The ITF Development Officer, Darran Wrighton writes that “2014 was to be a distinct year for the top juniors of Pacific Oceania as it was the first year that they were invited to be involved with the Australian National Championships as well as entering two teams in the Australian National Teams events in the 12 and under and 14 and under categories. These events are part of what is called the “December Showdown” by Tennis Australia and all the events are played at the home of the Australian Open, Melbourne Park.
The three regions of Pacific Oceania were well represented with players from Tahiti, American Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Saipan qualifying for the tour by virtue of their top 3 position in the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships held earlier in the year in Fiji.
The tour was also a learning experience for two Pacific Coaches, Andrew Mailtorok from Vanuatu (Head Coach ITF Regional Training Centre) and Olivier Fabre. (Tahitian Tennis Federation Coach and East Pacific Regional Coach at the POJC) They were to start to learn the intricacies of tour life that go far beyond what is taught on the court.
The Tour started with the 14 and Under’s playing their national individual events first, the 12 and under team arriving so that both teams could enter into the National Teams events against not only Australian State Teams but teams from Japan, China and New Zealand. The 14’s Team left after this event with the 12’s finishing the tour by playing in their age groups category in the National Championships.
The tour and the standard of the opponents was a definite eye opener for the Pacific Players with early starts and late finishes with lots of time to pass in between each others matches. It should be considered that each event is initially a 64 draw with 50 of the best Australian players combined with 16 international wild cards, there were to be no easy matches for our players.
The draw is also set up as a compass draw that means that players are put into different subdivisions of the event as they win or they lose. One of the major bonuses of this kind of draw is that all players are guaranteed at least 4 singles matches as well as one doubles match. Many Pacific players managed to play more than 4 singles matches due to them winning a couple of matches to go further into their subdivision.
The Teams event was also set up as a new novel concept, “ a double elimination” draw. This means that if a team loses in the first round to a top seed they still have a chance to continue in the competition by being fed into a separate part of the draw after their first round loss. They may eventually meet a seeded team in the semi finals but this means that they have a second chance to qualify. The 12’s and 14’s Team events consisted of twelve teams and matches were decided by two singles and one doubles rubber. Often matches were drawn on one all with the doubles rubber deciding the outcome of the results, which added an element of excitement into the proceedings.
The Pacific Players showed Australia and the other international teams great team spirit and composure. Special mention to Ruby Coffin of Fiji for receiving a “fair play award” (considering there were over 250 players competing!) It was evident that our players still had a lot to learn about the competitive side of the game as even though they had the fitness / tactics and technique to play on an even level with the majority of competitors they were lacking on the mental fortitude and continuous exposure to this type of high level competition that many of the local players were displaying. The Pacific Players will need to develop a higher desire to be compete for each and every point and accurate calling of the lines and points if they truly want success outside of the Pacific.
We had many notable performances and any match won is a great indicator of the progress Pacific Players are making on an international scale.
In Particular in the 14’s event Micheal Emery of Tahiti should be congratulated for making the final of the second section of the draw. As runner up this would rank him around 34rd in Australia. This was emulated by Gillian Osmont also from Tahiti who won the second section of the draw meaning he would be ranked around 33rd in Australia.
Many of the wins from this event will count towards our Pacific Players Australian National Ranking which will give us a better benchmark of where their standard lies and it is something that can be improved through competing in Australian events throughout the year.
It is hoped that Pacific Players will be able to continue to gain rankings that place them in the top 30 Nationally within Australia.
Within the Teams event the competition was tough but the boys 12 and under and girls 12 and under both managed to place 10th.
The Boys 14 and under 11th and the girls 14 and under narrowly missed out on 11th place.
In these initial years it is great to be involved in this level of events and come above some of Australian States and Territories but there is always the intention to place within the top 6 teams as time passes.”
12 and Under Boys:
Gillian Osmont – Tahiti
Clement Mainguy – Vanuatu
Robbie Schorr – Saipan
12 and Under Girls:
Naia Guitton – Tahiti
Lea Lamorelle- Tahiti
Malika Miyawaki- Saipan
14 and Under Boys:
Micheal Emery Tahiti
Larry Magalisin American Samoa
Graham Mani Solomon Islands
14 and Under Girls:
Lea Bolo New Caledonia
Ruby Coffin Fiji
Vienna Kumar Fiji
Please follow this link for website that displays all the information and results from this event:
http://www.tennis.com.au/tournaments/juniors/december-showdown
Please also check out the ITF Regional Training Centre Facebook page where there are many photo’s from the tour.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ITF-Regional-Training-Center-Fiji-Islands/101569979916965?ref=hl