It was celebration time on Saturday when Kent Tennis held held their awards day at Avenue Tennis in Gillingham.
Juniors received their honours ahead of senior presentations from late afternoon but, before that, county colours were handed out with Jack Berry, Dimitar Lalov, Nate De Mariveles, Matthew McLain, Isabel McLain and Alex Mirrington honoured.
Later on Chloe Cleaver, Hugo Coquelin, Ben Gusic Wan, Sofia Johnson, Eloise Newberry, Leticia Romanova, Emma Sawkings and Abby Taylor were men’s and women’s recipients.
Many winners were announced late last year, including Bromley’s Lois Newberry, who picked up her award for Junior Performance Player-of-the-Year, and representatives of the Kent Girls Under-18s and the GB Boys Wheelchair team, who are joint Junior Performance Team winners.
Sevenoaks’ Alice Moffatt collected her Junior Club Player-of-the Year award and Margate’s Jamie MacRae took home the Young Person-of-the-Year Award.
School-of-the-Year this time was St John’s Catholic Comprehensive in Gravesend and the University-of-the-Year winners were the University of Kent.
Another county colours presentation kicked off the senior celebrations, awarded to players who represented Kent in women’s age groups of 40 and above and men’s age groups of 45 and above, on 25 or more occasions. Alessia Cuomo, Caroline Griffiths and Keri Jakes were the recipients before Bromley’s Alice Gillan received recognition with the Performance Player-of-the-Year award.
The Performance Team-of-the-Year went to the men’s over-75s and 80s, and the Adult Club Player-of-the-Year was collected by Wye LTC’s Thomas Eastwell. This is a new award and recognises a player who has gone above and beyond all season, showing exceptional commitment and making a meaningful contribution to their club.
Adult Club Team-of-the-Year were Sundridge Park men’s National League Team in another new award for the team that have excelled, especially in the Kent Inter-Club League, National League and other competitions.
Club-of-the-Year (1-4 courts) winners were Play Padel (Deal) and five courts or more went to Sidcup’s Crescent Tennis Club.
Rochester & Chatham’s Danny French is the Coach-of-the-Year winner and Performance Coach-of-the-Year was picked up by Canterbury’s Sun Keon Lee. There was a further Canterbury winner in Official-of-the-Year Sophie Kitson and Competition-of-the-Year went to the East Kent Championships (Canterbury).
Jane Smith, senior communications manager at sponsors Natixism, presented the Tennis Opened Up award to Kent Tennis’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Mentors. Celebrating those who make tennis and padel truly accessible, this award honours individuals or organisations that create safe, welcoming, and inclusive spaces. They inspire participation among under-represented groups, provide pathways to further playing opportunities and make a real social impact by enriching lives and building stronger communities.
Park Venue this year was awarded to Gravesham Borough Council and the new Protect-Where-We-Play recipients were Padel Box Bermondsey.
The Cathie Sabin Volunteer-of-the-Year award winner was Sharon Chastang (Canterbury).
Sandi’s Photo Challenge, named after outgoing LTA president Sandi Proctor, went to the Kent Refugee Action Network, and the Lifetime Achievement award was handed to Medway’s Jim Barton.
The Kent President’s award winner this year is James Brown (Whitstable) and the Spirit of Kent winner was Parklangley Club’s Francis Sargeant.
