news: Get to know the teams

Five Years And Running ...

Georgia Team Started When Players Were Nine-Years-Old

By Ron Cioffi, USTA Southern

The core of the Georgia 14U Advanced team was formed not a few months or even years ago. This team blossomed when many of the players were just nine years old and playing out of the same subdivision.

“Most of them went to school together at Barnwell (Elementary School),” said Adriana Bhole, co-captain of the team. Since 2005 they’ve played USTA teams out of the Foxworth subdivision in Johns Creek, and Atlanta suburb.

Co-captain Patty Barron likes the chemistry on the team. “Look at Derek. He came over in the middle of his match because he was worried about Paige,” she noted. “I really like that about them.”

“Some of them have been getting really into it. They’ve been playing tournaments and taking lessons. They’ve had a lot of success and they won here as 12-year-olds,” Bhole said, reporting their success in the 2008 Jr. Team Tennis Southern Section Championships. “It was close. One of the matches was decided by only a point over a Louisiana team.”

Success continues to be a hallmark of this team that made it to this tournament last year. “But, there were two teams better than us last year,” Bhole remembered.

The team is primed to make another run to a championship here and knows that, if they are champs, they will now have a chance to go on to a national title.

Barron noted that the girls are willing to wear their trademark light blue clothing but the boys aren’t cooperating color-wise. “If we get to Nationals, we’re all getting matching t-shirts.”