Kooroora entered 12 teams in the 2017 Badge competition. This year we were fortunate to have perfect weather for 14 weeks with not one washed out home match. So while the weather was easy to manage the court allocations weren’t and teams had to be shifted to Talus Street to cope with some Tennis NSW scheduling issues. As usual, Badge provided strong, competitive tennis for our players. Many teams held mid-week practice sessions to make sure they were primed for their Saturday matches.  Our players’ experiences were generally very positive and some players are already discussing their plans for 2018. We thank our two club captains, David Monteith and Georgia Vanos, as well as selector Penny Kraemer, for their help with selecting and managing the teams throughout the long season.

Success looked like this: six teams qualifying for the semi finals, three making it through to the final. In addition to those six semi finalists, we had two womens teams in the playoffs for Premier Division. K1 won the 1 vs 2 playoff against Roseville Lawn 1 to be 2017 Sydney champions. K2 won the 5 vs 6 playoff against Sydney University 1.

The win for K1 in Premier division was their third successive title. We are very proud of their achievement.
Team: Melissa Anderson©, Lucy Gonzales, Sophie Quist, Alisa Jeregui, Cayleigh Eddy, Alexia Dalley and Kelly Blake.

The Womens K5 match against Sydney Uni 3 in 1.2 was a cliffhanger with the match lasting over 3½ hours. One court featured the young powerhouse combination of Louisa Parkinson and Ashley Kerr while the other showcased the methodical precision play of Masami Tanaka and Naoe Murakami. The match concluded 4-all with the games so close no one knew who had won. Captain Masami nervously added up the games and the roar went up: “We won!”
Team:  Masami Tanaka, Naoe Murakami, Ashley Kerr, Rebecca Leggatt, Louisa Parkinson and Ginette Nelson.

The Mens K4 team were runners up last year in 1.4 but went one better this time by winning that grade – though not without drama. Two players (Junto and Brandon) were overseas so the four remaining players knew it was up to them. Shaun Roberts arrived feeling ill but no excuses were ever going to be accepted by his teammates, so he soldiered on. At the changeover they trailed 3 sets to 1 but captain Alex Byrne did his best to keep the team thinking positively and it paid off. In a brave fightback they managed to sneak a win by just one game over Royal Sydney 1.
Team: Alex Byrne, Junto Qui, Brandon Liu, George Wagemens, Shaun Roberts and Michael Reidy.