Castletown Lawn Tennis Club held its first junior only tournament recently.

Led by Leo Kerr, the tennis committee decided to raise funds for the Royal British Legion by charging an entry fee, holding a raffle and providing refreshments.

The fabulous number of participants meant that club coach, Neil Ronan, was required to split the players into two groups of five and one of six, with each player playing single tie-breaks to 10 with ‘sudden death’ at nine all.

The winner of each group plus the highest second place across all three groups progressed to two semi-finals and there to the grand final.

The standard of play was so high that 11 players achieved an average of more than 30 points across four games with Jasper Hill securing a perfect 40 and Sophia Colley scoring 49 points across five games.

While the players were completing their matches junior committee members were busy handing out hotdogs supervised and provided by Richard Kerr and cupcakes decorated as poppies by Grayse Ronan.

Jim Cottier, chairman of the Isle of Man branch of the Royal British Legion, came to watch the play and said he was overwhelmed by the dedication of the youngsters and their desire to support the charity.

After more than two hours of play, and with the light fading, Seth Hornby-Wheeler faced Sophia Colley in the first semi and Jasper Hill matched up to Aditya Varshney in the second.

These matches resulted in a final between Seth and Jasper which saw the former victorious in a seven-point tie-break.

Leo made the presentations to the winners and thanked Neil for his help in the running of the tournament.

He also thanked the supporters and those people who had donated the very generous raffle prizes which were awarded in near darkness.

A huge round of applause was given to Leo and the committee for putting on such a glorious event, played in the best of atmospheres and with fabulous camaraderie amongst all the players from across the island clubs.