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In 2011, Victoria Emma left the Girls' 12 USTA National Clay Court Championships with a plaque for winning the Gold Consolation. This year she came back to try again - and she ended up leaving with a different gold prize.

The Polo Club in Boca Raton, Florida, was once again the site for the event, and the club members and locals always contribute to a great audience for this young age group. The skill level appears to get better each year as 128 players, all 12 years old and under, went after a championship in the second major national junior tournament of the year.

Despite a rain-filled start to the week, the sun finally came out - perhaps a bit stronger than most would have liked - for the semifinal and final matches. The main draw was down to four petite girls who proved they could survive the competition as well as the heat and the humidity.

Victoria Emma had a lot of experience playing the best in the country in this climate. She had traveled to this part of Florida just a few months ago, collecting the third-place trophy at the Girls' 12 USTA National Spring Championships at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. She left that tournament with a bronze ball and dreams of the gold one. That came true this week when she defeated Ellie Douglas in the final, 6-1,6-7(2),6-2.

The last match of the tournament had been the only tough one for the Naples, Fla., resident. She had breezed through the draw without the loss of the set, partially due to her ability (unique for someone her age) to catch her opponents off guard by placing perfect drop shots. Her reward for mastering this and more on court was a national championship in the 12s, the perfect present for someone just two weeks shy of her thirteenth birthday.