Three local tennis players hit the courts last weekend in the U12 tennis tournament at the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa in Langford.
Jonas Hegge, Steve Said and Ivor Emberton represented the Island and are teammates at Cedar Hill’s tennis program.
All three enjoy the tactical part of tennis and love the feeling of a perfect hit off their racket.
On Saturday Hegge and Said played doubles against each other. Hegge had met his doubles partner before in a previous tennis tournament, but Said met his partner the day of. According to Said, it’s a seamless process getting to know a new teammate.
“You just talk to them a little bit, ask what they’re good at, they tell you, and then you can create a strategy,” he said.
Both Said and Hegge like competing against each other because it makes them better players.
Hegge said he was happy with his communication and teamwork on the court Saturday, and would like to improve keeping the ball in attacks.
Said was happy with his forehand cross courts, but thought his backhands could use some practice.
Emberton thought he did a good job volleying, but wants to work on his serve.
The tournament featured some of the best players in the province for that age group, with a limit of 32 athletes in the boys’ draw.
From this tournament eight girls and eight boys will be selected to head east for the national championships later this year.
The athletes are selected based on accumulating points since they started playing in January.
Said and Hegge say they travel to the mainland at least twice a month for tennis tournaments and hope in the future there will be more tournaments on the Island.
This was Bear Mountain’s first tennis tournament of the year on its red clay courts. Bear Mountain will also be hosting the U14 provincial championships at the end of July.
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lindsey.horsting@goldstreamgazette.com
