"The future is now.
With just three weeks until schools are back in session, young Sequim tennis players battled for top places, trophies and bragging rights in the Community Junior Tennis Program tournament, held Aug. 10-13 at the Sequim High School tennis courts.
Siblings Blake and Kalli Wiker each earned championships by going a combined 10-0 in Boys 14U and Girls 14U divisions, respectively.
Blake went 7-0 in a seven-player bracket, with Raymond Lam (6-1) taking second and Thomas Hughes (5-2) in third. Kalli was 3-0, with Olivia Preston (2-1) taking second place and Emma Shogren (1-2) in third.
Matthew Richards and Stephanie LaCour took titles in 18U divisions. Eli Berg won a tiebreaker over Victor Lam for second place in the Boys 18U division after both went 3-2.
A total of 49 matches were played over a four-day period, with 18 players competing in the round robin tournament using a pro set, eight-game format.
"The weather was hot … and those kids were exhausted at the end of each day of competition," event organizer Don Thomas said. "The round robin format put a lot of pressure on those kids. But they gain a lot of experience, build endurance and learn a lot about themselves. It was a great event to cap off this summer's juniors program."
Thomas, who heads up the Community Junior Tennis Program, said local tennis youth movement is gaining momentum as the players gain experience.
"We promote the game within our community through our youth," Thomas said. "Tennis is a family sport. We grow the program through our kids and their families. We are reviewing our lessons learned from this summer's events and we are already applying them in planning for next year's programs.""
LaCour, Richards, Wiker siblings win Sequim junior tennis titles SLIDESHOW - Sequim Gazette:
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