Kinder Joy of Moving
Rafa Nadal Academy
1-9 November, 2021
This year there were two events as last years’ event was not held due to the covid pandemic. Both events were held at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca.
250 tournaments are held in 13 countries including Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, with more than 20,000 young tennis players taking part. The winners and runners up are then entitled to take part in the Kinder Trophy.
This year the organisers decided to introduce a doubles tournament but they wanted pairings from different countries. The idea was well received and the players interacted well.
1st Event 1-4 November 2021
This event was held for last years’ winners and runners up and the age categories were U11 and U13.
Our official team was made up of Emma Montebello, Betha Anne Mayo, Kelian Lauwers and Zak Zammit. Emma Lynn Mifsud and Jamie Grech joined the team as non-official players of the contingent which was led by coach, Stephen Caruana.
Our players practiced every morning before matches started and sometimes even in the afternoons after the conclusion of matches when the weather permitted. Everyone should, in fact, be commended for their dedication and the seriousness with which they approached their matches.
Emma Montebello managed a good run to the singles semi-final where she eventually lost to the eventual winner. In the doubles she managed to reach the final with her Romanian partner A.Chindris, only to lose in the championship tie break after the first two sets were shared.
2nd Event 6-9 November
The second event was reserved for the winners and runners up of this years’ events which were also held in 13 countries. The age categories were the U10 and U12’s
The official team was composed of Alex Zammit, Jamie Grech, Sophia Arpa and Kayleigh Busuttil Fitzpatrick. Pippa Cutugno and Kelian Lauwers were the non-official players.
As was the case of the first group congratulations are in order for all the players for their dedication and commitment to compete at their maximum ability. Preparations where meticulous even if made somewhat difficult by the adverse weather conditions, particularly very strong winds which greatly influenced all the matches in this event.
Jamie Grech managed to go all the way to the final of the consolation event only to lose against Jan Paradowski of Poland after starting strongly.
Jamie continued his good form by reaching the doubles final with his Ukranian partner, R. Yehor. They lost the match against the strong pairing of Y.Nikivorov/M. Bonev. Y. Nikivorov, in fact, also won the Boys U12 Singles title.
Overall, this was an exciting and fruitful experience for our top juniors and will undoubtedly serve them well in their tennis development.
