Exeter Tennis Centre trains stars of tomorrow

Exeter

Tennis Centre's Junior performance programme is helping to support young

players from across the region in their quest to become Britain's tennis stars

of the future.2012 was a

year of unprecedented success for British Tennis. Andy Murray's performances at

Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open have undoubtedly inspired a generation

of young tennis players to pick up a racquet and get involved.In this

respect Exeter Tennis Centre is leading the way. Not only is the Student

Tennis Club the largest sports club at the University of Exeter, with

nearly 500 members, but the centre has also been awarded Performance Centre

status by the Lawn Tennis Association in recognition of high quality coaching

support services offered to elite athletes.This

coaching, however, is not restricted to students and adults. The centre runs a

highly acclaimed Mini and Junior Performance

programme to help nurture and train players as young as six.Charlotte

Wallace, Tennis Performance coach, commented "The performance programme is

designed to give talented young players the opportunity to get the most out of

their tennis. We work very closely with each individual player to ensure that

their personal programmes provide them with an effective training platform. The

centre's Mini and Junior performance programme supports a number of young

athletes aged six – sixteen years old. Players travel from across Devon and as

far afield as Cornwall and Somerset to attend training sessions. We offer each

of our players a number of dedicated services to help them improve their game

including one to one coaching sessions, squad coaching, pilates with Ocean

Physio, hitting sessions and strength and conditioning sessions with the High

Performance unit's dedicated instructors."

The hard

work is clearly paying off as Exeter's performance players are enjoying huge

success on a national level. Louis

Davis, aged nine, won the Winter National Tour (9 and under) event at Oxstalls,

Gloucester last November and is currently ranked UK number three for his age

group. Emily Sims, aged nine, is also performing exceptionally well. Last

October she won the Bolton National Tour event and is also placed at number

three in Britain. Dan Mountford, aged nine, finished third Weybridge leg of the

Winter National Tour, moving him to fourth in the UK rankings.Further

success has also come at regional level. Louis Skupien dominated Winter

Regional Tour last weekend, winning the event without dropping a single game.

The victory has qualified him for the Cambridge National Tour event on 20

January. Exeter squad player Taylor Ingham-Hill also made it to the final,

giving Exeter Tennis Centre a fantastic 1-2 finish.It is hoped that these

rising stars will progress into the centre's junior performance programme which

has also been very successful. Players Jack Findel-Hawkins and Howard Scott

dominated the Tier

Two AEGON British Tour event in Swansea in October and qualified to compete

in the prestigious AEGON British Tour Masters, which drew from the top 32 players

in the country.Charlotte Said "Jack and

Howard have performed exceptionally well over the last 12 months and are a

fantastic example for our mini and junior performance players to follow. The

next big test will be the Winter National Tour event in Nottingham. If the

players continue to do well they will qualify for the Winter National Tour

Finals in March which will bring together the top players in the country. With

the talent that we have coming through our performance programme at the moment

I am confident that we will continue to set the standard for exceptional tennis

at a national level."