An Update On Our Champion Alicia - September 2015

Our Champion Alicia, who was given an Edward Starr Award in 2013 for her tennis coaching, has continued training really hard and this hard work is now starting to pay off. She has attended National tournaments in Edinburgh, Bath and Bournemouth this summer but without doubt the highlight of the summer was playing on the grass courts at Wimbledon in the HSBC Road to Wimbledon Finals.HSBC Road to Wimbledon is a 14U national competition whereby one winner from each county is invited to attend the finals at the All England Club in Wimbledon for a week in August. Alicia won the Sussex finals in July so in August she headed to Wimbledon for a week of tennis (and rain of course!). It was a fantastic experience and the players were really treated well - free tours and access to the club, players’ pass with daily lunch allowance, access to players’ dressing rooms and best of all, Alicia also got to play on championship court 18 (the 4th biggest show court), an experience which she will treasure for many many years.Alicia did really well over the week, reaching the finals of the Girls County singles which unfortunately she lost - she also reached the semi finals of doubles (which they lost on a nail-biting tiebreak). Alicia received her amazing runners-up trophy from Tim Henman (pictured).Following Wimbledon it was straight to Bournemouth for the British Nike National Junior 12U Championships; only 32 girls are accepted to play in this very high profile tournament so it was a huge honour just to play. Alicia won her first match and made it to the last 16 where unfortunately she met the number 2 seed and eventual finalist, but she put up a brave fight.Last week Alicia has played in the Sussex County championships where she was runner up in both 12U and 14U girls.Alicia has achieved so much, however the most important thing is that she’s loving her tennis at the moment; she’s having to make sacrifices and difficult choices but whatever the future holds she’s really enjoying the journey!