Tennis-hockey link

Press, 12 September 1986, Page 13

Tennis-hockey link

There appears to be some affinity between tennis and hockey, as, over the years, many prominent tennis players have gained provincial and national selection in both sports. Unique in Canterbury for their longstanding ranking at the top in Canterbury tennis as well as hockey, are Shirley Haig and Judith Phillips who last week helped Canterbury reach the final in the provincial championship. Player/ coach Shirley Haig, playing in her 20th hockey nationals, has helped Canterbury win seven out of the last nine of these contests. She gained selection for the 1984 Olympic team, but her contemporary, Judith Phillips, missed selection although she had been a member of the Canterbury team since 1971, and a leading national player over many years.

Last week, however, at the hockey championships, she showed the form that has made her such a notable player, using her skill and experience to play a large part in helping Canterbury reach the finals. Judith likes hockey for its continual excitement and the feeling of team effort, but her love of tennis is a long-standing affair also. She enjoys the challenge of individual skill in tennis and the more intense pressure which one has to

handle alone.

Judith Plumps started tennis seriously at 14, entering the junior tournaments at Wilding Park. She attended Christchurch Girls’ High School and played both sports there. She was a member of the under 19 Howe Shield inter-districts winning team, and recalls as her most memorable win one match which helped clinch the shield for Canterbury, a win over Pauline Elliott, the national under 19 champion at that time.

She has played for Canterbury every year, when not overseas with the national hockey team, since 1972. On the national level her best win was the New Zealand doubles title in 1973, when she was also ranked No. 5

nationally in the singles. She has won many Canterbury and other provincial titles in singles and doubles over the years. Judith Phillips studied biochemistry at Lincoln College and was Lincoln College Sportswoman of the Year in 1967. In 1977 she was N.Z. Universities Sportswoman of the Year and was awarded hockey and tennis blues three years running before that She was nominated as a Rhodes Scholar in 1976, reaching the final six selections.

Last year she and Shirley Haig led Amuri Mazda United to victory in the B.N.Z. women’s championship, but this season she will be back in her familiar role as No. 1- for Avonside in its competition comeback.