Tennis in Surrey 2014

people
Dan Burden
Memorial Trophy
Tragically last year 21 year old
Dan Burden died after a car
crash. He was a tennis coach
at Elstead Village Tennis Club,
having started playing at the club
at the age of five and becoming
the club’s first tennis apprentice
before becoming a fully qualified
LTA coach. He had just spent six
months coaching in India and was
due to fly to Australia to coach for
a further six months in Perth.
The club has worked with the
LTA so that a grade 3 tournament
for 10 and under players will now
be run at Elstead on an annual
basis in memory of Dan. Hence
the Dan Burden Memorial Trophy
has been created.
Over one hundred tennis
players aged from 5 to 10 from
all over the south east entered
the inaugural tournament at the
end of July. The tournament was
split into five events for different
ages, a ten and under and nine
and under event for boys and
girls and a mixed event for eight
and under. With the weather
reaching 28 degrees the players
showed incredible fitness and
tenacity to keep the standard of
the play incredibly high, pleasing
spectators on all court sides.
Before each event the players
were told a bit about Dan and
many showed a lot of interest,
asking to see photos and videos
of him. Many of Dan’s friends
and playing partners helped out
or just popped in to watch for
a while. It was a great way for
everyone to remember him and
relate stories about him. As well
as trophies for all the events, a
Dan Burden trophy was awarded
for the player who had the most
fun and was slightly on the
cheeky side, as this was very much
Dan’s character. This trophy was
awarded to eight year old Miguel
Elizondo from WJTI.
Winners of the events:
10U Boys Stanley Brown (Kembrey
Park)
10U Girls Alaia Rubio Perez
(Bromley)
9U Boys Owen Martel (West Hants)
9U Girls Lotty Forsyth (Woking)
8U Mixed Toby Clark (St Georges
Hill)
14 tennis in surrey 2014 facebook.com/TennisSurrey www.LTA.org.uk/in-your-area/Surrey