This Is Guernsey

THE Trebert and Le Tissier families dominated finals day in the Creasey’s Junior badminton Open.

Between them, they appeared in all 19 finals that covered each age group of under-13, -15, -17 and -19 years.

Players are limited to entering six events, usually within two age groups. So with singles, doubles and mixed doubles events, each player can appear in a maximum of six finals.

Glenn Le Tissier, 16, Emily Trebert, 15, and younger brother Jordan, 12, each reached six finals. Glenn and Emily remained unbeaten while Jordan notched up five titles.

Chloe Le Tissier, 11, was also in a maximum number of finals and won them all.

The event was hit partly by the credit crunch as only one player, Jamie Jenkins, 14, from Kent, visited from the UK.

But, frustratingly for him, he suffered a muscle injury on the Friday evening and had to withdraw.

Disappointingly, only one player entered from Jersey, that being young Harrison Morley, 12, in the under-13 and -15 events.

He did very well and reached the U-13 singles final.

Even though the number of entrants was down, it was pleasing to see so many players who have shown fantastic improvement over the past 12 months.

Chloe Le Tissier, the English National Under-11 girls doubles silver medallist, continues to show her astounding talent as she dominated both the under-13 and -15 age groups.

She beat the plucky Atlanta Allen, 10, in the under-13 singles and partnered Jordan Trebert in the mixed doubles with a comfortable win over Matt Wakeford, 11, and Allen.

She beat Sara Martin, 13, in straight sets in the under-15 age group but then paired up with Martin to defeat Emily Green and Chloe Gill, both 12.

In the mixed doubles she teamed up with Jordan Trebert and beat Luke Le Tissier, 13, and Martin.

One has to feel sympathy for Luke, who did well to reach five finals and had a big pill to swallow in being runner-up on each occasion.

‘It will be great to see Chloe playing more tournaments in the UK as locally she really struggles to find quality opposition anywhere near her own age group,’ said GBA president John Stuart.

‘She could easily be a top national standard player but it is so hard financially and to commit the time to achieving national success.

‘Equally, Jordan Trebert is blossoming into a very talented prospect who would also benefit with off island competition.

‘At under-13 level he is head and shoulders above anyone else, physically and talent-wise. He is maturing with a beautiful racket stroke action, and his physical movement around court is improving up to a new level and starting to look smooth and efficient.’

Having cleaned up at under-13, Trebert almost repeated the process at under-15.

He beat Le Tissier relatively comfortably in the singles and partnered Chloe Le Tissier to the mixed doubles title.

But the best final of the afternoon pitted Jordan and Luke against Tom Ogier, 14, and Dan de Garis, 14.

Even though older, the latter have been in the shadow of the former until this year.

It was a superb performance by Ogier and de Garis, who used excellent defence play to wear down the No.1 seeds and final favourites.

At one game all, Ogier and de Garis got an early lead in the deciding set, and the rest of the game went practically point for point.

Each time it looked like the Trebert/Le Tissier pair were about to take command, the underdogs pulled out one return after another until the favourites were forced into an error.

Both Ogier and de Garis served very well all match, keeping the pressure up on every point.

At 19-all Le Tissier fluffed a serve into the net when he unfortunately caught his thumb with his racket, handing match point over, which Ogier and de Garis grabbed at the first ask for a super first title for them at under-15.

The winners really stepped up to the mark in this tournament, a win that will and should rightly do wonders for their confidence.

The under-17 and -19 age groups belonged to Glenn Le Tissier and Emily Trebert.

Both players could also make a real mark at national level if they could play off-island more.

Le Tissier shows real maturity in his play. Again his racket action and physical movement is a joy to watch.

Both are matched by Trebert.

It speaks for itself that they both dominated two age groups and as they partnered each other in both mixed doubles events, they were No.1 seeds and favourites for both titles.

At under-17, they comfortably beat Jack Batiste, 16, and Hannah Spittal, 15, but were taken to a deciding set at under-19 by Harry Southwell, 17, and Harriet Thoumine, 18.

Le Tissier then partnered Southwell in the U-19 boys doubles for another medal success against Adam Jouhning and Chris Rabey, both 17, who put up a good fight but fell in two sets.

The two lads, Le Tissier and Southwell, formerly met to contest the under-19 singles, Le Tissier coming out the victor in beating Southwell in a very close contest 21-13, 24-22.

Trebert matched Le Tissier in both age groups but is a year younger, so perhaps is that little bit more special.

‘Her sheer will to win and determination are second to none, and will always make her a fierce opponent,’ said Stuart.

‘It is that extra mental grit that she has on top of her undoubted playing ability that is the vital ingredient in making her an awesome foe and winner.’

Trebert beat Hannah Greenfield, 16, in the under-17 singles, and then she and Hannah Spittal paired up to beat Greenfield and Candice Crowson, 15, in two sets, and the two then repeated this at under-19 against Greenfield and Harriet Thoumine but in three sets.

The tournament was a great warm-up for next weekend’s under-18 inter-insular against the old enemy in Jersey.

The Guernsey team will be captained by Southwell.

Then the following weekend a team of four boys and three girls travel to the under-15 inter-county tournament at Bath University, with the help of Guernsey Electricity.Creasey’s Junior Open: Two families in all 19 finals between them at the Rohais Halls

Article posted on 10th November, 2009 - 2.29pm