In term 1 earlier this year, the PSSA South Coast Tennis Trials were held in Bomaderry. 26 boys and 15 girls attended the trials after already successfully making it through previous District Tennis Trials. 5 girls and 5 boys were selected to represent the South Coast region at the PSSA State Championships and 2 of our local KVPS kids, Elsie Moffat and Samson Hole were successful in making the team! The players selected for the team were from all across the region – Goulburn, Cooma, Milton, Jerrabomberra, Queanbeyan, Woonona and the fabulous Kangaroo Valley. I was also very privileged to be chosen as the South Coast tennis convener and have had the pleasure of managing and coaching the team.
The NSW State Tennis Championships were held in Newcastle from Tuesday the 14th to Friday the 17th of May. The 13 PSSA regions of NSW (North Coast, Hunter, Riverina, Combined Independent Schools (CIS), Western, Sydney West, Sydney North, Sydney East, Sydney South West, Polding, Mackillop, North West and South Coast) all compete for the John Ferguson Trophies (boys team and girls team) and also the Don Moon Trophy (for combined team result). The players are also vying for selection in the NSW state team.
All the regions are split into 2 pools (groups) and a round-robin is played. We were in Pool A and versed Hunter, Riverina, CIS, Polding and Sydney West. Each round consists of 8 singles (4 boys singles and 4 girls singles) and 4 doubles (2 girls doubles and 2 boys doubles). After a challenging 5 rounds, our South Coast girls team finished 4th in the pool after narrowly defeating Hunter & Riverina (3 sets each but ahead on games). The boys team unfortunately lost their 2nd best player to COVID but they fought hard in all matches finishing 6th in the pool.
Both the girls and the boys then battled through the playoff rounds with the other pool for overall placings. The girls all competed well and Elsie had some great singles wins which helped her team finish 8th overall. Samson won his singles and doubles in the boy’s final playoff round helping his team defeat Western and finish 12th overall. Our combined team results saw the South Coast tie as 10th overall. A fantastic effort! The CIS team was very strong and won the gold medal and trophies in all 3 categories (girls, boys and combined) for the 5th year running!
It’s a great achievement for Elsie and Samson to get to this high level and represent their region. Only 65 boys and 65 girls in the whole state reach this level. The kids were exposed to some awesome tennis and, subsequently, their tennis improved significantly throughout the week. Elsie and Samson displayed great sportsmanship and teamwork all week and have made some wonderful new friends! I am very proud of all their efforts, and they’ve done our school, our Kangaroo Valley community and our South Coast region proud! Congratulations, Elsie and Samson!
Kate Hole
