For those with good memories, harken back to the days when Richmond’s top juniors ruled the courts in the Mid-Atlantic area and beyond.
Players like O.H. Parrish, Richard McKee, Tommy Cain, Mark Vines, Kathleen Cummings, Junie Chatman, Rodney Harmon, Wade McGuire, Cris Robinson and Damian Sancilio had no peers from the 1960s through the mid-1980s when it came to knocking the ball around the court.
Some of them – like Cain, Vines, Harmon and Cummings – even went on to enjoy some success on the professional circuit.
Ah, but those days are long gone, and with few exceptions, the Richmond area has taken a backseat to the top juniors in Maryland and northern Virginia over the past several decades.
That could change, however, if the talented crop of youngsters coming along now realizes its full potential in the near future.
“The big difference between this time period and back then is they didn’t have academies,” said Sancilio, a former two-time, city men’s singles champion, who has two sons, Damian and Roman, that are among the up-and-coming group.
That left it up to the individual players to find their own pros to work with and to seek out comparable practice partners.
The advent of academies – such as Four Star in Fairfax and Nick Bollietteri’s in Florida – made it easier to practice and train, at a price of course. The Maryland and NOVA juniors gravitated toward these new academies and gradually overtook their Richmond counterparts.
The NOVA and Maryland juniors have also taken advantage of more indoor facilities in those areas, as well as the 32-court Tennis Center at College Park (Md.), which is used as a regional training center by the U.S. Tennis Association.
But perhaps it’s time once more for the Richmond juniors to rise up and take over the mid-Atlantic territory.
A glance at the latest MAS rankings shows several Richmonders at or near the top of their age groups.
Chase Bernstine is No. 2 in the boys 16s (and No. 6 in the 18s), while Spencer Whitaker (No. 5) and Ryan Bernstine (No. 9) are both in the top 10 of the boys 14s.
Whitaker, by the way, was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally in singles and No. 1 in doubles in the boys 12s last year.
At the lower levels, Damian Sancilio (No. 1), Cole Henceroth (No. 2) and Nick Reynolds (No. 5) are all in the top five of the boys 10s. On the girls’ side, Nina Sorkin is No. 7 in the girls 16s, while Helena Huff is 10th in the girls 12s.
Others who achieved top 10 rankings in 2014 include Kirby Westerfield, Sruthi Vegunta, Chase Robinson, Talman Ramsey, Will Thompson and Ryan Monroe.
Some of these rising juniors are the sons and daughters of area pros, so they have gotten off to excellent starts. But Sancilio cautions there is a long way to go, particularly for those who are excelling at the lower levels.
“We have a lot of talent and a lot of these kids started really young,” said Sancilio, who teaches at Courtside West. “They need to understand the process. Sometimes, it’s almost a curse to be really good, really young.
“The kids do great. The parents get excited, and all of a sudden, there’s so much pressure on a kid and they burn out. The difference with this group is that a lot of pros have kids that are playing and they get the benefit of having guys like me, Cris Robinson and Mark Bernstine interact with them and let them know this is a long journey.
“We have to find a way to get all these kids together and training a lot.”
To that end, Robinson (Willow Oaks Country Club) and Eddie Parker (Raintree Swim and Racquet Club) have created Team RVA, where many of the area’s top juniors practice, train and travel together throughout the year.
This will be the second full year of Team RVA, which is scheduled to begin training sessions on Sunday (Feb. 8) at Raintree.
“We felt like if we put a team together, and train every other weekend or let our best players train with the rest of the best players in the Richmond area, it would improve everybody,” said Parker, director of tennis at Raintree.
“In the past, what happened was Westwood had four or five good players, Raintree may have had four or five good players, Willow Oaks four or five, and they all trained separately. What we’re trying to do now is bring all these top players together with the help of other coaches.
“Get them to compete, practice and feel more comfortable training with each other.”
Last year, Team RVA had 25 training sessions, using 15 different Richmond pros, as well as summer appearances by University of Virginia coach Brian Boland and Pat Etcheberry, a world-renown teacher of the game. They also made three trips outside Richmond.
“It’s nice for us right now, in several different age groups, to have a nice critical mass of players, to help push each other, practice with and be friends,” said Robinson, director of tennis at Willow Oaks. “I think that’s a big help.
“They’re getting together with the top players in the city a little more often than they normally would.”
Some of these players will be honored on Thursday (Feb. 5) when the Richmond Tennis Association holds its annual junior awards banquet at Salisbury Country Club. In addition to several awards being handed out to the juniors, the 2014 achievements of Richmond’s top youngsters will be recognized.
Those accomplishments are gaining more luster all the time and even better days could lie ahead in the years to come.