Plett locals barking up the right tree
A Plettenberg Bay Tennis Academy and Greenwood Bay College alumnus has taken a huge step in his quest to become a professional tennis player.
For Ben Dugmore, it comes in the form of his signing for one of USA’s biggest tennis junior colleges, Mesa Community College, in Arizona.
Dugmore (17) grew up in Plettenberg Bay, attending Greenwood Bay College until he and his family migrated to Canada in early 2018. He has been an avid tennis player for years and started training with the team at PBTA in 2012 under the auspices of Dave and Luke Olsen. He left PBTA in 2015 but still continued to train hard and work on his tennis skills.
Before he moved across the Atlantic, Dugmore managed to win the Plettenberg Bay Tennis Club Championships in 2017, and he was also inside the Top 20 U16 tennis players in South Africa according to his former coach Luke Olsen.
The youngster has put in some hard yards in Canada too, and it seems the move in pursuit of improving his tennis has paid off now that he has been recruited by one of the top 20 tennis junior colleges in America.
Ben Dugmore.
In America, college/university coaches recruit high school students for their tertiary education sports programmes and Dugmore will join Mesa Community College’s tennis programme as soon as he finishes his final school year.
MCC is the 17th-ranked tennis junior college in America according to the latest Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Junior College Men’s Team Preseason rankings. It is also the fifth-ranked junior college in its region.
For Olsen, this is something that Dugmore has been working towards for a long time. “As a former coach, this is amazing for me to see. He has always worked so hard, he has always been incredibly driven all the way,” Olsen said.
Dugmore will begin training with MCC in September before beginning his academic programme in December according to Olsen.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News