Catrina and Christian Thompson
earlier
this June made it to the finals in the USTA Super National Clay Court
Championships at The Racquet Club of Memphis, Tennessee.
(Click here to see draw). They defeated some of the best 18 and under
girls in the country before taking second to Anne Yelsey and Riza Zalameda
after one of them had to 
retire
due to injury at 6-3, 4-1.
In singles at the Hard
Court Super National this August both reach round 16
in a draw made up of a 256 player draw of the best players in the United State,
at the USTA Super 
National
Hard Court tournament. This tournament is the equivalent to the U.S. Open of
Junior tennis in America.
The girls as a team won two doubles matches and got to the round of sixteen, losing 6-1; 7-5 to singles finalist Whitney Deason and her partner Caitlin Collins. This is the same Whitney Deason they defeated at the before mentioned Clay Court tournament.
In singles Christian went through the first 4 rounds winning three matches in a row before coming against the number one seed in the tournament, Tanner Cochran , of Dublin, Georgia.
Catrina Th
ompson
also advance through the first four rounds winning three matches in a row before
falling to the fifth seed Jamea Jackson of Bradenton, FL.
When you see Bradenton, that often means one of the tennis Academy's that reside in that part of the country where players eat and sleep tennis in a boarding school environment.
Yet the two Thompson girls, who's parents are a mainstay in their development, have thrived on the national tennis scene, even winning a super nationals tournament in doubles and landing themselves in the finals at Super Nationals more then once.... all at the "Thompson tennis Academy." This Academy is not a very large facility. It is a Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, coaches/friends and a tennis court.
I talked with a young 13 year old girl's father at the Mutterspaw Tournament this past spring. His daughter after playing just three years was playing on the National team and was looked at to play professional tennis in the near future. All up until this point it was her father and a local coach which developed the girl and he was deciding who to "Turn her over to", as if being physically and mentally tough for tennis was something gotten from a coach.
It comes from a player and their choice to be tough.
And no doubt the presence of a Tough father and mother sets an example that can be a child's joy to follow. I guess this example can come from a coach as well, and it has.
But at the Thompson Academy the girls did not have to leave their parents at a young age, or even leave the every day trappings of teen age life in order to thrive playing the game they seem to enjoy.
Local tennis professionals like Ken Shioi, Gordon Hammond and I am shore many others have, at the very least, played with and challenged these girls to take their game to the level they knew was in each of them.
They both have played three years at Bishop Gordon under the coaching of Gordon Hammond, who's team is the juggernaut of Nevada Tennis, and has been for a while. This season they may or may not play, said Gordon. They may give the other girls the chance to thrive, as the Bishop Gordon team is not short on talent. But each time he has asked the girls to get involved and help them win, they have, without hesitation, or the false pride and airs that some players have about their high school team. They just played tennis. And when it comes down to it... that is what the game is for.
The girl's made the smart choice to only play doubles at the USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships, where they steamed through the draw of 32 to regain their doubles title, on grass, just miles away from where I grew up.
This late Summer win puts a nice cap on the girl's Summer Season.
Ryan Wolfington
VegasTennis.com
Links
Christian Thompson's VegasTennis.com web page
Catrina Thompson's VegasTennis.com web page
