BLTC Newsletter: Autumn 2004

Contents

Dates for your Diary

Club Tournament
Entry Deadline: Saturday 13th November
Finals' Weekend: Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March 2005
Skittles Evening
Friday 26th November, at The Queens Head, Aston Cross.

New Treasurer Wanted

As the few who attended the last AGM will remember, Carol was only willing to be treasurer for one further year. With this in mind, we would be grateful if anyone willing to take on the task could contact Colin, Carol, or Linda. Although at times it may look daunting, it is only just prior to the AGM that there is a large amount of work to prepare. The general running of the accounts is quite straightforward and banking the monies only needs to be done a couple of times a month. The treasurer is of course part of the committee and would be asked to report at the meetings, usually about five times a year. It would be great to get some new blood on the committee with some new ideas, so please consider whether you could take on the position.

Chairman's Notes

As we approach the end of the season, I look back at the summer season with disappointment. No matter how good the facilities, a tennis club survives on its members. We at Bredon are fortunate enough to have some of the best facilities for a village of its size. With four courts, two of which are in first class condition with floodlights, we should be the envy of the area. At the start of the season our membership was the fourth largest in the Gloucestershire league. However, we are lacking one major thing, member participation. Club session attendance, particularly Monday and Thursday nights, is almost non-existent. Some people may say, "well the team players don't turn up because they are playing on other nights". My reply to that is that the numbers have not increased much in August and September when there are no matches on. We have offered free floodlights during September to encourage people to no avail. Similarly with the teams we have struggled to run three teams for both the men and ladies.

This lack of interest is of major concern to the committee. Membership is dropping, and our remaining members are becoming less active in the club; hardly a good selling point for potential new members. Therefore could I ask for some help from you all? Our next committee meeting is in November. By then I would like some feedback to committee members to two questions:

  1. Are you aware of any reason why membership involvement is declining?
  2. What would you like to see that would encourage you to get more involved in the club?

I look forward to getting some feedback.

Box Leagues / Ladders

For members who would like more competitive tennis, we will be running box leagues or ladders though the winter months. This will involve playing about two games per month. If you are interested in playing either Men's Doubles, Ladies' Doubles, Mixed Doubles, or Singles please add your name to the list in the pavilion. For the groups with enough entries, box leagues will be set up. For those with smaller numbers, we will try running ladders.

Tournament Results

The annual club tournament was held over several months during the winter. Round robin matches were played in all events before finals in March.

Seventeen boys took part in the annual singles tournament on Saturday 17th July. Round robin matches were played in four different age groups and all were contested competitively, but in good spirit. Well done to all who took part, especially those playing in their first tournament. Special mention goes to the youngest entrants: Danny Barber, Rory McGuigan, Daniel McGuigan and Alex Stanghellini who impressed the spectators by playing so well in difficult windy conditions, and to Jamie Annand who successfully defended his title. Next year we would love to see some girls entering.

Two enjoyable American Tournaments were held during the summer, one followed by a barbecue (thanks to Kenneth for cooking) and the other by a 'bring and share' supper. The eventual winners were Stuart Hutchison, Judy Leyden in May, and Jackie Woodward and Carolyn Perry (who due to a shortage of men, played as a man) in September.

The winners and runners-up for the other tournaments are as follows:

Event Winner Runner-Up
Men's Singles Rob Jones Colin Smith
Men's Doubles Nick Purchase and
Stuart Hutchison 		Rob Jones and
Lee Sharpe
Ladies' Doubles Carol Smith and
Dee Wade		 Hilary Burke and
Carolyn Perry
Mixed Doubles Jackie Woodward
and Tommy Spry		 Judy Leyden and
Nick Purchase
Wefri Cup Linda Addis and
Les Thurlow		 Biddy Denvir and
Peter Moy
Juniors U8 Alex Stanghellini Daniel McGuigan
Juniors U10 Pete Hutchison Max Barber
Juniors U12 Jamie Annand David Ballard
Juniors U14 Andrew Higdon Stephen Derrett

Team Reports

Ladies' Teams

We entered three ladies' teams in the Gloucestershire leagues this summer. The A team had a squad of 5 players. With occasional help from B and C team players, they finished the season mid-table and will remain in division 2 next year. The B team ran with a main squad of just 4 players with the help of a couple of extras on just two occasions. They did very well and finished 2nd, so they will also play in division 2 next year. The C team started the season with six teams in the division but unfortunately two of these withdrew so the season was quite short of matches for them. Even so, we often struggled to find four players, and continuity of pairs was a problem. The C team finished third in their division, and will stay in division 5 if we run the team next season.

It is important to get the commitment of players if we are going to run three teams again next year. The B and C team players come to team practice on Saturday mornings and it would be very unfair on them if I had to drop a team because of lack of commitment to play as many matches as possible. It would be a wonderful problem to have a choice of players for each match. If you are interested in playing team tennis next summer please contact Carol. This is the time to get to know the other team players and form pairings.

Men's Teams

Having suffered the indignity of two successive relegations in 2002 and 2003, the Men's A team returned to victorious ways by winning Division 3B. The team finished with 33 points, and also had the luxury of not having to finish two matches, such was the quality of performance towards the end of the season. The team suffered just two defeats, both due to unavailability of players. Special thanks to Jamie Davies (in particular his sandwich-making) for only dropping one set all season, and also to Stuart Hutchison for doing the same. Neil Dawson graced us with his presence and maintained his record of never having lost a match in the Gloucestershire leagues, despite my best efforts to the contrary!

The Men's B team narrowly missed out on promotion in 2003, and for the majority of this season were in contention again. Using a core of only five players (Tim Troughton, Tommy Spry, Colin and Darren Smith, and Anthony Hickling), the team had some excellent results, including two victories over neighbours Beckford, and the eventual runners-up Gloucester Wotton B. The team finished 4th with seven wins and three losses. However, the top three were separated by only two points, which shows what a hard fought division 3A was. Special thanks to Mrs Spry for her excellent cakes, and also to Ron 'Lobster' Loxley for filling in so capably when required.

Talking of 'Lobster', he put in a tremendous effort this summer to put out our C team most weeks, such was the limited pool of players. The team finished 2nd from bottom in 4C, with 11 points. The jury is currently out on whether we will have a C team next summer. Rumours that Ron has been spotted on a recruitment drive during the WeFri cup remain unsubstantiated... Ron has done a great job in arduous circumstances and we thank him for this. If there is no C team, I am certain that the Lobster will be the scourge of many a team in 3A!

Junior Teams

Bredon entered three boys' teams this summer in the Gloucestershire Junior League: 13 & Under (division 2), 15 & Under (division 2), and 17 & Under (division 2). The team members were:

Unfortunately, all the clubs who entered in our divisions this year encountered problems in raising a team to play on many of the pre-arranged days, and with the junior members' hectic schedules it became impossible to reorganise the majority of the matches. In the end, the Bredon teams only played one third of their matches. The 13&Us won both of the matches they played. The 15&Us played together for the very first time in their one and only match, and despite some inspired tennis suffered an away defeat at the hands of Painswick. The 17&Us played two matches, one win and one defeat. A big thank you to all our team players for their efforts in the matches we were able to play; as ever you were all very sporting and a credit to the Club. Thank you too to parents for providing transport and of course your support.

If Bredon is to enter the Junior League again next summer, it will be important to have a greater number of players in each age group; which also includes 11&U, and girls have their own divisions too! Each club plays around 6 matches (2 singles and 1 doubles each time), from May to July. The majority are scheduled at the weekends, but occasionally another club may only have courts available for junior matches in the evenings. The matches are very friendly affairs and the organisers take into account players' experience when allocating places in the divisions. If any other junior members are interested in playing in the teams or would like to find out a bit more, please speak to Jamie Davies or Fiona Kelly.

Club Tournament 2005

The time is drawing near to once again compete for the coverted title of club champion 2005 in the men's and ladies' singles, the men's and ladies' doubles and, of course, the mixed doubles! Enclosed is an entry form which must be filled in and returned (with entry money) to the box marked 'Tournament Entries' in the pavilion, Judy Leyden, or Jackie Woodward. Any entries received after the closing date of Saturday November 13th will be discounted, as the draw will be made the next day. Draw sheets will be displayed in the pavilion from the week commencing 15th November.

Please make this the most successful and stress-free tournament yet by playing matches on time. To get things off to a good start, two courts will be available on Saturday mornings for players to book matches. Naturally, all other times except club sessions may be booked as well. The booking forms are available in the folder in the clubhouse. The finals' weekend will be Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March 2005. Remember, behave yourselves unless you wish Judy and Jackie to come and sort you out!

Membership Fees

If you have any friends who are interested in playing tennis, do tell them that our fees have been reduced for the rest of the season. The fees for the winter months are on the notice board in the pavilion, in the Information Books, and on our website: www.bredon-tennis.org.uk.

© BLTC, 2010.