BLTC Newsletter: Autumn 2001

Contents

Chairman's Notes

Once more it is my privilege to introduce a newsletter which reports progress in the club. It is particularly gratifying that this progress is recognised by wider tennis organisations, hence our recent visit by national LTA officials. The County LTA is particularly grateful for: The successful ratings tournament so ably organised by Carol and Colin Smith; The number of juniors we have (138 plus 19 intermediates) and the coaching and encouragement provided for them; The fact that we have responded so positively to the initiatives of Club Ratings and Club Vision.

Gloucestershire LTA has asked us to be a centre of excellence for mini-tennis and the committee has willingly agreed to do so. The committee has also agreed to continue to explore the provision of floodlighting for courts 3 and 4, including obtaining quotes, investigating funding, and assessing need. Any thoughts on this would be most welcome.

Two matters have concerned the Committee in a less positive way. We share the concern of a number of members about the distractions and safety considerations of youngsters skateboarding, roller-blading, and cycling on the club's property. As an initial move, we are putting up a warning notice; other measures have been discussed, but put on hold whilst we continue to assess the situation. Please see the minutes of the last committee meeting and talk to a committee member if you have any views.

There have been a number of complaints and observations on inappropriate dress being worn on the courts. The club rules are relaxed at present, and it is recognised that acceptable dress codes have changed considerably in recent years. However, we wish to make it clear that there is a strong obligation, on adults particularly, to maintain a high standard of dress so as not to cause offence to others, and to provide a lead to the large number of younger members we have.

It remains for me to congratulate those members who have turned up so diligently to play for our teams this season, and to remind you that there will be increasing opportunities to continue playing into the winter, both competitively and socially. Please take advantage of them.

Team Reports

This has been a good season especially for the men's A and B teams. The Men's A team finished top in division 2 without losing a single match and winning 9 of the 12 matches played. This gives them promotion back into division 1. The B team also finished top of division 3 in a nail biting finish, going to very end of August before the position was settled. They came equal on points with Gloucester Civil Service but beat them on percentage sets won. They will gain promotion to division 2 next year.

The C team unfortunately came bottom of division 4 so will be relegated next season to division 5. Although this team was relegated it gave several of our younger players their first opportunity to play senior league tennis, which will benefit the club in the longer term. A squad of 18 players was used for the three teams.

The ladies' A team struggled a little in division 1, but was still leading the division up until the beginning of August, finally finishing 3rd, 8 points behind the eventual winners. The ladies' B team finished in third position for the second season running and was only 6 points behind the winners. The Ladies' C team unfortunately was relegated, having struggled throughout the season. A squad of 20 players was used for the three ladies' teams.

Colin and Carol would like to thank all the team players for their commitment to participate in the matches, often in poor weather, and for providing an excellent standard of food and drink for the home fixtures. We have earned ourselves a good reputation throughout the county for our improving league positions and for the hospitable welcome that we give to visiting teams.

For the first time three men's and three ladies' teams will be competing in the winter floodlit league at East Glos. Hopefully this will give younger players a chance to enjoy competitive tennis during the winter, and establish successful pairs for the summer season.

Anybody wishing to become involved with league tennis during the winter months in preparation for the 2002 season should contact Colin or Carol Smith. Team practice continues on Saturday mornings throughout the winter.

Junior Teams

For the first time, five teams were entered in the Gloucestershire league. There were mixed fortunes. Some matches weren't played and some weren't completed, but special congratulations go to the boys' U15 and U13 teams who won nearly all their matches. Well done to everyone who represented the club.

Junior Tournament

The junior tournament held early in June was a great event. Well done to all those who took part and supported the event, and thankyou to those parents who helped during the day. The results from the finals were:

There will be another closed tournament next summer, when we hope to see even more junior members taking part. We also welcome entries from juniors in our main club tournament, so if you want to play, and there isn't an application form with this newsletter, contact Linda. Anyone in Marc's Advanced coaching group should certainly consider entering. More information about this tournament is on the back page.

Junior Club Session

Support for the Friday club session waned during the summer. If anyone is interested in playing either on Fridays from 5pm to 6pm or at another time, please contact Fiona Kelly.

Junior Coaching

Since the last newsletter, coaching at the club has rocketed. When the autumn term starts, juniors at the club should be receiving more coaching than ever before. Many juniors involved in the league teams have taken up individual coaching, which will improve their standard a lot faster.

This summer saw the introduction of mini-tennis (formerly short tennis) to the club. This is designed for children aged between about four and eight. The club has purchased all the equipment needed, which will help massively in the development of the junior players, and has also allowed us to start coaching children at an earlier age. The mini-tennis over the summer was a great success, with many of the children wanting to continue in the autumn.

The beginner and intermediate groups were a bit disappointing, and some had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers. Hopefully when the new term begins these will return to normal.

For the older juniors there were many new faces enjoying some different coaching on the last days when they had a go at the 'hotdog' shot (backwards and between your legs) with a certain amount of success! Marc would like to thank all those who supported the holiday coaching, and we hope that all those who attended will continue through the winter.

The first block of coaching for the autumn term will start on Monday 10th September, and run for six weeks. The cost will be £15. To book a place, please phone Marc.

There are some changes in the names of the coaching groups, due to a new national LTA coaching strategy. There will be three mini-tennis groups on Mondays: Red (15:45-16:15), Orange (16:15-17:00), and Green (17:00-18:00). The Red group is for the youngest children, who may not even have picked up a racket yet. The Orange group is the same as the old beginners' group which used to be on Mondays. The Green group is the old intermediate group. In addition, Marc will still be running his advanced group, but this will no longer be on Mondays. The exact day and time has still to be finalised, so please ring Marc for more information.

LTA Ratings Tournament

The week of 13th-21st July saw Bredon Tennis Club hosting the only LTA ratings tournament in Gloucestershire. Despite the weather that week, all the players who entered turned up for their matches, and there was just one evening of play that had to be cancelled. This year, because our club is participating in the club ratings scheme, some of our own club players were able to enter without having to obtain an LTA national rating.

By the final deadline for entries, we actually only had 2 entries from ladies. However, thanks to some frantic phone calls and the interest of some of our younger female members we finished with 8 ladies and 29 men. All the matches were played in good spirit, allowing the organisers to concentrate on getting the matches that had been postponed rescheduled, so that finals' day could take placed as planned with the LTA.

Finals' day saw one of our own club players, Polly Christian, beating Emily Coburn 7-5, 6-3 in the ladies' final. The men's group 7 final saw another of our club players, Darren Smith, losing to Neil Dawson 6-3, 7-6. Guy Sellick won the men's tableau beating Andy Catchpole in a thrilling three set match 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The LTA tournament was officiated on finals' day by two LTA umpires. We were pleased to see the President of Gloucestershire LTA, Mary Eyre, and the County Development Officer, Chris Rivers, who joined us to watch some close matches.

Court Booking

As in previous years the court booking system has been introduced to run through the winter. Please remember that the maximum time that can be booked is 1½ hours and all players must be named in the book.

People have tried to book 3 hour sessions by splitting up the players names. This is not fair on other members. Court time is precious during the dark winter months when only the two courts with floodlights are available in the evenings.

Singles Ladder

Although ratings have been established for everybody and the existence of club ratings assisted the running of our ratings tournament, there are not enough opportunities within the club to gain ratings' points. Therefore we have introduced a singles' ladder, which is posted on the club ratings notice board. This is intended for all ages and standards. The initial list comprises mainly team players, some of whom have been asked if they would like to take part. We have assumed that others will, and they only have to cross out their names from the list if not. Unfortunately the ladies don't appear so keen, so the ladies' list comprises only those who took part in the ratings tournament. If you would like to join in, simply add your name and rating to the bottom of the list. The few rules that apply are also on the notice board. Please remember that these matches must be played outside club sessions and team practices.

Mixed Doubles League

The Mixed Doubles' Box League that ran last year has also been re-instated. Again if you wish to take part simply add your names in the next vacant league box. Please try to play your matches by the required date as this type of box league relies on the matches being played on time. Also remember that these results can also count towards your ratings' points.

Quiz 2001

Thanks to all those who purchased a copy, the quiz made a profit of £271 for the club. Special thanks must go to Aeona Aitken, together with Biddy and John Denvir, for their time and effort in compiling the quiz. Congratulations to the prize-winners:

who scored 98, 97 and 96 out of 100 respectively.

Club Tournament

The club tournament ran from December 2000 to April 2001. Again this year we ran this event on a seeded basis, so that team players came into the tournament later, giving more opportunity for the social players to take part. It was a pity that more members did not participate. The ladies' singles event had just four competitors and so was organised as a round robin. The champions were:

Next year's tournament will be run along similar lines, starting in December with the finals over the weekend of 23rd and 24th March. Entry forms are enclosed with this newsletter and should be returned to Carol with the appropriate fee by Sunday 21st October.

Adult Coaching

Many adults have been having individual lessons with Marc, and are seeing improvements within the first few sessions. Let's hope that this can continue throughout the winter so that all the hard work is not lost.

Due to many requests, Marc is starting an adult group coaching session. This will be in the evening, and like the junior sessions, will run over a certain number of weeks. Participants will sign up and pay for each block at the end of the previous one. There will be a class for beginners and improvers, or people who have had a long break from the game.

Marc will also be starting a performance group, which will be mainly for team players, but will also be open to others who feel they are up to that level of play. If you are a team player try to come with your doubles partner as the coaching will be mainly based on doubles, with the aim of improving the league positions of our teams. As valuable as Saturday mornings are, a successful pairing must build a relationship and understanding which can only come from practising together as a pair. Contact Marc for more information.

© BLTC, 2011.