Magnificent Maxine

Maxine Bateman’s exceptional hand-eye coordination and talent for ball sports became evident at a very young age, when her family was living in the small town of Himeville.
The 14-year-old is now competing on the girls U18 International Tennis Federation circuit where she has since won a number of big tournaments around the country.
In Himeville her mother, Mitzi, ran tennis coaching clinics from their court at home. It was there that Maxine’s love for tennis started and at age five she joined in on every lesson. Soon she was competing in, and winning all the local tennis tournaments in the district, often playing in higher age groups.
When her family relocated to Umhlali in 2008 she began working with local tennis coach Roger Ferrandi and other top coaches and her tennis went from strength to strength. She started competing in all the top sanctioned tournaments in the country and by the age of 11 she was ranked under the top five in her age group in the South Africa.
While attending Umhlali Preparatory School, Maxine went on to represent the KZN and SA schools tennis teams. She also excelled at other sports, representing Umhlali Prep in hockey and athletics.
In 2012, Maxine took the big step of moving to Stellenbosch to attend Kainos Tennis Academy full time, doing home schooling in the mornings. The move helped her tennis to advance to the next level. One of Maxine’s immediate goals is to secure a tennis scholarship at a college in Florida in the US to open up doors into a professional tennis career.
The future looks bright for this talented local girl and her name is certainly one to look out for in future.