Boys 8-9 champ Giovanni Casillas prepares to serve. Boys 10-11 champ Steven Casillas keeps his eye on the ball and a smile on his face;.

Four budding young tennis stars travelled to West Sacramento to represent Amador County in the regional "Rapid Rally" tennis portion of the U.S. Junior Olympic Skills Competition on July 8.

Giovanni Casillas (boys 8 and 9), Steven Casillas (boys 10 and 11), Sarah Daly (girls 8 and 9) and Meghan Daly (girls 10 and 11) placed first in Amador's local competition in June, earning them the opportunity to compete at the regional level. The local winners practiced diligently at Detert Park in advance of the regional event and it paid off. Each took first place in their respective divisions, winning the gold Junior Olympics medal. 

The tennis portion of the Junior Olympics program tests how many times the participants can successfully hit a ball against a backboard in 30 seconds. Contestants are given a 30-second warm-up period and then the pressure is applied as program managers call out, "server ready?" before starting the official clock. Each of the four Amador County contestants faced competition from West Sacramento, Beale Air Force Base, Rocklin and the greater Sacramento area.

"It must be the tennis outfit," mother Linda Daly commented after daughter Meghan successfully completed her segment of 16 hits, without once losing control of the tennis ball. When dealing with nerves the night before, Linda's advice to her daughters was, "If you go out to have fun, then it won't really matter how many you hit - you'll finish and you'll have had fun." Indeed, all of the young people seemed to enjoy the experience, which was very well run in conjunction with basketball, soccer and track and field competitions.

Now these regional champions will wait for nationwide regional competitions to finish and, if their scores rank in the top four nationally in their age group, they will advance to the national finals in August at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. These young Amador County tennis champs are to be congratulated for their efforts which hopefully will bring them continued success.

For more information on local tennis opportunities, contact the Amador Tennis Club at 257-1208.