CLUB REPORTS FOR APRIL 2008 WARWICKSHIRE FORUMS WARWICK TENNIS CLUB CLUB FORUM REPORT FOR APRIL 2008 AREA 3 The Club continues to do reasonably well and sees good turn-outs for all of the three club sessions each week, despite the winter weather of late. Membership numbers again rose through the year, finishing with an Adult Membership of 59 and a Junior membership of 66. However this is the time of year for membership renewal and is always a period of transition for the club. We are aware of at least 6 Adult members who have moved away and we will have to see if we can replace them and so keep the membership levels up. Our planned th Open Day on Saturday 5 July will hopefully help with this, as will advertising in the local papers, although traditionally our membership has come from personal recommendation or as a follow on from the coaching courses. Lianne Supperstone, our Club Coach, continues to be an inspiration at the Club and has provided a full coaching programme for the whole club, as well as Adult and Junior ladders and the occasional tournament. The Club was successful again in its application for an Awards for All grant of £5,000 and this will go towards the cost of providing coaching courses and links with neighbouring schools. Despite the relatively small membership, the Club has managed to field three Men‟s Doubles and two Ladies‟ Doubles teams in the Coventry & N Warwickshire League during the summer and three teams in the Banbury Mixed Doubles Winter League. The teams have struggled this year to put out teams, mainly because of injury, but we have nevertheless achieved some good results in both Leagues and the players have both enjoyed and benefitted from the competition. We‟ve also held regular Bank Holiday tournaments, our Club Championships, a Beer tournament and a Veterans tournament during the summer. We were also due to have an Open tournament at the beginning of September but this unfortunately had to be cancelled due to a lack of response. This th year we plan to hold the Open Tournament on Saturday 30 August and will advertise earlier, so if interested please contact Ellen Critchley (01926 771603). A number of social events have also been held, including a Quiz Night, a Ten Pin Bowling Evening, Fancy Dress Treasure Hunt, BBQs and a tennis holiday to Majorca, all of which have been well supported and proved to be a great success and will be repeated this year too. The Club continues to enjoy its 5 floodlit courts but, as reported at previous meetings, three of the courts are over 16 years old and are in need of urgent upgrading. The intention is to resurface them as soon as we can raise the £60,000 necessary to complete the job; an application for £21,000 has been made to Sport England and we await the outcome of this in the very near future. Finally, the club has just had its AGM and all the existing Committee members have been voted back on for another year. We‟re still trying to understand why we keep on doing it!!? Steve Drummond 3 April 2008 BERKSWELL & BALSALL COMMON TENNIS CLUB – MARCH 2008 Area 2 Update since October 2007 report to WLTA: Facilities: Our new pavilion is now virtually completed, and will be brought into full use during April 2008. The much improved facilities will enable us enhance not only our tennis programme, but also to run a much wider range of social events. We intend to use this as a springboard for a renewed membership drive. Problems and issues: Regrettably these have both been caused by the LTA, who have taken high-handed action without consultation either with the clubs or, it would seem, even with the Counties: The introduction of British Tennis membership as a criterion for receiving the opportunity to win Wimbledon tickets. From 2009 we will have to pay £7.50 on top of our LTA affiliation fee. The decision to close the totaltennis website on 29 February with 5 weeks notice. This is quite unreasonable for those clubs who use it to host their club website, and who rely on volunteer effort to maintain/develop it. Despite a request by the County
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Chairman Mervyn Stone to the LTA to keep the website open for a further 2 months to enable clubs time to migrate, the totaltennis website is now closed. I would like to suggest that affiliated clubs ask WLTA to express their strong disapproval of these two actions by the LTA. Bob Harris Chairman 2 March 2008
BOLDMERE TENNIS CLUB – WLTA CLUB REPORT FOR APRIL 2008 Area 1 Ø Junior membership has continued to grow. Ø Our long awaited floodlights were turned on last September and were promptly put to good use with a winter league which ran from October to March. This was judged a great success by all members. Ø An expansion of junior coaching is underway following a drive into local schools. Ø Boldmere will again be hosting the Nike Junior Tour in May. CURDWORTH REPORT AREA 2 Retention and Recruitment of Members At present we have approximately 30 members but regrettably this cannot continue as we have lost several people through movement out of area or to injury. This is extremely disappointing and we are seriously considering having to close unless we can get some support. Is this yet another small tennis club that cannot compete with others? Hopefully we may be able to merge with Water Orton Tennis Club, but they too are about to fold in June this year. Facility Development Our two courts are to be cleaned and painted so that they are at least playable on for the start of May. Fortunately we are able to use the facilities at Water Orton to practise and play our Spring League games. Coaching None at present although we have hired one for our Play Tennis Day on 11.05.08. Competition Considering our men are the Warwickshire Metropolitan League champions and came second in the Spring League we do not do that bad. We are also entering a Mixed, Ladies and a 2nd Men's side in the Metropolitan Leagues. I just hope that we have the players to fulfil those fixtures. We are a club that has been around for over 70 years and feel very passionate in what we have achieved over those years. Consequently to see a club in such a predicament like this is a disgrace. I look forward to hearing from others in the Warwickshire LTA on what they can suggest can be done to protect us from closure. Barbara Kelsey Secretary of Curdworth Tennis Club NUNEATON LAWN TENNIS CLUB LTA FORUM REPORT MARCH 2008 AREA 3 Retention and Recruitment of members Senior membership hit a 7 year high with over 70 senior members in 2007. Junior membership remained constant at around 75, but our junior players are now playing much more tennis. We have appointed a Press Officer – Darren McHale to focus on our media connections. This has already resulted in extra coverage on local Radio and newspapers including the Nuneaton Evening Telegraph. Facility developments We have re-surfaced our car park, erected new fences including new stop netting behind one court plus we are introducing a electronic door access system to improve member‟s access to the clubhouse.
We have two funding bids pending to re-surface 4 courts and extend floodlights to a further 3 courts. Coaching Programme The main highlight of the coaching programme is the number of schools where we run after schools clubs. Over the last year we have run clubs at over a dozen schools. The main coaching programme remains steady. Competition We hosted our first ever Grade 5 U12 and U16 tournaments in March, both were a big success and we plan to run more in the future. Our box leagues have also proved to be a success, with 5 box leagues now up and running and expansion will follow during the summer. We also have regular Sunday Orange and Green tournaments where the turn out, even over the winter, has been very encouraging. Problems/Issues Lack of ladies for our 2 ladies teams. We urgently need more ladies of league standard who can play a full season. We are trying to recruit more ladies before the season starts. Other News One of our juniors – Olivia Morris won the local Nuneaton and Bedworth Sports Forum Volunteer of the Year award for 2007. Our boys U10 team won the Nuneaton and Bedworth Sports Forum junior team of the year award against some very strong competition. We are currently putting together our ClubMark folder and hope to have it ready by early summer SNITTERFIELD TENNIS CLUB CLUB REPORT
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We are now entering our 8 year and membership is as buoyant as ever. Since our creation of the Snitterfield Sports Club a number of Cricket and Football players have become regular visitors to the tennis courts. They are now going to join along with their families. Lisa Albrecht has recently taken over the job of Junior Officer within the club. She has been hard at work and we now have potentially 18 boys and girls playing competitive tennis in 5 different age groups for South Warwickshire Junior Doubles league. We also have an under 12‟s team entered in the Prudden Road Surfacing League. The boys played really well, in their first match. Won one, lost rd one and narrowly lost the 3 match. More importantly they really enjoyed the experience. Mini tennis is also going from strength to strength, with a squad of 6 juniors aged 6-7 years. They have coaching from David Howard every week and have been playing indoor mini league on Sunday afternoons, in Solihull. After reaching the semi- finals they have finished fourth out of 12 teams which is a fantastic achievement for their first season. Junior coaching for all ages commences in the Easter holidays which will be followed up with coaching during term time. We will also continue coaching for the Junior Squads over the summer. Junior Club night is very popular and now runs throughout the year. Towards the end of last year the Sports Club also sponsored about 20 children, 6-7years from the local school so that they could experience „playing tennis‟. These coaching sessions attracted a number of new faces who are continuing with coaching this year Last year 16year old Nathaniel Breakwell completed the „Tennis Leaders Award‟. He was then one of 20 leaders asked to work at the Davis Cup in Birmingham in April. Three were then chosen from this group and invited to represent the County at last years Wimbledon Championships. Snitterfield is now sponsoring Nathaniel to do his Level One coaching course and he will help coach our younger members during the summer. The development of the Sports Club had a small set back this year when the committee discovered that there was no money available for from the Lottery or Sport England due to the Olympics. However, undaunted various other bodies have been approached including the FA and we are hoping to raise enough money to at least fund phase one of the project. Fortunately this will include a further tennis court with a wall. Our senior teams have done really well in the Leagues again this year. Our ladies B team has secured promotion in the Stratford Winter league to Div 4 and the ladies A team has retained their
position in Div 2.At the time of writing the men‟s A team are poised for promotion but anything could happen in the last two matches. The mixed doubles squad has over the winter achieved its best result to date. One of our more successful tournaments for the last 2 years has been the Winter Floodlit mixed tournament. Partners are drawn out of a hat. No one partners their Spouse, the partner they had last year, nor the partner they play with in the Summer Club Tournament. Consequently, everyone has got to know someone new, both socially and on court and the matches are very unpredictable. It is very popular with 40 adults entering this year. Sue Hawkesford Snitterfield Tennis Club 04/08 Studley Report-Forum April 08 – AREA 3 Members consistent at around 90 in number. Growing numbers of youths playing in Mens Teams ' Fund raising for New Courts still underway, steady but slow, needs a boost any help! ??? Club has now established its own official identity away from social club set up! Increased coaching, from 3 sessions to 4 for youngsters. Need to secure new courts ASAP in order to expand and develop.
COVENTRY CITY TENNIS CLUB REPORT APRIL 2008 - AREA 3 The Club has been busy since Matt Corp took up the position of Principle Coach; although it has taken a lot longer than expected to re-establish links with schools and to build up the numbers on different parts of the existing programme but numbers especially on Saturday's at Lyng Hall have now improved. The Club held a very successful Mini Red tournament at Henley College, Bell Green, on 16th Saturday Feb '08 with 29 children from 10 different Clubs across the County. 15 of the players taking part were born in 2001 and so still eligible to take part in this level of competition next year it shows a lot of promise of a good standard of players coming through for the future of tennis in Warwickshire! Three lads from the Gold Squad have taken their Level 1 coaching qualification and are already a great help with different groups and with the growth of numbers, this is also enabling more expansion of the programme. On 23rd February a new Saturday morning "Pay & Play" programme started at Tile Hill Wood School, lead by John Hales, this started with 3 hours of coaching sessions but will be increasing to 4 from start of summer term. Easter Camps are also being run at Tile Hill over the Easter holidays with new players signed up to take part. Janet Asbridge Chair. Coventry CTC WARWICK BOAT CLUB REPORT 2008 – AREA 3 Club Teams: The Winter League teams have had a mixed bag of results. Our men‟s „A‟ Team are struggling to maintain their place in the First Division to which they were promoted last year. The „B‟ Team are third in their league and will consolidate again after a promotion last year. The Ladies new venture into the Stratford Winter League has seen the „A‟ Team promoted and the „B‟ team still challenging for promotion. The captains of the summer league teams have been chosen for both the Men‟s and Ladies and team practices are underway. General: Our mix-ins were extremely well attended throughout the winter and this has been aided by combining them with several excellent supper evenings. The policy we adopted last year of reducing annual subscriptions and abolishing joining fee‟s for the less than 30 age group after a slow start has seen an increasing number of applications vindicating the decision.
WBC Open Day We held an Open Day for adults and juniors in March and widely publicised it through a poster campaign, adverts and editorial in magazines and press releases. 20 people signed up but due to the day being appalling in weather terms only 8 turned up. However all agreed to join so in that respect it was a 100% success. It did highlight an issue that I believe bears greater debate. A junior who arrived had not played tennis before and his only contact with the game had been through a session Gavin Henderson had held at his school as part of our new schools programme. Enthused by this he turned up and proved to have a real aptitude for the game. His parents were concerned that they could afford the membership fee, albeit a modest £40 plus any extra coaching costs. We have made an accommodation in this child‟s case but surely this is the sort of grass root funding the LTA should be fostering as this young man could be the next Tim Henman. It certainly would be more worthwhile than sending Roger Draper to Argentina to the Davis Cup which had the word jaunt writ large over it. Juniors: The new schools programme continues to build momentum. We now have excellent links with several local schools and have invited to take part in their core curriculum sports activities in the summer term. To improve the overall standard of competitive play each of our junior age group teams has been place under the care of an individual coach. Coaching groups continue to be well attended and our 6 – 10 year olds look very promising. Clubmark We have set up a working group to push through the Clubmark scheme. No one is under any illusion as to the amount of work that is involved and the level of bureaucracy thus engendered. One is tempted to say is it worth it but however it would appear funding under the satellite performance club accreditation scheme is dependant on it. Am I alone in thinking that this is linked to a greater degree of control especially when one of the criteria is related to the number of juniors in membership of British Tennis? British Tennis Membership Warwick Boat Club is justifiably angry that British Tennis Membership is to be linked to the club distribution of Wimbledon tickets. This is in my view immoral and is yet another example of how the leadership of the LTA is completely out of touch with what is happening in tennis clubs up and down the UK. To use the spurious justification that some clubs do not run their Wimbledon ticket ballots fairly is an insult. We at WBC do and to make the point I have not had Wimbledon tickets through the club ballot in the three years I have been Tennis Captain. However what do adults get out of their membership either for free now or £7.50 for next year - „Not a lot‟ as the saying goes other than being blackmailed into joining because Wimbledon tickets may ensue. If the mishandling of this is an example how „progressive‟ the new management of the LTA is then it comes as no surprise that we still cannot produce sufficient numbers of talented juniors to be a real force on the world stage. We as a club already pay an affiliation fee and now club members are being asked to pay more for what they previously got for paying their annual club subscription. NAPTON TENNIS CLUB REPORT 2008 – AREA 3 Membership Membership is looking healthy and currently stands at 15 adult members; 13 child members; 29 family memberships. Membership fees have been increased by 3% in line with inflation. This will be reviewed annually. Club Handbook This has been updated, re-printed and issued to all members. It contains rules for use of the court, reminders of courtesy, club tournament dates and details of coaching and lessons in the coming year. Adult and Child Tournament – 8 March 2008 Angie Dean, club coach, ran a very successful tournament on 8th March which was attended by eight pairs. Coaching Blocks of coaching have been run very successfully for both members and non-members since summer 2006 and these continued throughout the winter months. We are, however, sorry to report that our coach, Angie Dean, is leaving. She has been such an important part of the club for a couple of years, and has really had a huge influence in improving the skill of many of the players, particularly the juniors. She also helped get the tournaments off the ground with her determination
and we will miss her greatly. We are currently liaising with Shipston Academy to find a suitable replacement. We are particularly keen to appoint a coach for the summer term, especially for our younger children. We have previously tried to increase our mini red numbers so that we can run two sessions and thus split the abilities. On a weekly basis we have ran two teenage sessions, and one each of red, orange and green. Competitive opportunities The club will be offering the following events during 2008: July* Strawberries & Cream Mixed Doubles Tournament October* Autumn Mixed Team Tournament - Davis Cup Format (Singles & Doubles) December* Mince Pie Mixed Doubles Tournament * Dates to be confirmed – members to watch out for details in the Napton parish magazine. Our juniors are looking forward to taking part in regular inter-village competitions and we hope to organise these once we have appointed a new coach. The juniors are also keen to organise a club singles tournament. Our adult players have been approached by local clubs to participate in friendly tournaments and we are currently trying to arrange mutually convenient dates for this. Last summer one of our junior players took on the responsibility of running a “teenage ladder” which has continued to be extremely popular, attracting 13 regular players. Photos of each cycle‟s winners are posted on the web site along with the results – www.naptontennis.co.uk The adults‟ ladder was less successful, with only four or five adults getting involved. It is hoped to relaunch this in summer 2008. Club NightClub night is every Wednesday evening, throughout the year, and regularly attracts up to 12 people. The summerhouse has certainly made winter play all the more attractive, providing welcome shelter from occasional wintry showers! It is hoped to start regular Sunday morning club sessions again in April. Club ProfitsThere has been increased income for the club due to a greater increase in junior members, and the slight increase in membership fees. Profits from coaching and general club finances are to be used to provide additional training to targeted, identified, talented children. The tennis club will also have to contribute to a sinking fund for the new Sports Pavilion within the next three years. We intend to raise funds by holding a quiz night and a table tennis tournament. Grounds maintenance Napton Sports Association have recently received a donation from Rugby Benevolent Fund. We are currently discussing various projects, including a paved walk way around the courts, a practice wall and power to the tennis club house. We shall also need to have the courts pressure washed in the near future and it is estimated that this may cost in the region of £2,000 £3,000. British Tennis MembershipAll information regarding British Tennis has been forwarded to our members and posters have been displayed in the club house. Napton Tennis Club A.G.M. This will take place at 8.00pm on 30 April in the Sports Pavilion. It is hoped that this will be well attended and we are looking for new volunteers to join our committee. RUGBY LTC CLUB FORUM REPORT FOR APRIL 2008 – AREA 3. Since gaining “Satellite Club Accreditation” in September the club has seen many improvements in our Performance program. Presently, we have some 20 youngsters that are undergoing individual coaching as part of their program. Out of 10 players that have been to Talent ID days, 4 have gone forward to the Regional Talent ID days. There has also been a significant rise in the number of players who have managed to get their ratings down. The Tennis Leaders have been a fantastic asset in working with many of our players. Competition has gone well with all but one of our Grade 5 events having a full draw. The mini-tennis leagues and individual tournaments have all been well attended and run very efficiently by Natalie Meek. Our adult teams have continued to improve with 3 teams gaining promotion in the Northants Winter Leagues. We‟re looking forward to running some new events this summer, especially a men‟s singles pyramid ladder which has 16 enthusiastic men signed up to playing. We also are running our first Grade 4 event at the Club which will be an evening event during April. Our coaching team has grown with Rachael Baker and Natalie Meek passing their DCA‟s. Cai Cheadle, Kaye Noble and Alistair Leckie have all passed the UK level 1 and are all signed up to doing their DCA‟s over the next 6 months. Peter Brinkley and Brian Heathcote are also preparing to sit their CCA‟s during the next 12 months.
STREETLY LTC – CLUB FORUM REPORT – APRIL 2008 Retention and recruitment of members Membership 300 adults, 185 juniors & 60 social 150 playing throughout winter on 8 floodlit courts Continue PR and advertising to retain / increase numbers Open Day – 19 April Facility Developments Planning application to extend male changing rooms, re-tile clubhouse roof (currently old felt), and st raise part to provide new 1 floor fitness suite approved November 2007. Phase I changing rooms, new disabled ramp, entrance almost complete. Awaiting quotes to replace existing flood lights with lower running cost metal halide lamps Coaching programme updates to include any new initiatives which have worked for your club. Numbers on performance programme and junior coaching have increased through winter nd 2 Bollettieri Coaching clinics to be held from 22 - 27 June (6 days) LTA grade 4 junior tournament – 4 to 8 August Competition Mens O60 Veterans team retain National Club Doubles competitions and become Warwickshire Team of the Year 9 men‟s and 5 ladies teams for 2008 Playing in Mens National Indoor Doubles and Warwickshire Winter leagues Problems / Issues How to develop or use local indoor courts? – There are only 2 in Sutton – pop 90,000 Club has run out of space for further expansion – may have to consider another site Time and effort wasted on new BTM scheme Other Areas Excellent PR support from Bob Malden and Bham Evening Mail and Sutton papers Hampton-in-Arden Tennis Club Report April 2008 – Area 3 Club of the Year 2007 It was wonderful for the progress made at Hampton to be formally recognised by Warwickshire LTA in awarding us the prestigious title of Club of the Year (sponsored by Bank of Ireland). This follows eight consecutive years of growing membership numbers and continuously increasing the numbers of juniors on the year round coaching programmes. It also recognises a number of other initiatives over recent years including the Club‟s web-site and e-mail capabilities plus innovative ideas such as our maxi-tennis tournaments. The award will provide excellent publicity to support our various funding applications to secure grants to finance our project to replace and increase the number of our courts. Membership As normal at this stage of year, membership numbers have been stable at 198 members; 101 adults and 97 juniors. We remain near the peak for a three-court facility, with an average number of members per court of 66. These statistics do not include juniors aged 7 years and under who are allowed to participate in the junior coaching program without becoming a member. Facilities Our main objective remains as expanding our three court facility up to four courts. Full planning permission is in place, project quotations have been received and a significant number of funding applications have been submitted. In addition to internally generated funds, we have received a pledge of £50,000 from George Fentham Trust (a local village trust). Hampton is in an area covered by a number of land-fill companies who operate trusts for the purposes of investing in local communities. We believe that our project meets the objectives of a number of these trusts and funding applications have been made on this basis. We expect to hear the outcome of most of these applications in April. An application is also ready to go to the National Sports Foundation under their “sports match” funding, although it was disappointing to discover that they will not sports match
grants from land-fill operators because that is already government money as the trusts are funded via the land-fill tax credit scheme. As ever, the project timing does keep slipping but it needs to be sooner rather than later, as the standard of the existing facilities is in decline. We are currently targeting Autumn 2008 for the building work but clearly this is heavily dependent upon the success of the funding applications! Coaching Despite some “iffy” weather, the junior coaching program has maintained a good attendance level through the winter months. Our new coach, Ian Poole (supported by Dave Mountford) has settled in very well and having a very positive impact on the Club. The level of competitive tennis at junior level has already been expanded and an encouraging number of adults have been attending an increased number of organised group coaching sessions. Other British Tennis Membership – using our e-mail system we have been pushing this initiative as hard as we can but you can “take a horse to water but you can‟t make it drink”. The main concern appears to be a fear that, although it is free at the moment, there will ultimately be a cost to members and they do not want to be in any way committed to this. As far as a large proportion of membership is concerned, the offer of Wimbledon tickets (that they have to pay a lot of money for) is not a big enough “carrot”. Kenilworth Club Report – April 2008 – Area 3 Retention and recruitment of members: Marketing team established Objective is to recruit about 40 new members (Senior) Brochure. Produced for distribution by members/coaches/local businesses/library/local organisations/schools/colleges, etc. Current status: Seniors – 271, Juniors – 205 Facility developments: Rolling 10 year facility development & renewal plan Plan funded through fully cash backed sinking fund Two artificial grass courts carpeted March 08. All playing facilities now in A1 condition. We have 6 artificial grass courts, 3 tarmac courts & 1 kids zone. Coaching programme: KLTC is a Performance accredited club We have a „Pathway to performance‟ programme underway Coaching programme conforms to Club Mark requirements We have a comprehensive school links programme which is very successful for junior recruitment We have a comprehensive coach development programme. 3 have passed their DCA exams. Stan Barker is now WLTA Community Tennis Coach as well as working at the Club. Several juniors are taking their Tennis Leaders course. Junior Report The junior section continues to flourish. Regular coaching programmes still continue from Mini Tennis through to squads up to approx 17 years old. These coaching programmes include 2 performance groups, one for primary age children and one for those at senior school. Four of our teenagers travelled to Bolton recently representing Kenilworth School and Sports College in the National Mixed Doubles Finals. James‟ holiday camps attract ever-increasing numbers. They are not only a good way to keep children busy and active but also a good introduction to the Club as many children often become members. Problems/Issues – BTM Other Areas KLTC working towards achieving Club mark status
Castle Bromwich Tennis Club Report April 2008 – Area 2 Adult membership remained the same for 2007 although out first venture into Mini Tennis resulted in an extra 14 juniors. Currently working with local junior schools to recruit more members for 2008 season. Great response from St Mary & St Margaret‟s church school and also Castle Bromwich Junior School.Some of our members have been asked to help at local schools involved with National Fitness week in May which should further our successful links with the pupils. During the last two months clubroom has undergone a renovation programme to be completed by end of April. New entrance, bar extended, new floor laid, complete repaint.Further funding sought to refurbish toilets and showers as there has been no development of this clubroom for twenty years.This is the first phase of our aim to raise £100k through funding availability to develop our facilties. So far raised £30k. Looking to play more team tennis tournaments this year. Entered Metropolitan Spring League last season and won Division 3. Looking to organise a few friendly games this summer for our junior and youth players. Only problems continue from playing in a public park and hiring facilities off Parish Council. However, this has improved during the last two years with improved security and our Tennis Club having our own keys which lets us be more independent and flexible. Paul Messenger Club Secretary HENLEY IN ARDEN TENNIS CLUB APRIL 08 – AREA 2 We held our annual fundraiser in November in the form of a Race Night. It was well attended by the membership and raised a welcome £1,600 towards our sinking fund. In December the Chairman, secretary, 2 coaches and a group of juniors attended Henley Joint Parish Council's meeting to endorse their request for a grant towards their extensive improvement programme. The Council awarded us £1,000. In January we attended the Wootton Wawen Parish council meeting in support of our request to them for some funding and were delighted to be given a grant of £1,000, substantially more than they have ever given in a grant to any other organisation. We are now ready to start the first phase of our "Action 2008" programme, as soon as the temperature warms a little more. This will be to replace the old floodlighting on courts 6 and 7 with a new low level system and resurface these 2 courts. Our membership increased last year by over 10 and we are keen to see this continue this year. Most of the Club Mark programme is now in place, and a meeting has been arranged with the coaches to make sure they are complying with the criteria. Our ladies teams are about mid league and have a lot of interest within the club, as do our mixed double teams, however our men's "B" team has been floundering at the bottom of their division. This team is extremely young and we are looking at ways of helping them achieve a degree of success before they become too despondent. The good news for them is that "the only way is up!!" THE EDGBASTON PRIORY TENNIS CLUB APRIL 08 – AREA 1 We have had a great winter with over 325 juniors participating on the development programme. The house system has been working really well, encouraging all ages and abilities to work together and enjoy being part of a team. AS the regional HPC our performance programme continues to grow and our links with satellite clubs are getting stronger. Steve Martens has come and visited the club for technical support days and coaches have been lucky enough to learn from the best. Our top juniors have been competing all over the world and picking up ETA and ITF points. Our mini tennis programme is growing from strength to strength and are lucky enough to be able to see good performance players train which sets a good environment. We have a great experienced team of coaches who are all looking forward to the summer ahead of us. It‟s a great season for tennis and gets everyone playing and competing more at all levels This year we have had 25 tennis leaders complete their qualification and they have enjoyed their experience and have been helping the coaches on the programme and camps.
We now have 8 good links with the local schools and have set up after school clubs to run through the summer term. Obviously we are looking forward to the DFS, and the hoping for good weather. Have a great season Beechwood LTC – Area 3 It has been an encouraging winter at Beechwood LTC: Buoyant winter – court booking sheets full from fixed fours & coaching activity Squads well attended Introduction of Richard Allen as Head Coach New courts and floodlights well received 10 juniors attending a „Leaders Course‟ tutored by Kevin Pilgrim Beechwood will host a „Leaders Tournament‟ on 23/05/08 Growing numbers entering individual match-play events Club has hosted several grade 5 and Mini Tennis Green Leagues during the winter Jacob Mauchlen has been invited to the Regional Talent ID on 30/03/08 Junior and Adult Tennis Program Leaflets produced and providing necessary information for perspective new members Friday night „Junior Nights‟ (fortnightly) well attended Adult Coaching Program being set up for a May start e.g. Rusty Racquets/ Improvers Saturday mornings coaching now includes match-play towards player BTM Links have been forged and coaching has commenced at St Thomas More, All Souls and St. Mary‟s & Benedict‟s. Open days well attended (new members from school links) 4 more planned for summer months. 3 more schools targeted. King Henry VIII school to use courts in summer term Club listening and learning from suggestions made by Jayne, Anna, Rory & Adam! Induction nights now being provided for new/prospective members Richard working with the Ladies Squads to prepare for their Coventry League season Men through to the final stages of the Warwickshire Winter Championships Soumeya Anane, Max Phipps, Archie Dent, Sid Hazarki continue to progress Mixed Doubles Championships on 17/05/08. Big entry expected. Club teams all attending and competing – Mini‟s through to Vet‟s
Richard Allen PENNS LANE TENNIS CLUB REPORT MARCH 2008
Retention/Recruitment Seniors membership is on the increase and the retention is as normal. Facility Developments Floodlights work now completed for two more courts. This was a real learning curve, mostly to get everything at each stage in writing……… especially when dealing with electricians. Planning permission is currently being sought for two new courts and a new club house. Coaching Coaching programme continues to develop. 19 schools are visited each week and the newly formed Academy run by French coach Yves Laitraille is going from strength to strength. Full time player Ashcon Rezazadeh (13) has won 3 LTA tournaments since January 2008. The Academy school is coming on line in April 2008 which will see 7 u10 players accessing the club weekday afternoons to follow the Academy programme. Competition 29 adult teams and 18 junior teams swing in to action this month. A monumental exercise but well worth it with 70% of the membership representing the club in a minimum of 1 team.
Internal competitions for Juniors continue to be a major hit. The club looks forward to hosting the Nike Junior Tour in July with the International Masters final this year being hosted in Florida! Problems/Issues. British Tennis Membership seems to have caused a lot of problems - not least with getting juniors to join to play in NJCL. As we say at the club these days C'est la vie!! Paul Bayliss Harbury Tennis Club – March 2008 Report Membership Junior membership is holding up well but we are planning to have a recruitment drive for adults, particularly ladies who would like to play in leagues, see below. The winter floodlit Club sessions have been very well attended with members having to wait for court space. Competition Seniors - Mixed fortunes in the Winter Leagues. In the Banbury League The “A” team have been promoted from Division 2 as champions, but the “B” team were relegated from Division 3. The Foodlit team have also been relegated from Division 3. In the Stratford Men‟s doubles league there are 2 fixtures still to be played and there is still an outside chance of promotion from Division 5. For the summer we will only have one team in the Banbury league for the first time in 9 years, due to a shortage of ladies committed to regular competitive matches. This is a pity as only 4 years ago we were able to enter 3 teams. However, we have entered a team in the Rugby and District Mixed Division. This is a different format requiring two ladies compared to three in the Banbury league, and fewer fixtures. We hope our remaining ladies will be flexible enough (and fit enough!) to cover the 22 matches. We‟re certainly looking forward to playing new teams in the east of the County and Leicestershire. Juniors - the Juniors have also been regularly playing in the Mini Red and Orange leagues and the Mini Tennis Classic league. There have been some encouraging performances and many of our juniors have experienced (and enjoyed) competitive play for the first time. In the summer we have teams in Mini Red, Mini Orange and Mini Green leagues and also 4 teams of different age groups in the South Warwickshire Junior League and for the first time we will be hosting 2 of the Mini Green League events. Coaching The Juniors‟ winter programme was completed before Easter and the next round of Junior coaching th starts the week beginning 7 April, catering for ages 5 to 16. We are very pleased that 3 of our teenagers, are taking the Level 1 Coaching Assistant qualification and will be a great asset to the Club. Facilities The Club has built up some cash reserves and is looking to improve facilities. Priority is to replace a length of chain link fence which has taken a battering from footballs with more robust weldmesh fencing. After that we would like to install floodlights to the third (dual purpose court). We are discussing our plans with the Netball Club (joint occupiers) before sounding out the Parish Council to support a planning application. If all goes well the lights could be turned on this winter!
Colin Mercer
COLESHILL TENNIS CLUB REPORT
RETENTION & RECRUITMENT OF MEMBERS Membership is slightly down Maintaining membership numbers remains a key challenge and is one of our main objectives this year 2 Open days are organised together with an advertising plan: local press, posters in shops, schools, leisure centre, library & on lampposts, leaflet handouts in the High Street. The general profile of tennis still seems to make it difficult to attract people. For the facilities on offer at Coleshill we feel we have a small catchment area / population & we are aiming to raise our external profile. FACILITY DEVELOPMENTS We have good facilities and have concentrated on keeping them that way. A professional maintenance contract has extended the life expectancy of the courts. We have a healthy sinking fund ready for court replacement in 2/3 years time. Continual improvements to our clubhouse & lounge/bar help maintain a steady social scene. Vital for bar revenue. COACHING PROGRAMME The coaching programme continues to improve under the control of Stuart Maidment. From Mini Tots through to Raw Tennis & Adults. Groups, individual, holiday camps, etc. Rejuvenated Junior Committee seems to be working well with great feedback and enthusiam COMPETITION Another good year ahead with more tournaments organised. We have increased the number of adult teams playing in leagues this year We have more juniors competing externally ISSUES/PROBLEMS We do not have a full Committee this year (so far) Attracting & keeping members
Report for Club Forum, 7th April for Kings Heath Tennis Club Courts: Six, three Astroturf (two floodlit), three shale. (Shale are in very poor condition) No. of members: 128 at the last count, including 26 Juniors. Club coach: Les Swaby 2007 was an outstanding year for Kings Heath Club which, as you probably know is part of a multi sports Club, Kings Heath Cricket and Sports, situated on Alcester Road South, Kings Heath. The membership of tennis (which includes some "multi-sports" members), is thought to be the highest for at least ten years. The Club has six teams (three men's, three ladies') in the Birmingham League and three men's teams plus one mixed in the Metropolitan League. For the last two years, we have entered an under 17 boys' team in the Junior League. A ladies team plays in the Helen Cole winter league and this season, for the first time, a ladies' vets‟ team has been entered in this competition. Social tennis, on Saturday afternoons, Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings has been very well supported, especially the Saturday session, when numbers average fifteen players. Within the
Club, there is a very popular singles' league. This is called the Colin Packwood League after the member who started in about fifteen years ago and died in 1998. His widow Gloria provides generous cash prizes twice a year (the leagues run from April to mid July and from thence to the end of October. The leagues are ably run by the committee chairman, Colin Overton. We also have our Club Championships during three weeks in June, we had a very large entry this year in all seven events. In early September, we organised a one day Junior Tournament (on around robin" basis, with semi final and finals being played a couple of weeks later). We have also run two very popular afternoon mixed doubles tournaments, followed each time by a barbeque (in the garden of Polly and Pete Priestley which backs onto the sports ground) We held a New Year dinner at the Club after which a local group played, and each year, the Tennis Section hosts a Fun Musical Quiz. Obviously our Club has its own bars, restaurant and function room, which means that members can use the club all the year round, whatever the weather, which we feel makes Kings Heath Club good value for money. Unusually for a Sports Club, our extensive grounds are also let out for PE lessons to two schools, Wheelers Lane and Baverstock, on a regular basis; and the grounds are hired on an occasional basis by schools requiring a venue for their annual sports day. This brings me to an important point. We'd like to do even more for the local community (and for ourselves, of course) by having our very poor shale courts re-laid with a tarmac type surface, with lines for basketball, netball, 5 a side football as well as tennis. This would mean that these sports could be played all year round (not only by schools) plus we should have three extra playable courts which we certainly need due to our increased membership and for our juniors. Tonight we'd like to find out exactly who we need to write to find out about funding, that is grants, loans etc for such an undertaking, towards which the proactive Tennis Committee at Kings Heath is totally committed just now.