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Collins Reaches 1st Pro Tennis Event

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY

nmurray@tampatrib.com

Published: January 14, 2009

Danielle Collins has competed at almost every level of junior tennis.

The 15-year-old St. Petersburg native won a USTA National Open and the prestigious Gator Bowl title last year.

Next week, she takes the next step. Collins defeated Chi Chi Scholl 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 in the final of the Ace Sports Group Wild-Card Tournament to earn a place in the $25,000 USTA Pro Women's Circuit Challenger that begins at Cheval Country Club in Lutz on Monday.

"I'm very excited," Collins said. "I've never been in a pro tournament like that, this will be my first one."

Collins has entertained the thought of turning professional, but she will enter next week's event as an amateur to leave her options open as far as college eligibility in three years. The freshman wasn't expecting to earn a place in the main draw when she began the wild-card tournament, but as she accumulated wins, her confidence grew.

"I looked at the draw and I'm like 'Oh, Danielle Mills is in it, she's ranked about No. 600 on the WTA,'" Collins said. "This was really good for me, it's a good confidence booster."

Collins cruised through the first set against Scholl in the final, but then lost the second when she was forced to fight against mental lapses.

"I kind of let up in the second set," Collins said. "I was thinking too much about the match, and the tournament. I was like, 'well, I only need one more set, and I get the wild card.' She started playing better, and I wasn't, I choked. Then in the third set I picked it up more, she picked it up as well, because we both really wanted to win."

Collins said with the confidence she has now built, she plans to try to make more professional draws to continue her development, and gauge where she is when a decision has to be made in a couple of years.

"I think I'll try to play more of these tournaments, and see how it goes," Collins said. "And then when it comes down to my junior and senior year of high school, I'll make the decision as far as college tennis or professional tennis."

South Tampa Getting Lacrosse Facility

Despite their success, Plant High's lacrosse team and the South Tampa Sticks have been teams on the move.

"We had been shifting them all over the place depending on what field was available on any given night," said David German, the president of the South Tampa Sticks Youth Lacrosse League and Plant High School Lacrosse Club.

All that is set to change, as the organizations have established a permanent home thanks to a cooperative field development agreement with Anderson Elementary School. With lacrosse having developed into a year-round sport, with leagues competing outside of the high school season, German is pleased to have what is initially planned to be a four-field complex.

"It really is key for South Tampa to have a facility to do that," German said. "It's probably more important to have some more consistency for the Plant and STS programs."

Plant High has won the West Florida Lacrosse League three straight seasons, winning a state title in 2006, but despite that South Tampa has been trailing other clubs when it comes to lacrosse.

"I think we're behind," German said. "When you get out of the city proper, the facilities are pretty nice. ... Wesley Chapel plays in that wonderful facility up in their area that has multiple fields, they host large tournaments up there. Some of the other schools we play are private, so Tampa Catholic, Berkeley and Jesuit, they have their own very nice facilities that they can play at, and even in St. Petersburg and Clearwater they seem to have access to some very nice facilities."

German added, though, that he hoped that this deal being struck would help provide a framework for other public schools to find a way to gain their own land for lacrosse.

"I think we struck a deal with the city that both parties can live with," German said. "And maybe they can model that for other areas."

Wolves Pull Away From The Pack

BRANDON - Newsome Blue avenged its only loss of the season, but it was made to work for a victory against Lakeland Jenkins on Saturday, falling behind twice before scoring twice in the second and third periods to beat the Eagles 6-2. The win gives the Wolves a five-point cushion at the top of the Hillsborough High School Hockey League's standings with a little more than a month remaining.

Jenkins had defeated Newsome 4-2 earlier in the season, and league-leading scorer Jason Jensen gave the Eagles an early lead with his 17th goal of the season. Jim Wheatley tied the game a minute later for Newsome, but Jenkins regained the lead through Shane Reger.

Newsome then clamped down defensively, and found its scoring touch. Tom Kowalski scored his team-high 12th goal of the season to tie the game late in the first period before defenseman Conrad Crawford found the net twice in the second to give the Wolves a 4-2 lead. Mike Semago and Kyle Massie closed the game out for the Wolves, as the Eagles fell behind Freedom into third place.

Freedom and Jenkins both have a game in hand on the Wolves, who defeated Bloomingdale 5-2 earlier in the week. The Patriots got a pair of goals from Kyle Chaplin in an 8-1 win against Newsome White, and have a game remaining against Newsome Blue. But despite that, the Patriots would still need the Wolves to slip up in one of their other three games in order to have a chance at overtaking them.

Keyword: Youth Sports, for more news, notes and game stories.

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