Haley helping young star Allen hit the top
number one in the county, Imogen Alan, Cassie Dix, who is a County player who will be returning to the states and Dallington Tennis club coach, James Haley.
THE dearth of talented junior girls across Northamptonshire is being tackled by coach James Haley who has proved he can help change the picture for the county.
Among the crop of youngsters currently under his guidance is Imogen Allen, rated the top 10U player in Northants, who has flourished under Haley’s wing at Dallington for the last two years.
So it proved something of a defining moment last week when Allen and Haley were briefly joined on court by Cassandra Dix, the 19-year-old who was coached by Haley for 10 years before embarking in August, on a four-year degree in bio chemistry at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, a course funded by a tennis scholarship.
Briefly back home for a three-week Christmas break, Stanwick girl Dix is now settling into the strange new life style across the Golden Pond, where she now mixes as part of an eight-girl squad in the USA which also includes two Germans, a pair of Americans, a Brazilian, Spanish and Canadian player.
Such an exotic flight path is still a fair way off for Allen, who recently won all three matches at the head of the pecking order for Northants in the 12 Counties tournament at the Corby Tennis Centre, an occasion made more embarrassing by the fact the home side could not raise a full team when travelling time was far less of an issue than for most competitors...
However, Haley said: “That sounds as though it devalues Imogen’s wins, but the fact is that she still beat the number one players from three other counties and deservedly so.”
Certainly, Allen’s commitment to the cause will be tested to the full as her mum Deb explained: “Imogen will need to show strong determination. The whole process takes a lot of time, commitment and finance but the tennis is not something we have pushed her into. James will have been coaching her for two years in April and I think he would say she is strong-willed, and wouldn’t let that happen.”
The introduction to tennis for Allen came at six as Deb explained: “I never dreamed she would do something sporting when we first took her along to a summer camp near to us at Towcestrians. They said she had a natural talent and ‘better to get along to someone in Northampton’.
“She was initially coached by David Barr and then moved on to James.”
Allen will not be 11 until June but Haley said: “From April 1, Imogen steps up into the 12 & under age group which can always be tough in the first year as they take on older players.”
Meanwhile, Dallington’s vibrant mini junior programme continued with a post-Christmas tournament which saw home players Isabella Lloyd and Max Dyche win the mini red and orange events respectively.
Haley said: “We are striving to provide a quality all year round programme for all levels at Dallington. This year has seen the Performance programme take great strides with over 20 players representing the county at various levels.
“Players such as Lloyd Read and Rachel Kings, who have been ranked inside the top 10 nationally, are being chased by the next generation of performance mini players, who hopefully will follow in their footsteps.
“It was also encouraging for us that the mini red county team was selected with four Dallington players, namely: Isabella Lloyd, Anraj Mahil, William Richards and Ethan la Porta while the mini orange county team has Max Graham and Abigail Pearce from Dallington with Imogen and Alex Ballinger in the green team.”
At adult level, post-Christmas revelry saw Dallington stage a ‘fun and fancy dress’ Christmas mixed doubles event, with 24 entries.
The winning pair were Keiren Townsend and Caroline Mant who beat Richard Wates and Sue Vinney 6-4 in the final.
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