Amazing to see 2 British girls in Orange Bowl 14s final

[dannythomas]

I didnt get to see the Junior Orange Bowl but I was amazed to see that up against competition from all over the world it was 2 British girls Maia Lumsden and Gabriella Taylor who played out the 14s Orange Bowl final today . What is the LTA doing right with its junior development pogram that the USTA is not doing ? Does anyone knows if these girls train here or in the UK ? Following on fom the recent successes of Laura Robson and Heather Watson it can't just be coincidence.

[lala28m]

It's the 14's, too early to tell if anyone has done 'anything right" just yet. The Nike Internationals just had an all American g12s final 3 weeks ago. Which is great, but still...too early to tell just yet. But it's certainly a great start for all four. Better than the alternative, lol.

[dannythomas]

Obviously the Junior Orange Bowl is bigger than the Nike tournament and the 14s is way tougher than the 12s . In the 14s Nike International the final was between a Spanish and a Serbian girl. The 2 British girls who got to the Orange Bowl final did not enter the Nike. But if you compare the number of British entrants in the Orange Bowl against the US number it was a pretty remarkable achievement especially with all the Russian girls in the mix.
In fact there were just 4 British girls in the main Orange Bowl 14s draw and 36 Americans. If I looked at the numbers in the qualifying rounds I am sure the difference would be even bigger. The fact that 2 out of the 4 got to the Final is pretty impressive.

[TennisCoachIN]

Originally Posted by dannythomas

Obviously the Junior Orange Bowl is bigger than the Nike tournament and the 14s is way tougher than the 12s . In the 14s Nike International the final was between a Spanish and a Serbian girl. The 2 British girls who got to the Orange Bowl final did not enter the Nike. But if you compare the number of British entrants in the Orange Bowl against the US number it was a pretty remarkable achievement especially with all the Russian girls in the mix.
In fact there were just 4 British girls in the main Orange Bowl 14s draw and 36 Americans. If I looked at the numbers in the qualifying rounds I am sure the difference would be even bigger. The fact that 2 out of the 4 got to the Final is pretty impressive.

Very true. Great accomplishment for the ratio of British girls entered.

[lala28m]

Originally Posted by dannythomas

Obviously the Junior Orange Bowl is bigger than the Nike tournament and the 14s is way tougher than the 12s . In the 14s Nike International the final was between a Spanish and a Serbian girl. The 2 British girls who got to the Orange Bowl final did not enter the Nike. But if you compare the number of British entrants in the Orange Bowl against the US number it was a pretty remarkable achievement especially with all the Russian girls in the mix.
In fact there were just 4 British girls in the main Orange Bowl 14s draw and 36 Americans. If I looked at the numbers in the qualifying rounds I am sure the difference would be even bigger. The fact that 2 out of the 4 got to the Final is pretty impressive.

You don't "enter" the Nike Internationals. Only the best get "invited"; usually 4 per country, (G12, G14, B12, B14), + a handful of WCs (4 or 5, but no more than 2 total players per country per division). Nike picks either #1 ranked nationally (2012 Nike rule for GBR) or the top (i.e. top 16) ranked nationally hold a national tourney & finalist proceeds to NJT Internationals (2012 Nike rule for USA). Then Nike PAYS (all expense) for player (& parent/coach) to participate in week long Internationals. The 2 British girls that played OB G14 finals did not "not enter", they did Not Qualify. In fact, Britain had their #1 ranked G14's (Sophia Drakeford-Lewis) AND was awarded 1 of the 5 G14s WCs (Jazzi Plews). USA did not have G14WC, Sophia , who won the NJT National Masters, was the only G14 participant.

So now you give those European kids a fair chance in an overseas tourney. We are always saying, on this side of the pond, that the talented ones, who only play their own country (or just European circuit), may not be able to afford a week long tournament (eddie herr/orange). At NJT Internationals, only the very top ranked go, regardless of ability to pay for an overseas trip. I say that counts for something, something which niether Orange Bowl nor Eddie Herr can adjust championship for.

But yes, you are right about the 14's. It is a tougher division than the 12s. As is the 16s over the 14s and the 18s over the 16s and the WTA/ITF over Jrs.... Which just shows how long there is to go, and having one All-British OB G14s final, does not a winning recipe make. Not anymore than another international tourney's All-American G12s final. IMHO...

[lala28m]

Originally Posted by TennisCoachIN

Very true. Great accomplishment for the ratio of British girls entered.

That's 50%. USA girls in NJT's, 66.66%.

If you take what I just posted above into consideration, & the fact that NJT had 3 American girls between the two draws of 69 total... of the best Of the Best players in the world, and 2 Americans made it to the finals...I'd say the chances of that happening were equally slim. Not slamming anybody, kid or country. I'm just saying sometimes the numbers equal up to a coincidence, or maybe fellow country players pushing each other, and not a formula, recipe or pattern. Not yet.

[lala28m]

*Sophia KENIN...USA NJT International participant, and USA NJT Masters champion. (sorry, don't know why I didn't finish typing out her last name there).

[dannythomas]

I can't understand this reluctance to recognize what is really an unbelievable achievement by 2 girls from the UK reaching the finals of the most important junior event probably in the world. There were more than 300 enttrants including qualifying. Comparisons to the Nike event are pretty pointless . That is a much smaller event and far less important. For 2 girls from 1 country with only 4 entrants in the main draw to reach the final against many of the best in the world should not be downplayed.

[Bartelby]

Britain has spent a lot of money on sports as a part of the Olympics build up while over nations have been cutting back on just about everything.

[TCF]

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[uk_skippy]

Recently Maia had a wild card into her local 25k futures. There she won 2 rounds of qualies inc the #2 seed, before losing in 3 sets to another brit.

Def some potential in her.

Regards

Paul

[db10s]

Originally Posted by lala28m

*Sophia KENIN...USA NJT International participant, and USA NJT Masters champion. (sorry, don't know why I didn't finish typing out her last name there).

You had me a little confused, but I knew what you meant.

[coaching32yrs]

Originally Posted by dannythomas

I can't understand this reluctance to recognize what is really an unbelievable achievement by 2 girls from the UK reaching the finals of the most important junior event probably in the world. There were more than 300 enttrants including qualifying. Comparisons to the Nike event are pretty pointless . That is a much smaller event and far less important. For 2 girls from 1 country with only 4 entrants in the main draw to reach the final against many of the best in the world should not be downplayed.

Danny: It's important not to get too high or too low for a win at this age. Years ago my kid gave a 12 yr old gold ball winner all he could handle. The gb kid had a great coach who lectured him after the match, " No one cares about your gold ball in the 12's. It means nothing. It's all about how hard you work and getting better." BTW, that kid worked very hard and is close to breaking through on the big stage.

[dannythomas]

I agree 100% that winning the 14s Orange Bowl doesn't mean a pro career. In fact I m amongst the first to say that rankings at 12s and 14s mean very little. But it was pretty unexpected and statistically extremely unlikely for 2 girls from 1 country which only had 4 players in a draw of 128 ( plus another 200 or so in qualifying )not thought to be among the power houses of junior tennis overcame opposition fom around the world including Russians, Europeans , Americans and " Russian Americans " to play out the final.
My initial post was as much to find out if these girls train in Florida, The UK or some other place and whether the LTA provides their training because plainly they must be doing something right !

[TCF]

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[Dags]

Originally Posted by Bartelby

Britain has spent a lot of money on sports as a part of the Olympics build up while over nations have been cutting back on just about everything.

Tennis didn't receive any Olympic funding.

[Alohajrtennis]

Originally Posted by dannythomas

I agree 100% that winning the 14s Orange Bowl doesn't mean a pro career. In fact I m amongst the first to say that rankings at 12s and 14s mean very little. But it was pretty unexpected and statistically extremely unlikely for 2 girls from 1 country which only had 4 players in a draw of 128 ( plus another 200 or so in qualifying )not thought to be among the power houses of junior tennis overcame opposition fom around the world including Russians, Europeans , Americans and " Russian Americans " to play out the final.
My initial post was as much to find out if these girls train in Florida, The UK or some other place and whether the LTA provides their training because plainly they must be doing something right !

Gabi has a blog. She trains in Marbella Spain and plays extensively on the TenissEurope tour, where she has played Maia quite a bit. In fact they are friends and were roommates in Miami.

http://your.asda.com/athletes/gabriellataylor

[dannythomas]

Thank you AHT that was really interesting and informative. Do you think the LTA funds all their training in Spain ? I guess Florida is not the only place to train ! Training on European red clay can only be good for them.

[dannythomas]

Reading Gabi's blog further it does seem like the LTA funds them and sends them everywhere . Does the USTA do anything similar for US under 14s ?

[jaggy]

Wimbly has given the lta gazillions of cash over the years and they have woefully underachieved. Time the lta got something right.