Left: Westfield Fountain Gate marketing manager Kerri Brown presents junior tennis star Montana Grenfell with the $600 sponsorship.By Marc McGowan
WESTFIELD Fountain Gate has jumped aboard the Montana Grenfell tennis bandwagon, by sponsoring her for trips to Hong Kong and Thailand later this year.
“Montana approached us probably a couple of months ago now and had put together a really comprehensive portfolio of all her tournaments and successes over the past year or so,” marketing manager at Westfield Fountain Gate, Kerri Brown, said. “Being a local girl, we’re obviously very impressed by that and wanted to help her in anyway we can.”
The $600 investment in the Berwick young gun will allow her to play in International Tennis Federation tournaments in Hong Kong in October and Thailand in November, which are vital to her goal of qualifying for the Australian Junior Open next January.
“It’s awesome,” Grenfell, 15, said. “I didn’t know if it was going to work and then when they said they would sponsor me, I was really excited. I couldn’t stop smiling because someone had acknowledged me and were backing me and saying ‘believe in yourself; you can do it’.
“It took a lot of the stress for money off and it’s just awesome that somebody can do that for you.”
Despite receiving a vast number of applications for money, Westfield Fountain Gate liked what they saw in Grenfell.
“We do receive an enormous amount of requests from local sporting clubs and individual athletes and where possible we help them out, but each request is handled on a case-by-case basis, because we do get inundated,” Ms Brown said. “Certainly kids and local sport is something we have a strong interest in.
“It’s a great cause; she has put a lot of work into what she is doing and for someone who is so young, she shows a lot of maturity and dedication. For that, we definitely wanted to help out.”
As well as confirming her trips overseas, it will also fast-track her development as a player.
“It means I can go to my coach (Jay Davern) and my game can progress a bit quicker, because I’m with him for more hours every week,” she said.
Grenfell has recently returned from overseas, where she acquired her first ITF ranking points, and has learned a lot from her first international experience.
“I’ve learned not to be so nervous when I go out and play, because I was like ‘woah, ITFs, seeded players’ but I’m not (intimidated) anymore, because I’ve got a ranking now. I’ve seen the gist of it and how it works. I won’t be so shocked with it anymore.
“I’ll just go out there and think about my game and not worry about anything else.”
