Dallas resident Angel Carney, 12, won the United States Tennis Association G12 (girls age 12) National Clay Court singles championship in Boca Raton, Fla., and the doubles championship with her partner Isabelle Boulais of South Carolina recently.

In winning this event, Carney said instead of a trophy she received a Gold Ball — a gold painted ball inside of a square display case.

Clay courts, according to Carney, “make it harder for the balls to bounce so you have to rally more. On hard courts you can pretty much do anything.”

For each court, Carney said a tennis player has to train differently to perform well.

Carney was ranked third in the Southern division of the Tennis Association, which qualified her for the Regional Tournament in Pelham, Ala. in early July. She has another tournament coming soon which will be a hardcourt tournament.

Carney said she began playing tennis at age 7 because her brother played lots of sports and she “seemed to be copying him.”

“We did some of the sports and I ran into tennis and I felt like I liked it more so I stuck with it,” Carney said.

Carney is currently homeschooled and takes classes through Georgia Cyber Academy.

“Homeschooling is so she can pursue tennis. Tennis requires her to practice four or five hours a day and the tournaments are usually Saturday, Sunday, Monday so it provides the flexibility that she needs,” said her father, Donald Carney. However, Angel Carney said even if she stopped playing tennis, she does not think she would want to attend public school.

Carney trains with the Universal Tennis Academy at two different locations, the Blackburn Tennis Center in Dunwoody and the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center in north Atlanta. Her primary coach is Stewart Russell.

Carney also said she enjoys baseball, swimming and skiing. Skiing is not a sport mentioned regularly in Georgia so Carney explained how she came into this particular activity.

“Every year for a family vacation we would go to Gatlinburg, Tenn., to ski and that’s how I got into it,” Carney said.