Luc said, “It was great to see many new juniors playing in the MJDS series and that the quality of each age group this year was good, which provided strong round robin competition for all existing tournament players and, as the event splits into seeded and unseeded pools next round, it will also provide newcomers with the opportunity to play against ‘like’ players and improve throughout the year.”
He added that, to see our juniors play with great sportsmanship throughout the day and dominate the first round was a great result for the players, their coaches and the District.
Tennis Country Committee Member Darren Crispin and North East MJDS Co-ordinator Nick Crispin noticed the large Tweed District presence this year and thanked us for supporting the event. They also noticed the ability of the Tweed District players and looked forward to watching them progress throughout the year.
