The ITF Development Officer, Darran Wrighton writes that “The POJC was the culmination of a circuit of Regional Events held in the Pacific in 2014. The first of the circuits was hosted in the West Pacific(Fiji) during May; the circuit then moved up to the North Pacific (Guam) in July and finished in the East Pacific (American Samoa) in August. The ITF Development Officer for Pacific Oceania had the responsibility of being the Referee for each of the Regional Championships assisted by the host nation officials.
During the Regional Events over 180 players participated representing over 12 nations in the Pacific.
This years POJC was run at the Regional Tennis Centre in Lautoka, Fiji. The tournament was overseen for the first time in its history by a ITF White Badge Referee (Patrick O’Rourke from New Zealand) and this gave the event a whole new level of professionalism. Patrick was assisted by a team of local Tennis Fiji officials who are using the experience gained at the POJC in court supervision and chair umpiring to make a start on the Oceania Officiating Pathway that is being developed by the Oceania Tennis Federation.
The Championships were held over 10 days with over 70 competitors challenging each other in two separate events. The players’ results in both events would determine not only who were the Pacific Junior Champions in Singles and Doubles but the title of Regional Champions was up for contention again. This year the event had an added element of competition with the Nations Leader Board being introduced so that every country could find how they ranked in the Pacific.
The first event was played in round robin pools (three pools of four) followed by knockout draws for 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 with placement ties. From the positions gained in the first event players were seeded and the second event was based on a more traditional knockout draw with placement matches.
This year the East Pacific were looking to retain their title from 2013. Their team featured many winners of the East Pacific Regional Championships in each age group and their Regional Coaches from Tahiti managed to encourage an early rapport with the players challenging the other regions with a Haka at the opening ceremony. This liveliness and vocal support for every team was to be a hallmark of the Championships with every region barracking for their players throughout the whole event.
The standard of play was very high with some hotly contested matches. The event consisted of 3 age categories: 12 and under, 14 and under and 16 and under, this was a change from previous years and brought the age categories more in line with other international events held by the ITF.
Pacific Oceania Junior Champions for 2014
12 and Under Boys – Gillian Osmont (Tahiti)
12 and Under Girls – Naia Guitton (Tahiti)
14 and Under Boys – Larry Maglasan (American Samoa)
14 and Under Girls – Carol Lee (Northern Marianas Islands)
16 and Under Boys – Manoa Desvignes (Tahiti)
16 and Under Girls – Mulan Kamoe (Fiji)
The Nations leaderboard top 3 places were:
- Tahiti (East Pacific)
- American Samoa (East Pacific)
- Northern Marianas Islands (North Pacific)
- Fiji (West Pacific)
- Vanuatu (West Pacific)
The East were convincing in retaining the Regional Championships in 2014 this was bolstered by having Finalists in 4 Events.
The West and the North were quite close to each other after the final points tally but they have assured the East that they will have to fight harder to retain the title next year.”
The results from the events can be found here:
http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=8E366215-7D14-42A0-9287-1D3C7B6D10B8
and many photo’s from the Championships can be seen at this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ITF-Regional-Training-Center-Fiji-Islands/101569979916965?ref=hl