A MOMENTOUS YEAR BUT HAVE WE PEAKED AS A CLUB?
A MOMENTOUS YEAR
The year 2022 has certainly been one that everyone will remember forever. I’m thinking Ukraine war, three PM’s, the death of our beloved, longest serving monarch, European and World Cup triumphs for the Lionesses and Twenty 20 cricket team. Of course, closer to home we saw the stupendous achievement of £70k investment in floodlights and court resurfacing. Thanks once again to Dave Kane for his sterling work in bringing this major project to fruition. Cheers Dave. I think we can now be described as a proper tennis club.
Club membership increased once again by 63 and currently stands at 167. This is virtually a 500% increase from the 34 members we had back in April 2020. My thanks go to Raman, who led on the extensive overhaul of the clubs junior coaching offer. I am delighted to say we now have 72 child/junior members and our popular Saturday morning junior coaching classes are nearly all oversubscribed. Cheers Raman. The emphasis now is the provision all year round midweek coaching for our junior members.
The giant strides made in recent years have led to an application being submitted for us to be considered for the Kent LTA Club of the Year Award. I have also nominated recent Life Honorary Member, Alfio for their Volunteer of the Year Award. The clubs burgeoning relationship with our friends at Bexley Mencap, along with the hosting of a Kent Learning Difficulties tournament in June, was a central feature to the application. Shortlisted nominations will be announced on the evening of 19th December. Watch this space.
Three further promotions were achieved. We successfully fielded a midweek mixed vets and Men’s three team for the first time. Indeed we fielded 11 teams in the summer. Truly massive progress when compared to the four teams fielded in 2019. 54 members took part in our annual club tournament and a good crowd observed the eight finals on offer. Our annual D’Mello and Blaver cup tournaments were also well attended. My thanks to Ollie and Noah for organising these events.
The popularity of our Wednesday and Thursday social play sessions continues unabated. Thanks go to Charlie Barnes and others for expertly organising the Wednesday evening sessions under the lights. Despite numerous requests, a volunteer to oversee Sunday social play has not been forthcoming. Consequently attendance has been mixed. Without a volunteer coming forward, this particular social play may die a death of its own volition. Any interested volunteer please contact me.
HAVE WE PEAKED AS A CLUB?
With such rapid progress on and off the court, I pose for healthy debate the question have we peaked as a club? Whilst I foresee future promotions for our fledgling mixed doubles and over 60s team (who understandably have initially been placed in bottom Divisions) promotions in recent years for our Men’s and Vets teams mean we may already be placed in Divisions that accord with “our level”. Having said that, it is true that our Men’s ones probably still have a couple of promotions forthcoming in the Kent winter leagues as a consequence of having to start in 2020 in the lower Divisions.
Unfortunately it is likely that (all things being equal) two of our ten teams may suffer relegation this winter. These would be the first relegations suffered by the club in my eight years here. If you pardon the oxymoron we have ageing vets teams and there does not appear to be any 35-44 year olds at the club who can step in and improve our existing three teams and lower the age profile. With old age comes the likelihood of regular injuries and sadly this has proven to be an ever increasing occurrence in recent years.
Off the court, the club is now burdened with a £25k LTA loan which we are required to pay off over the next seven years. We therefore need to continue to generate income, so please continue to attend our fund raising events. Court usage is down on recent years, particularly amongst those members not currently representing the club in the local leagues. I would be extremely interested to receive feedback from them as to their reduced playing time. Please pm me. I accept that one of the reasons may be the apparent stagnation of our box leagues. We will look to rectify this as soon as possible.
I am a little disheartened by the increase of personal rubbish being left on courts and the low usage of the floodlights to date. In respect of the lights I sincerely hope it is just a consequence of bad weather and the World Cup. I urge all members to arrange a game under the lights. You will be aware that between Christmas and New Year we will be leafleting the local area advertising pay and play and club membership. Please help if you can in the distribution of these leaflets. Such help may even include leafleting your road if you live less than a mile away from the club. Please also try to cajole friends and family with an interest in tennis/sport/leisure to join our club. Personal recommendation/encouragement has proven to be the best recruitment tool available to us.
SPORTS CLUB
Members may be unaware that a proportion of their tennis membership fee goes towards the running of the Sports Club. In return membership entitles you to use the bar facilities and receive 20% off the cost of drinks purchased. It also includes cheap hall hire. The Sports Club recently had to repair the roof at a cost of circa £50k.
Sports Club Committee recently agreed that from 2023 the contribution to the Club per member should be increased. Adult membership, which was previously £5, has increased to £20. Broadly speaking all other memberships (except Family) has been increased from £5 to £10. At our November meeting, the tennis committee felt that these draconian increases could not be totally subsumed by the tennis club. This means that regrettably come membership renewal time on 1st May the cost of membership will increase by £10 for adults and £5 for all other memberships (except child and families).
Finally, I extend to members my very best wishes for the festive season and hope that you all have a healthy, safe and happy 2023.
The year 2022 has certainly been one that everyone will remember forever. I’m thinking Ukraine war, three PM’s, the death of our beloved, longest serving monarch, European and World Cup triumphs for the Lionesses and Twenty 20 cricket team. Of course, closer to home we saw the stupendous achievement of £70k investment in floodlights and court resurfacing. Thanks once again to Dave Kane for his sterling work in bringing this major project to fruition. Cheers Dave. I think we can now be described as a proper tennis club.
Club membership increased once again by 63 and currently stands at 167. This is virtually a 500% increase from the 34 members we had back in April 2020. My thanks go to Raman, who led on the extensive overhaul of the clubs junior coaching offer. I am delighted to say we now have 72 child/junior members and our popular Saturday morning junior coaching classes are nearly all oversubscribed. Cheers Raman. The emphasis now is the provision all year round midweek coaching for our junior members.
The giant strides made in recent years have led to an application being submitted for us to be considered for the Kent LTA Club of the Year Award. I have also nominated recent Life Honorary Member, Alfio for their Volunteer of the Year Award. The clubs burgeoning relationship with our friends at Bexley Mencap, along with the hosting of a Kent Learning Difficulties tournament in June, was a central feature to the application. Shortlisted nominations will be announced on the evening of 19th December. Watch this space.
Three further promotions were achieved. We successfully fielded a midweek mixed vets and Men’s three team for the first time. Indeed we fielded 11 teams in the summer. Truly massive progress when compared to the four teams fielded in 2019. 54 members took part in our annual club tournament and a good crowd observed the eight finals on offer. Our annual D’Mello and Blaver cup tournaments were also well attended. My thanks to Ollie and Noah for organising these events.
The popularity of our Wednesday and Thursday social play sessions continues unabated. Thanks go to Charlie Barnes and others for expertly organising the Wednesday evening sessions under the lights. Despite numerous requests, a volunteer to oversee Sunday social play has not been forthcoming. Consequently attendance has been mixed. Without a volunteer coming forward, this particular social play may die a death of its own volition. Any interested volunteer please contact me.
HAVE WE PEAKED AS A CLUB?
With such rapid progress on and off the court, I pose for healthy debate the question have we peaked as a club? Whilst I foresee future promotions for our fledgling mixed doubles and over 60s team (who understandably have initially been placed in bottom Divisions) promotions in recent years for our Men’s and Vets teams mean we may already be placed in Divisions that accord with “our level”. Having said that, it is true that our Men’s ones probably still have a couple of promotions forthcoming in the Kent winter leagues as a consequence of having to start in 2020 in the lower Divisions.
Unfortunately it is likely that (all things being equal) two of our ten teams may suffer relegation this winter. These would be the first relegations suffered by the club in my eight years here. If you pardon the oxymoron we have ageing vets teams and there does not appear to be any 35-44 year olds at the club who can step in and improve our existing three teams and lower the age profile. With old age comes the likelihood of regular injuries and sadly this has proven to be an ever increasing occurrence in recent years.
Off the court, the club is now burdened with a £25k LTA loan which we are required to pay off over the next seven years. We therefore need to continue to generate income, so please continue to attend our fund raising events. Court usage is down on recent years, particularly amongst those members not currently representing the club in the local leagues. I would be extremely interested to receive feedback from them as to their reduced playing time. Please pm me. I accept that one of the reasons may be the apparent stagnation of our box leagues. We will look to rectify this as soon as possible.
I am a little disheartened by the increase of personal rubbish being left on courts and the low usage of the floodlights to date. In respect of the lights I sincerely hope it is just a consequence of bad weather and the World Cup. I urge all members to arrange a game under the lights. You will be aware that between Christmas and New Year we will be leafleting the local area advertising pay and play and club membership. Please help if you can in the distribution of these leaflets. Such help may even include leafleting your road if you live less than a mile away from the club. Please also try to cajole friends and family with an interest in tennis/sport/leisure to join our club. Personal recommendation/encouragement has proven to be the best recruitment tool available to us.
SPORTS CLUB
Members may be unaware that a proportion of their tennis membership fee goes towards the running of the Sports Club. In return membership entitles you to use the bar facilities and receive 20% off the cost of drinks purchased. It also includes cheap hall hire. The Sports Club recently had to repair the roof at a cost of circa £50k.
Sports Club Committee recently agreed that from 2023 the contribution to the Club per member should be increased. Adult membership, which was previously £5, has increased to £20. Broadly speaking all other memberships (except Family) has been increased from £5 to £10. At our November meeting, the tennis committee felt that these draconian increases could not be totally subsumed by the tennis club. This means that regrettably come membership renewal time on 1st May the cost of membership will increase by £10 for adults and £5 for all other memberships (except child and families).
Finally, I extend to members my very best wishes for the festive season and hope that you all have a healthy, safe and happy 2023.