Some of the best young tennis players from Britain and Europe will be playing in Sheffield next week at the inaugural 12 and Under Tennis Europe Winter Cups by Head.

The GB 12 and Under girls team qualified last weekend. Made up of Ali Collins from Dunblane, Maria Budin from Bristol and Donia Abdel-Aziz from Yarm, the team travelled to Istanbul to qualify for the Finals which will be held at Graves Tennis Centre in Sheffield on the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th February.

Since their launch in 1977, the Tennis Europe Winter Cups have provided the perfect base of competition for aspiring young tennis players to hone their skills on an international stage.

Traditionally played at both 14 and Under and 16 and Under age categories, it’s an honour for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Graves Tennis Centre to be hosting the inaugural 12 and Under category in 2012.

Member nations had the opportunity to bid for either qualifying rounds or finals to be held in their country and the LTA Competition Team were successful in winning the bid to stage the finals here in Britain.

The team led by captain John Trehearn defeated both Bulgaria and Romania both by a 3-0 scoreline on their way to the final qualifying round where they were edged out by Slovenia. However the team still secured their place as runner up to compete at the Finals.

Captain John Trehearn said, “This tournament has been a great learning opportunity for the girls, they’ve done extremely well in qualifying for the finals, that was our objective and we achieved it.

“It’s really rewarding working with this age group as they listen and absorb so much information and seize every opportunity to learn more.

“It’s fantastic that we now have the opportunity to play on home turf and won’t have the travel impact that we may have felt in Istanbul.

“Coming runners up does sit us in a harder group in the finals, against the likes of Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic but I have confidence the girls will work hard.”