Neff wins SMS wood racket tourney
Sandpoint Middle School tennis team members pose for a group photo after the first Jim Parsons Jr. Sandpoint Middle School Wood-Racquet Tennis Tournament. The event was held Oct. 4.
(Courtesy photo)
Sandpoint eighth-grader Joe Neff was the winner of the first Jim Parsons Jr. Sandpoint Middle School Wood-Racquet Tennis Tournament.
Sandpoint eighth-grader Joe Neff navigated a very tough draw to win the first Jim Parsons Jr. Sandpoint Middle School Wood-Racket Tennis Tournament.
SMS coach Kent Anderson said 28 members of the Bullpups team participated in the Oct. 4 event.
"Each player used a historic wood racket donated by the Parsons family in honor of recently deceased Jim Parsons Jr. the senior patriarch of the family and, affectionately, referred to as 'The Godfather' of Sandpoint Tennis," Anderson said.
Neff battled Teagan Garrison in the final round to win the tournament as the other 26 participants cheered from the sideline, Anderson said.
The team’s next event will be the “infamous” Bombers vs Rollers Team Tournament on Oct. 13-14.
The middle school team wraps up its season Oct. 21. Eight members of the team will graduate middle school in the spring and move on to the high school team.
Sandpoint has the only middle school team in North Idaho, Anderson said.
"One of the reasons the high school tennis team has been such a perennial powerhouse over the years is due to the building blocks these athletes acquire during the middle school years," he added.
