Tonight our vets 3 went on the road for our first away match against New Ash Green.

The team consisted of myself, Colin the backhand Stevenson, Andy the forehand Fish and John the Jonah Poole.
Unbeknown to me John hadn’t even won a rubber let alone a match.
Once I’d realised this I tried to cancel the match but to no avail, so we were stuck with john the junx Poole. How wrong was I! John took to the game like an avenging angel, he grunted and screamed as he smashed the ball back at the opposition, if they tried to pass him, he would dive like Gordon Banks and return the ball, if they tried to lob him, he would leap like a salmon (a tin of salmon) and smash the ball back.
John led us to a superb 4-0 victory, forever known as poolangrad or waterpaul.

And gentlemen in Bexleyheath now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhood’s cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint John Poole day.

Mens 1 returned to North Kent action after a 3 month layoff with a comfortable 2-0 win over Meopham 1s.
Likely would’ve been an emphatic 4-0 win had we not been halted by light.

Battling performances by Timur & Charlie who split with their 3s and our youth system doing wonders with Richard F & Dan playing up and claiming a draw vs their 2s. Both pairs were then a set up in the second round before being halted by light. Dami and I took both our matches in straights.

Well played guys, onto Gravesham at home next weekend!

Great Support for this away fixture

The vets 3s took to the field again this morning. keen to get some points on the board after our defeat to our rivals, Oakwood last week.

The team was Morris and Fish as 1s, Kane and Stevenson as 2s, able support by George and Mark Mentessi, Dave W, Fuzz, Winthrope and Neil.

Colin and I took our 1st set, but struggled in the 2nd, soon news filtered through that our 1s were involved in a 1st set tie break that they lost! Colin and I dug deep and took the 2nd set 7-5.

This allowed us to watch the 1s 2nd set, that also went to a tie break that our boys won.

So at the halfway stage Bexleyheath had their noses in front, but we knew their 2s would give our 1s a match and Colin and I had to play their strong 1s.

Hard to say what happened next, perhaps the stars aligned, perhaps Paul and Andy had tired them, but Colin and I flew out off the blocks taking the first 9 points without reply!!!!

We continued in a similar vein winning the match 6-1, 6-2😁

This was just as well as their 2s won the last match.

so Bexleyheath won 2.5 to 1.5. Happy days!

After beating Park Langley a few weeks ago our Men's 1 played our second Aegon match this afternoon vs Bexley 2.

After a singles win from myself and Dan, Tom played an unbelievable singles rubber to beat Bexley's top seed.

Going into the doubles with a 3-1 lead, myself and Tom paired up at number 1 and secured a good win with Dan and Timur narrowly losing their doubles 11-9 in the championship tiebreaker.

So overall a 4-2 win and two victories out of two in our first year in Aegon against very strong teams.

The team was myself, Tom, Timur and Dan

The Tie lasted close to 5 hours with plenty of ups and downs.

We played Park Langley’s first team which is the club that our girl Emma Raducanu plays at.

In the first round Dan, Timur, Andy and myself each played a singles rubber.
We won 2 and lost 2.

In the doubles round, I paired up with Timur and Dan and Andy joined forces.
The Rodrigues brothers secured a victory in a championship tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets. Unfortunately, Timur and I lost 13-11 in our championship tiebreaker.

Score 3-3!

We were thinking we were done with the tie, resulting in a draw and that we could go home and get a cup of tea.

HOWEVER, their captain informed us that we would have to play a shoot out to decide the tie.

What happens is that you pick two singles players to play a championship tiebreaker first to 10 and if one team doesn't win both tiebreakers then you play a deciding doubles championship tiebreaker using the players that didn't play the singles tiebreaker.

SO MUCH TENSION!

Here we go.
I lost my championship tiebreaker, but Dan the MVP won his rather comfortably.

So there we were after 4hr 30mins of tennis without a winner. My back was killing me at this point!

Andy and Timur teamed up and managed to get to 8-9 down. We had to win the next point!

Andy fired two missiles from the serve on successive points to give us a 10-9 lead. On the next point, Andrew Rodrigues steps up and fired a gargantuan forehand crosscourt which forced an error from the opponent and secured us our first win.

The overall score was 6-6 (two points for every rubber won) and then 2-1 to us in the shootout.

We played away at Brenchley and Matfield. Our team today was Chris and Brian and Maggie and Mark.

We lost 3-0 today but our team played brilliantly -which isn’t reflected in our final scores. Chris and Brian secured a strong win over their number two pair. Maggie and Mark narrowly missed winning their match against their number two pair losing only in the tie break.

Sharon and I both enjoyed supporting our team today and were very proud of all four players - well done guys 👍.

It was an absolute pleasure to play at Brenchley and Matfield, they were welcoming and sociable and the match was played in good spirits.

Bexley Mencap supports people with learning disabilities and launched weekly Zoom online Tennis sessions in October 2020 to help with health and wellbeing during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 12 regular members had mostly never played tennis before, and many had never taken part in regular sports activities. But they were inspired by practising tennis shots and playing a range of games online, using soft and felt balls, happy hands, and a special balancing mat.

Despite being unable to meet face to face, the group kept together throughout lockdown supporting each other with tennis equipment from an LTA Open Court grant.
Once the Covid-19 restrictions were relaxed the group successfully made the transition to playing weekly outdoors at Bexleyheath Tennis Club from May to October 2021 taking on new members and currently play indoors at a local sports centre.

Janice White, of Kent Tennis, said: ‘It is phenomenal to start a tennis-specific session from scratch in lockdown, maintain the group's interest, and then transfer them to get on the court.’

As a next stage, Bexley Mencap’s tennis team now hope to take part in Kent LTA’s Learning Disability recreational competitions in the summer.

Winter season

The Club entered a winter high seven teams in the North Kent/Kent leagues. We continued to build on our growing reputation as a coming force in Kent tennis. The club only lost one match at home all winter at fortress Park View Road.

Sundridge Park, currently Kent’s best club results wise, paid us the compliment of selecting their best teams in the three divisions in which we encountered them. Crucially all 3 matches against them were away. More about this particular pesky foe later.....

North Kent League.

Men’s 1 and Men’s 2 doubles teams both finished second in Divisions 2A & 3B respectively. The teams were thwarted by Sundridge Park (SP) 2&3. Men’s 1, enjoying excellent away support, played superbly and was a championship tie break away from a draw at SP.

Men’s 2 achieved a magnificent draw at SP to finish level on 9 points with them from their 5 matches played. In such circumstances the league winner is determined on count back of sets and/or games won in the match between the two sides. SP got first position by winning 4 more games in the 4 rubbers played. However as it was so close, there is a distinct possibility that our 3’s will be promoted to Division 2 next winter. This would be richly deserved.

Kent League.

Despite convincingly winning Division 5 in the summer, the Kent League remarkably only placed our Men’s 1 in Division 6B. Consequently all 5 matches were won with relative ease and Dami’s boys, having already secured promotion, play for silverware in a couple of weeks when they travel to Division 6A winners Chipstead. Bring the trophy home guys.

Vets 1 became the third of our teams to be thwarted by SP2. The team finished four points clear in second place in Division 3A having won 5 of their 6 fixtures. The team’s performance merited more. A 3-1 success away to Bexley 2 the undoubted highlight.
Vets 2 won two of their five fixtures to finish fifth in a highly competitive Division 4A. It was especially pleasing that both wins were against local clubs (Martin Dene and Shooters Hill).

The club fielded a Vets 3 team for the first time. Their performance in finishing third in Division 4B (two wins from the four played), confirmed the growing strength in depth of the vets squad. I predict an enjoyable summer ahead for this team – watch this space!

Finally the fledgling Men’s Over 60s were surprisingly placed in Division 2 of 4. Survival was thought to be the name of the game, but the team excelled with 3 wins from 5 to finish a creditable third. A victory at home versus second placed Tunbridge Wells was the standout result here.

Summer season

The season commences on 26th March and we will be fielding a truly remarkable 11 teams. Three men’s teams for the first time will be accompanied by our first ever midweek mixed vets team. Pleasingly there is also a mixed doubles team and I feel we are only a season away from fielding a long awaited women’s team. Three men’s vets teams, men’s over 60’s and men’s 1 additionally competing in both the Kent league and Kent AEGON tournament complete our line up.

Four of these teams have been promoted into higher divisions, following their on court achievements last summer. Consequently results may not be as good as last summer, but I believe the club can at the very least equal the three trophies won last summer.

Let the games begin!

Bexleyheath Vets 3 won against Catford 4 - 0

The Vets 3 had their final game of the season away to Catford who were unbeaten and looking to beat us before their final match against Broadstairs for the league decider.

The conditions were not good. With a bright sun for the first hour accompanied by a wind that would have closed Heathrow!

The team was Fuzz, Rich H, Colin and Andy F and ably supported by myself and John P.
I must say we were treated to some excellent tennis, and our boys went on to win 4-0.

I couldn’t have been more proud.

The score belies the closeness of the match. There were 2 sets of 6-4, and one tie break.

The opposition were a lovely bunch of lads and to cap it all they put on an excellent tea of homemade Sandwiches, Pickles, and Jalapeños. To add, homemade Fruit Cake and a pint of ale.

What a great day.