Unstoppable Langley Tennis Club is the toast of Hertfordshire

The club’s juniors are topping the rankings after tournament victories at regional and national level, while the seniors have produced the most competitive teams in the club’s history.

“What’s happened has been truly remarkable,” said Tim Walter, the club’s director of tennis, who was shortlisted by the Lawn Tennis Association for the National Club Coach of the Year Award in May.

“You run camps, programmes, training sessions and wonder where it’s all going, and then Bang! It’s suddenly Christmas.”

Langley TC retained the Hertfordshire Boys 15U Knockout Cup at the end of September with a team led by 12-year-old George Carter; the club already holds the equivalent girls trophy, retained earlier this year.

Carter, who travels to Florida in December with Walter to take part in the Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship, was also among the Langley stars who dominated the annual Hertfordshire Closed Championships at the end of August.

At the championships, Langley TC walked away with the 12U Boys, 14U Boys and 16U Boys Singles titles through the efforts of Carter and 14-year-old Matt Carroll, who was also a 14U Doubles winner.

Furthermore, the club secured the 16U Girls and 18U Girls Singles titles with 15-year-old Amelia Campbell, who was also an 18U doubles winner and was awarded the title of Hertfordshire Junior Girls Champion.

Throughout the year, Junior individual and team successes have filled Langley TC’s trophy cabinet.

Most outstandingly, Jacqueline Ogunwale won two 9U national tournaments between February and April, while the 14U Boys team moved into the top tier of the Aegon summer championships; the only Hertfordshire side to do so.

“We’ve done really well, competing against players from High Performance centres around the country whose resources are significantly greater than ours,” added Walter. “It’s the club’s best ever record in the prestigious Aegon championships – and the authorities have noted our coaching prowess.”

Besides his individual achievement awards, Walter remains captain of the county’s 10U Boys team, which won the regional Lionel Cox tournament in May and secured fifth place in the national County Cup finals in June.

Andre Mouskides, fellow club coach and one of the youngest performance coaches in the country, also captained the county’s 9U Boys team in regional championships this year.

Meanwhile, the seniors have also had an unprecedented year. The Men’s A-Team topped Division 1 of the Watford& District Tennis League, losing just one match all season.

The team also won the County Division 1 of the National Club League and secured promotion to the NCL’s Regional Division next season.

The Men’s B-Team were promoted from Division 5, and narrowly missed out on taking the division title, while the Men’s Over-45 team won promotion from the Herts Veterans League.

Despite the clubs success this year both adults and juniors are continuing to practice hard over the current autumn term to ensure that Langley TC remains one of the top clubs in Hertfordshire.