South Canterbury Champion

16 June 2015

Waihi School pupil Harrison Darling has taken out the South Island Primary Schools Tennis title in Dunedin beating top seed Jamie Garbett from Cathedral Grammar , Christchurch 6-4 6-2 in a thrilling final. Darling, the 2nd seed, was clinical in his leadup to the final, dropping only 4 games during the 3 matches. In the final, Darling kept to the game plan given to him by South Canterbury coach Kane Newland and was rewarded with the win over Garbett. Both boys were selected in the New Zealand 12’s team last year, and Darling has lost to Garbett in the last 3 encounters, so the win was particularly satisfying.

Darling now travels to Auckland on December to play the national final against his North Island counterpart. The match is to be played at the National Senior championships, quarterfinals day, so it will be a great atmosphere to compete in.

South Canterbury’s George McAleer (Waimataitai) and Josh Cameron (Home Education) also competed well in the open grade against the South Islands best, with McAleer coming away with 2 wins and a 10th position finish. Cameron had a good win in his last match to finish 13th overall, but still has a further year in this grade and will be a strong competitor next year.

Max Taylor, from Gleniti School competed in the year 6 grade and has improved from this experience of higher level tennis, pushing his last opponent into a close 3 setter.