BLTC Newsletter: Spring 2003

Contents

Chairman's Report

This has been another year of satisfactory progress for the club, which has seen the total membership climb above 300 again. The main work of your committee has been to ensure that the members can enjoy their tennis in the best surroundings possible, and to plan so that that enjoyment will continue. To that end, there are a few aspects that I would wish to highlight.

Carol was instrumental in introducing advanced financial planning. Her predictions have proved to be spot on and this has enabled us to see clearly what we can and cannot do.

There is an obvious need to resurface courts one and two, plans for which the committee intends to reveal at the AGM. The financial plan shows that this work will be possible within the present budget.

The use of the floodlights has been declining year on year. This has led us to conclude that there is no pressure as yet to carry out the work on courts three and four that we have planning permission to do.

We were gratified by the success of the presentation/social evening. Around 80 people came supported the hard work of Jess and Hilary. It is important that there is an opportunity for us to gather as a club.

The success of the club depends on providing opportunities at all levels. Our continuing health relies on the quality of the coaching and the response of our youngsters, on the take-up of the opportunities for social tennis, and on the commitment of players to the six teams we have in the Summer League. I recognise the contributions made by our reliable coaches, the committee members who service the social tennis, and to those people who have made all those phone calls to enable team fixtures to take place.

I have decided to stand down as Chairman this year. I have relished the opportunity to see at close hand the growth of the club of which I have been a member for thirty years, and grateful for the work of the committee which has achieved a great deal over the past few years. It has been a privilege to work with them and I express my, and I am sure your, thanks to them. I know they would like me to point out that new committee members are always welcome. There is still work to do.

Secretary's Report

This year our total membership was the highest ever at 310 and there were more new members than ever before. Once again well over half the members were juniors and the demand for coaching has resulted in two new groups on Wednesdays. Sadly I have to report the death in August of one of our honorary members, former chairman Mike Hodgson.

The committee met five times during the year. Claire Barber resigned during the summer because of other commitments. Much of our time has been taken up discussing and trying to resolve the on going problems of vandalism. The completion of the children's play area and subsequent planting of shrubs behind the pavilion has resulted in less damage to roof tiles. However, after a considerable amount of funds had been spent on shrubs, it was infuriating to find that some had been uprooted and thrown into the field. Furthermore, skateboarders have damaged slabs around the pavilion and have been skateboarding on the courts.

With the exception of Jim, all current committee members are prepared to serve for another year, but anyone else willing to help with the running of the club would be most welcome. Please get in touch with Linda if you are interested.

Treasurer's Report

As the accounts do not close until the end of March I am unable to give a full report in this newsletter. Full accounts will be available at the AGM together with a report and update on the five-year financial plan.

To date I can report that membership income has increased by a little over £300, but floodlight token sales are much lower than anticipated. Our loan is slowly reducing and by the AGM we will have repaid £5,000 of the original £10,000.

When comparing this year's income and expenditure with the estimated five-year plan issued at the last AGM, the balance is as planned, but of course there are other items to be paid and money to come in prior to the AGM. It should be noted that we are obliged to increase membership fees at least in line with inflation under the terms of the LTA loan, and a certain amount of money has to be set aside specifically for the upkeep of the courts.

Team Reports

Six teams played in the Gloucestershire LTA Summer League during 2002. The men's A and B teams were relegated after finishing 7th and 6th in divisions 1B and 2B. This was disappointing after they both gained promotion last year. The men's C team made up for this by winning division 5A. They were unbeaten, dropping only 3 points. Special mention must go to the Chairman for turning out for several matches and showing the younger players that he is still capable of holding his own in competitive tennis after retirement.

In the ladies' leagues, the A team finished 6th in division 1A after one of the most difficult seasons of injuries that we can remember. In July every member of the first team was injured or unavailable, making it impossible to complete the fixtures. Points were deducted due to the cancellations and the games were completed by A and B team players at the end of the season. The B team were the winners of division 3B and the C team came 6th in division 5A.

A list of results for the Bredon teams in the summer league can be found on the team fixtures page of our web site:
http://www.bredon-tennis.org.uk/
Full league tables and results can be seen on the league website:
http://www.wgtl.freeserve.co.uk/

The club entered two men's and two ladies' teams in the winter floodlight league at East Glos. Although the final positions are not available yet we believe that both of the men's teams will finish in mid table and the ladies' teams will be lucky to avoid relegation.

Team practice is on Saturday mornings, starting at 08:30 for men and 10:30 for ladies. For further information, contact Colin or Carol Smith: teams@(nospam)bredon-tennis.org.uk.

Carol and Colin would like to thank all the players for the support that they have given them over the year.

Junior Report

Junior Teams

Bredon entered three boys' teams in the Gloucestershire junior league. Each meeting consists of two singles matches followed by a doubles. Those juniors who took part were:

Special congratulations to the U11 team. They won all their matches 3-0 and consequently won their division. Many thanks to all the boys for representing the club and for the sporting manner in which all the matches were played. Thanks also to all the parents for providing transport and unstinting support! Teams in the 13 & under and 17 & under age-groups have been entered for this summer.

Junior Singles Tournament

A very successful singles event, for twenty boys and four girls, took place in June. Matches were played in good spirit and with enthusiasm. The winners were:

Junior Doubles Tournament

For the first time a doubles tournament was held in October. Twenty-four players took part, alas only three of the competitors were girls. Round robin matches were played in different age groups. The eventual winners were:

Coaching Report

More Coaches, Better Coaches

The junior coaching at the club is thriving after a good summer, and has meant that Jamie Davies has started work at the club to help Neil with the coaching programme. Neil has completed his CCA training (the next level of coaching qualification) and is awaiting the result.

Junior Group Sessions

We now have eight groups taking place during the week for juniors of all ages and all standards. These include two Mini Tennis Red groups (4-7yrs) in the village hall, two Mini Orange groups (6-9yrs), and one Mini Green group (8yrs+). There are now two performance squads and one advanced group. We hope that the coaching programme at the club can be expanded further over the coming year.

The move to hold the Mini Tennis Red sessions in the village hall proved a great success, and has encouraged more young players to take up the sport. The highlight of the year for these groups has been their participation in the Mini Tennis Red Tournaments at Oxstalls Indoor Centre in Gloucester.

Coaching in Schools

During the summer term, coaching sessions were undertaken at Overbury School and Bredon Hancock's School. As part of 'Active Sports Gloucestershire', Neil was able to go into Tirlebrook School, Twyning School, and John Moore School for five week blocks during the autumn term. All of these were a great success. It is hoped to continue these links this year and integrate some of the children into the coaching programme at the club.

For more information about junior coaching please contact the head coach, Neil Dawson: coaching@(nospam)bredon-tennis.org.uk

Ladies' Coaching

Dee's coaching continues to flourish. Both groups are full, and the standard of play has improved considerably.

LTA Ratings Tournament

In July, we held our ratings tournament, which is open to anybody with a club or national rating. This ran very successfully with a healthy number of entries, particularly in the men's competition.

The winner of the men's tableau was Robert Loosemore who beat last year's winner Guy Sellick. For men rated 6.x and 7.x the winner was Mathew Sprosten and the runner up was Nick Neal. In the ladies' round robin competition Polly Christian was the winner, with Lauren Brice the runner up. The ratings tournament takes a considerable amount of time to organise for only a moderate financial gain to the club. However, over the years we have gained considerable respect from clubs and players for holding these tournaments. For the last two years we have been the only club in the Gloucestershire League to hold a ratings tournament.

In 2002, we had considerable difficulty recovering our claimable expenses from the LTA. Partly for this reason, and partly due to the amount of organisation involved with holding a tournament of this type, we have decided not to hold a ratings tournament in 2003. We would like to thank everybody who has played in, helped out with, or supported our ratings tournament over the years.

BLTC Website

The Bredon Lawn Tennis Club website was launched just over a year ago in February 2002. It can be found at:
http://www.bredon-tennis.org.uk/

It is intended mainly to provide information about the club to prospective members. However, it also contains details of forthcoming events and regularly updated team results from the Summer Leagues, which may be of interest to existing members.

Issues of the Club Newsletter from Autumn 2001 are also now available online. So if you've lost your copy, want to know what was going on a few years ago, or just can't wait for the next paper copy to be delivered then visit:
http://newsletter.bredon-tennis.org.uk/

Any comments, suggestions, or other feedback concerning the website would be gratefully received, and can be emailed to: webmaster@(nospam)bredon-tennis.org.uk

Play Tennis Day 2003

This will take place on Saturday 17th May from 10am. Come along and join in the fun. The Tennis Factory will be there from 10 until 12, with lots of games and activities for juniors to try, and there will be prizes and giveaways.

One court will be set aside for adults in the morning and adults will have more court time in the afternoon. If you have any friends or family who have never played tennis before, then this is the ideal time to bring them along. Our coaches, Neil and Jamie will be there to help you make the most of the day.

© BLTC, 2010.