Tain Tennis Club youngsters win Highland League title
TAIN Tennis Club have achieved smashing success as their youngsters have landed a major league title.
Sonny Dunsmuir, Charlie Mackenzie, Rory McVicar and Matvii Shumylo have all been crowned champions as they landed the Highland League Nine and Under title.
The club saw off competition from top clubs across the north to land the nine and under title for the first time in their history.
Tain qualified for the finals after finishing in second place in the Inverness section behind Bellfield Park. They went on to meet the top two teams in the Moray section in the finals which took place in Elgin.
In the semi finals, Tain managed to beat Elgin 15-11 and set up a showdown with Inverness club Bellfield Park where they came out on top 11-10 in a tense final.
Tain Tennis Club head coach Scott Fraser says it was a terrific performance throughout the season from the team as they deservedly won the title.
He said: “The competition started in mid-August and there was two qualifying groups in the Inverness and Moray areas.
“The club have not won that age group before and it is a great achievement as it shows there are a lot of kids at the club coming through and the programme is going well.
“The class that the boys attend is a development group who play twice a week.
“That is a partly why they have done well as they have committed more to their tennis as they play twice a week.”
Tain Tennis Club organise a four-day week programme and hold classes ranging from five-year-olds to adult classes.
The club is sitting at around 110 members and entered seven junior teams into the Highland League this season at different age groups.
The club’s 14 and under A team won Division One and 14 and under B team won Division Two of the Highland League.
It is the most league titles the club have won at junior level in a single year.
Fraser says the club has attracted a good membership from towns and villages across Ross-shire and Sutherland and will be looking to build on their success next year.
He said: “The majority of our club members are from Tain, but we have kids from Balintore, Inver and Portmahomack and some come from as far as Ardgay and Bonar Bridge.
“We hold sessions at four days a week and most of our sessions in Tain but also hold some sessions at Dornoch too.
“Next year, we will look to improve the amount of teams in the leagues and continue to build the membership and get more people playing tennis around the area.”