Lothian Junior Successes 06 - 07

For many years now, we have become accustomed to Lothian’s juniors achieving a high level of success within the Scottish circuit. This year has been no exception, as can be seen by the number of National champions from Lothian this year.

U11 – Boys’ Doubles – Alistair Gordon & Adam Hall (Ayrshire)
U13 Girls’ Singles – Emma Devine
U13 Girls’ Doubles – Emma Devine & Rebecca Flint
U15 Boys’ Singles – Michael Campbell
U15 Boys’ Doubles – Michael Campbell & Craig Pollock
U17 Boys’ Singles – Martin Campbell
U17 Boys’ Doubles – Martin Campbell & Angus Gilmour (Troon)
U17 Mixed Doubles – Martin Campbell & Catriona Lawlor (Cumbernauld)
U19 Boys’ Doubles – Thomas Bethell & Paul van Rietvelde
U19 Girls’ Doubles – Jillie Cooper & Gillian Sloan (Glasgow)
U19 Mixed Doubles – Thomas Bethell & Jillie Cooper
U23 Men’s Doubles – Thomas Bethell & Jamie Neill (Lanark)

We also had the following champions in the Scottish Schools Championships:

Primary Girls’ Singles – Heather McPherson
Under 14 Boys’ Singles – Matthew Carder
Under 19 Boys’ Singles – Martin Campbell
Under 19 Girls’ Singles – Roya Arabshahi
Under 19 Girls’ Doubles – Roya Arabshahi and Lisa McMullen (Glasgow)
Under 19 Girls’ Doubles – Roya Arabshahi and Kenneth Young (Glasgow)

However, it is not just on the home circuit that our juniors have excelled. There have also been some superb performances in tournaments outside Scotland. 

At Under 19 level, Thomas Bethell and Paul van Rietvelde won the boys’ doubles in the Swiss Junior, with Thomas and Jillie Cooper winning the U19 mixed doubles. Thomas and Paul also won the boys’ doubles in the Croatian Junior with Thomas again winning the mixed, this time with Linda Sloan from Glasgow.

Peter Hockey and Duncan Leith won the boys’ doubles at the Northumberland Junior, only the 3^rd Scottish couple ever to do so. Paul then won the mixed doubles at Northumberland with Gillian Sloan (Glasgow), an amazing achievement given Paul and Gillian are both still Under 16.

Other excellent achievements were Peter and Duncan reaching the final of the York boys’ doubles and the semi finals of the Wimbledon and Nottingham events.

In the under 17 age group, Martin Campbell has had an excellent season in all 3 disciplines. In the English Gold Challenger circuit, he has won a singles gold medal along with 2 bronzes, at boys’ doubles along with Angus Gilmour, he has won 2 gold medals and 2 bronze and with Catriona Lawlor, has won one gold  and one silver medal. Perhaps his best achievement, though, was winning the boys’ doubles with Angus at the U17 Aros Cup in Denmark.

In the under 15s, Craig Pollock and Michael Campbell have also had some fine performances. Craig won 2 bronze medals by reaching the semi finals of the U15 singles and boys’ doubles (with Michael Truswell from Yorkshire) Gold Challenger at York. In the Wigan U15 Gold Challenger, Michael Campbell won a bronze medal in the singles and Michael and Craig then won a silver medal in the boys’ doubles, losing out narrowly in a close final.

We have also been very well represented in Junior International competitions this season. In the recent European Junior Championships (Under 19), Lothian players formed the nucleus of the team, with Thomas Bethell, Paul van Rietvelde, Peter Hockey, Duncan Leith and Jillie Cooper all selected. The fact that Paul is still only Under 16 made his selection an even more remarkable achievement. The Scottish team produced a fantastic performance finishing 6^th in the team event. In the individual events, Thomas and Jillie reached the quarter finals of the mixed doubles before losing out narrowly while Jillie also reached the quarter finals of the girls’ doubles with Linda Sloan (Glasgow).  

At Under 17 level, Martin Campbell was the sole Lothian player selected for the Home Countries Quadrangular international. Although Scotland struggled in the team event, Martin produced the outstanding Scottish performance of the individual event, winning the singles and reaching the final of the doubles with Angus Gilmour and the final of the mixed with Catriona Lawlor.

In the Under 15 Home Countries Quadrangular, Martin’s younger brother, Michael along with Craig Pollock were the Lothian representatives. The Scottish team finished second to England with Michael and Craig outstanding in the doubles event. This was reaffirmed in the individual event with Michael and Craig bringing back Scotland’s only gold medal in the boys’ doubles. This win meant that remarkably Lothian players have won this event 3 years running, as Craig had won the doubles the previous year with Paul van Rietvelde who in turn had won it the previous year with Martin Campbell.

It has also been very encouraging to see many of the juniors breaking through into our senior county team. This year, Thomas, Jillie, Peter, Duncan, Martin, Paul and Roya have all played a part in helping Lothian gain promotion to Division 1A next season. Thomas has gone one step further by being selected as a reserve for the Scottish Team in the World Team Championships at Scotstoun.

All this success speaks volumes not only for the hard work being put in by the players but also the excellent work which has been done by the many Lothian coaches involved in bringing out the best in our talented juniors.

Well done, guys, and let’s look forward to more success next year!

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