Fischer Indoor Junior Nationals have officially wrapped up and Tennis Manitoba/Team Prairies coach Jared Connell couldn’t be prouder of how the players on the prairies performed. You can find the full list of Team Prairies athletes here
“Overall, it was the best results that I can remember for Team Prairies,” Connell.
“We had a singles finalist, a doubles finalist, someone finished in fourth, two kids finished sixth, a kid won their flight in under-12 and finished ninth overall as a 10-year old and then two kids won sportsmanship awards so it was a good haul.”
The top performance by a Manitoban was Volodymyr Gurenko who grabbed fourth place at under-16 nationals.
“He’s just a great fighter. He battled through multiple three-set matches and won them… He’s a special player with his fight and his heart,” said Connell.
“That’s what it comes down to with him.”
Connell, who coached the U12 and U18 events, said he saw a lot of growth in all of our athletes.
“Honestly, most of our players at the national level are still trying to get experience and get comfortable,” said Connell.
“So, by the end of the weeks, they all improved significantly. I know the two girls at the U16, Jeslyn Peng and Aurora Ling, they lost their matches, but they were getting more and more comfortable and understanding what they need to do in those tournaments better so it was a good experience for them.”
Connell added: “All of the kids that we took and all the kids I worked with in those two weeks and the kids in the other two weeks that I wasn’t there, all of our players and parents were excellent. They were great representatives of the prairies and they did exactly what we asked — put in a full effort, fight hard, and be respectful. And they were.”
Complete results can be found at the following links:
Mar 24- 29 | U16 Indoor Jr. Nationals: Club de tennis Iles de Soeurs, Montreal
Mar 26-Apr 1 | U12 Indoor Jr. Nationals: UBC Tennis Centre, Vancouver
Apr 2-7 | U18 Indoor Jr. Nationals: Aviva Centre, Toronto
Apr 3-9 | U14 Indoor Jr. Nationals: Osten & Victor Tennis Centre, Calgary
