Young Guns Mark Ritchie showed his dominance by being one of two Line one players (Ben Evans the other) to go through undefeated.

Ben was away playing a tournament when they were due to meet. Interestingly Mark and Ben represent the eldest and youngest Line one players. Mark proved his prowess and accounted for big hitting Andrew Hayne by making Drew hit too many balls back with varying pace for Drew’s liking forcing him into a plethora of errors.

Adam Jones was Young Guns Line two player and he has plenty of skill but his nonchalant style is sometimes his undoing.

Last week though he brought the goods and defeated his more fancied opponent in young Abbey Kennedy.

Sheridan Kirk was the ever reliable Young Guns Line three and she continues to play her relaxed style and consistently makes the other player play extra shots to win the point. Sheridan wasn’t quite up to Maddy McCormick in their singles but matched her in the doubles sets.

Well Done to all teams participating and the new competition will start on Tuesday, May 1.

Three in a team playing one set of singles and two sets of doubles each week using two courts. Start time 7pm. Finish time 8.30pm-9.15pm. More tennis in Friday’s paper.

ANZHotshots has finished for another term and what an afternoon last Friday with the horrendous dust storm that swept across town.

Fortunately the juniors could take refuge inside the clubhouse and continue with their session out of the dust and wind until it passed. By 5pm all groups were back on court and enjoying their final hit of tennis for the term.

HotShots tennis is designed for 4yrs to 12yrs and will start back from Monday April 30th with Monday and Friday afternoons after school sessions and limited places on Tuesday afternoons.

Parkes East infants classes have thoroughly enjoyed their taste of tennis through the sporting schools program this term.

This program is free for schools and gives students the chance to try different sports delivered by professionals in their field. The students were actively engaged every week and loved the different activities and challenges offered to them.

This weekend Hannah and Phoebe Potts have been offered an amazing experience in conjunction with the Fed Cup tie between Australia and Netherlands in Wollongong.

Helen Magill has been heavily involved with TennisNSW and Tennis Australia in organising a special event to acknowledge the involvement of women in tennis across NSW.

Six Women have been selected and as part of their package they can bring along two girls aged between 14-16 years who are also giving back to the sport either through coaching, helping in the canteen or with junior comps and who they see as role models for the younger ANZHotshots players and girls coming through.

“I guess this came about due to my increased profile in the tennis landscape coming from a relatively small regional town in NSW” Helen said. 

“I know how much it has meant to me to be the first female to win two of the Newcombe Medal Award categories so I wanted to somehow use my influence and gather some amazing women together in a group and say Thank You to them and that just like Tennis Australia acknowledged what I do in the sport. 

I wanted TennisNSW to do the same for these Women. I also saw the opportunity to say thank you to Phoebe and Hannah for their involvement locally and regionally and offer them this experience”.

The weekend will involve the group of six Women and 14 Girls coming together this Friday watching the Fed Cup teams train followed by a meet and greet. Then the Tennis Australia Media Team have indicated they want to do some filming and interview the group and delve a little deeper into their involvement in tennis across regional NSW.

There will be two forums including special guests interacting with the group and an opportunity for Q&A and also a team bonding Yoga on the Beach session as well as some Team Tennis match play.

Phoebe and Hannah have been part of the Parkes Junior tennis program for more than ten years through coaching, playing competition, tournaments, school tennis and squad and now in the ANZHotShots space.

They are already superb role models for the juniors and their individual HotShots groups love their guidance and the younger squad members definitely look up to them for encouragement and wise words during training and at the tournaments.

It will be a great weekend cheering on the Australian Team and networking with this unique group of Women and Girls.

D’Aquinos in Dalton St is the place to go to organise a court for a hit during the school holidays. The weather is cooling and it is a perfect time to get outside and get active with family and friends.