Spring Showers

April showers bring May flowers. Obviously Mother Nature doesn't care about tennis on Saturdays this year. Kids Tennis starting at noon is now postponed to May 15th. The HP 1 group which starts at noon as well will be credited for this lesson and can be refunded or put towards towards the summer session. Further updates in an hour for the other lesson groups.

12 PM UPDATE: 1 pm Kids Tennis lessons are also cancelled and will be postponed to May 15th. For the HP 3 & 4 groups, there is a chance of lessons going ahead. Say tuned. May have to squeegy the courts within the next hour.

1:20 PM UPDATE: Sorry for the delay in posting. The laptop I brought to the clubhouse was acting up and couldn't get it to work. The courts are very much dry now, but it's a tough call. We will go ahead with the 2 pm HP 3 and 4 lessons.

Coquitlam Junior Spring Challenger

Tournament | Once again we will kick-off the BC junior outdoor competitive season at the Coquitlam Town Centre tennis courts The 4th edition of the Coquitlam Junior Spring Challenger tournament will begin on Friday, May 21. Over a period of 4 days, junior players from across the province will battle it out for victories in the five age groups: under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years. Only the boys' and girls' singles events will be held with first match consolation draws offered in lieu of doubles events. The under 10 events will make use of a full court format and EZ Play balls.

Online registration is now opened. Here is the direct link to the page on Karelo.com. For mail in or drop-off entries, please download and print out this pdf file. Entries closed at 5 pm on Friday, May 14. Draws will be posted on Wednesday, May 19 at 9:00 pm. National ranking points will be awarded for all age groups except the under 10 events.

For the 4th year in a row, this Challenger level tournament is held in conjunction with the Hollyburn Junior Classic during the Victoria Day long weekend. The Hollyburn Junior Classic is a limited entry Championships level tournament and is hosted by the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver.

Juniors who are registered in one of the junior program lesson groups this year offered by the Coquitlam Tennis Club will be able to receive a discount on their tournament entry fee. Please see your instructor or coach for information.

Light Rain

Thick grey sky brings light rain to the area. The tennis courts are wet. All lesson groups starting at 12 noon have been postponed. We will make it up the week after the end of the session. Lessons starting at 1 pm and 2 pm will remain on schedule until further postings at noon and at 1 pm.

11:30 AM UPDATE: It's still raining... 1 pm lessons are also cancelled. However, 2 pm lessons may be a go. We will confirm again at 1 pm for the 2 pm lessons.

1 PM UPDATE: All lessons groups (12 pm, 1 pm & 2 pm) are now cancelled for the day. Kids Tennis groups will have make up on May 8 and HP 1, 3 & 4 will be added to May 15.

Spring Sessions Start

The tennis courts are a little damp but our spring sessions will go on as scheduled starting at noon. Hope the weather will hold for the rest of the afternoon. Further updates will be posted if the weather turns wet again. See you all at the tennis courts later.

1 Gold, 1 Silver + 3 Bronze

Victoria Road Trip | Two sets of brothers came on this spring break trip to the Island, and everyone left on Sunday afternoon with one or two medals around their necks. Steven Shen, who turned fourteen on the first day of this trip, came away with the best results. Seeded number 2 in the boys under 14 singles, he defeated the top seeded player Ben Kirsh of Vancouver in the final in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. He also teamed up with his doubles partner, Alex Baumann, to compete in the boys under 18 doubles event. They played solid doubles in the early rounds, defeating the number 2 seeded team of Alden Eakins of Mill Bay and Graham Huelscher of Burnaby 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they found themselves playing against their respective older siblings, Daniel and William. They won their big brothers-vs-little brothers battle and moved on to face the number one seeded team of Harman Gosal and Mark Nguyen in the final. This was their third doubles finals out of the three tournaments they had played in over the past few months. They won both their previous doubles finals. Having already played five matches over the last 48 hours, Alex's single blister on his right palm had increased to five. Playing his sixth and only match on the third day, he had trouble gripping his racquet handle through the match. Alex could not generate much pace off his forehand or serves with power nor handled his opponents power shots. This prevented this team from a more contested final as they were soundly beaten 6-1, 6-1.

Alex Baumann's blister on his right palm were made worse in his first round of his under 16 singles match against Ryan Petropoulos of Calgary. After finding himself down 6-3 in the first set, he fought back through the pain from his blister and broken racquet strings to take the second set 7-5. In the third set, the pain from the blister grew too much to handle and he lost it 6-3. The next day, he faced Victor Shang of Victoria in the consolation round. With the blister still tender on his palm, he found himself down 1-3 early in the first set. The blister had bled. He knew he should re-grouped quickly or risk loosing the match. The fourteen year old pushed past the pain and reeled off the next 11 of 12 games to take the match 6-3, 6-1. He has a blood covered over-grip to show for his effort. Playing in a heavily band-aid palm and fingers in his next match against Harman Gosal of Vancouver, Alex led 4-3 in the first set. And he led again in the second set at 5-4. Both times Gosal came back to win the set. Alex lost 4-6, 5-7..

Two week shy of his 16th birthday, Daniel Shen was seeded number 3 in the under 16 singles draw. He powered his way through the first two rounds. He demolished Joshua Piemontesi of Nanimo 6-0, 6-0, in his first match and then Matija Ivaz of Victoria 6-0, 6-1 in the quarter-finals. In his semi-final match, he faced the number one seeded player Mark Nguyen of Vancouver. After giving up the first set easily, he put up a harder challenge and took the number one seed to a tie-breaker. Daniel eventually lost the match 1-6, 6-7. Playing for third and fourth placing, he defeated the number four seed Patrick Hall in a tight three setter with a score of 3-6, 7-6, 10-3 in the third set super-tie breaker.

The under 18 singles draw had been re-configured into a round-robin contest. 16 year old William Baumann beat Colin Lippert of North Saanich 6-2, 7-5 in his first singles match. He lost his second match in three sets against Sam Smyth of Victoria. Smyth won 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. His third singles match was another three setter for him. This time he came through the match with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 score over Piers Zdan of Victoria. In his final round robin singles match, he was up against Alden Eakins. Willie last played against Eakins at the grass court tournament in Duncan the summer before where he had beaten him in straight sets. This time Eakins was the much improved player and took the match from Willie in a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline.

After losing their under 18 doubles match against their younger brothers the previous day, Willie and Daniel fought hard to take third place over Ryan Petropoulos and Piers Zdan. After splitting the first two set 6-7 and 6-2, Willie and Daniel took the deciding super-tiebreaker at 11-9.

Boys' under 14 singles podium medalists: from left to right, Ben Kirsh, Steven Shen, and Nyles Moisson

Boys' under 18 doubles podium medalists: from left to right, Steven Shen, Alex Baumann, Mark Nguyen, Harman Gosal, William Baumann, and Daniel Shen

Boys under 18 singles podium medalists: from left to right Sam Smyth, Alden Eakins, and William Baumann

Boys under 16 singles podium medalists: from left to right, Troy Tronrud, Mark Nguyen, and Daniel Shen

Big Brothers vs Little Brothers

Boys Under 18 Doubles | At the recent Junior Spring Break tournament in Victoria, the showdown was set in the under 18 doubles semi-finals between big brothers William Baumann and Daniel Shen and their respective younger siblings, Alexander Baumann and Steven Shen. For Alex and Steven, they had come off an impressive win in their previous match against the number two seeded team of Alden Eakins and Graham Huelscher. While the younger siblings made their 6-2, 6-3 win look easy, older brothers Willie and Daniel struggled in their first set against their opponents from Victoria. They eventually emerged the winner, beating John Shukin and Sam Smyth 7-6, 6-3. During the warm-up, there were a little mocking from the older brothers, and the younger team teased back at them. When the warm-up period ended, these two teams were ready to battle out for their bragging rights in their final evening match. Alex opened the match with his serve. Unlike in his previous doubles match where he held serve throughout the match, his was the first to be broken in this semi-final match. Further serves were broken from the rest of the players. The scoreline stayed closed throughout the first set until Willie and Daniel were leading 6-5, and Alex's service game came under pressure again. After four deuces, the older siblings snatched the game and the first set.

The second set started off with a service break for Alex and Steven. Daniel's serve was broken. Willie and Daniel broke right back by taking Steven's serve. Just when you thought this second set scoreline would see-saw between the two teams, Willie and Daniel reeled off the next 3 games to lead 4-1. All hope for a third set seemed to slip away. Alex and Steven realized it was a do-or-die moment, pulled their doubles game together to find their second wind. Game by game, they crawled their way back to even the set at 4-4. By now the Willie and Daniel appeared to be frustrated at losing their grip on this set. Hanging on, they managed to hold together to break Steven's serve for a 5-4 lead. This lead was lost when Daniel saw his service game broken next. At 5-5, Alex served well to hold serve. Willie served next, and his service game went deuce a number of times. At one point he had two set points against him, but managed turn the advantage to his favour. And on to the tie-breaker. At this moment in the match it almost seemed like Willie and Daniel were defending their position rather than being on the offensive. And that was exactly what Alex and Steven did in the tie-breaker. Aggressive play all around saw them raced to a 6-1 lead before taking the tie-break at 7-3. With both teams tied at one set all, Daniel announced his retirement from the match from stomach cramps, much to the delight of Alex and Steven.