AGM Tennis Report 2015
Cliff Chaplin – Tennis Secretary
Our tennis membership have remained stable over the past year in terms of absolute
numbers with 684 members (493 adult/191 juniors) at the end of February 2015 compared
690 (489/201) at the same time last year. Overall we are very busy with a great deal of
tennis activity going on at the Club. We have around 130 members taking part in the
ladder. We have an extensive team programme. We have a mixed doubles ladder and our
weekend Club Periods are busy.
With so much activity in the Club it is important to have a court allocation policy that takes
into account all tennis sections (adults, juniors, teams, social tennis, ladder, coaches,
competitions, programmes, etc). This is complex and, while the policy has worked
reasonable well to date it is recognised that there are periods of court congestion. It is
important to try to minimise this as much as possible. With this in mind, we have an
ongoing review process and plan to implement a court usage survey in the Spring of this
year.
In the past year we have greatly improved our tennis facilities. The upper courts
(12,13,14) have been relayed and painted. They are now of good quality and reportedly
playing well. The artificial grass courts (6,7,8) have been reconfigured and the surface
relayed. This has been popular with members and improved the tennis playing experience.
The junior court and wall area have been repaired, relayed and painted. Additionally, our
Winter balloon, covering courts 3 and 4, has been replaced.
We give special thanks to Derek Moggridge, our groundsman, who after working at the
Club for 33 years, retired this year. Derek's work in maintaining the grass courts and the
grounds is much appreciated and we wish him a happy retirement. We welcome Shaun
Hill, our new groundsman, who replaces Derek.
Our coaching programmes continue to develop. Harvey Becker, our Head Coach for
Adults, has worked to expand and improve the adult coaching programme. Adults
undertaking coaching and improvement programmes provide a steady flow of new Club
members. Harvey's current programme plans include, cardio tennis, power-hour lunchtime
tennis, beginners learn to play sessions, intermediate tennis and various social tennis
events for different levels, tennis trips, and a Christmas boot camp.
Lucy Dean, our Head Coach for Juniors, has now been appointed as Head Junior Coach
for both tennis and squash. Our tennis junior and schools programme continues to
progress. Our summer camps had 694 juniors taking part whilst our term time programmes
(Spring, Summer and Autumn) had 1588 participants. Overall, in 2014 we had 2282
juniors taking part in our programmes. In fact, it is more, as these figures do not include
those taking part in some of our other holiday camps. Our schools programme continues
to develop. Our relationship with St Aloysius School is good and they use our facilities
during term time. We also run an outreach programme and link with other schools
including: Coleridge, St Mary's and Acland Burghley. We also continue to run a parks
programme at Waterlow Park.
Reference to the junior and schools programme should not be made without thanks to our
administrator Anthony Crawley who replaced Rita Kilemade and a special thanks to Milly
Ayliffe for her hard work and invaluable contribution to its success. Thanks also to the
coaching team who continue to deliver high quality coaching both to the programmes and
to members at Coolhurst.
Both the men's and women's teams continue to be very popular at the club. This is
something that a number of new members mention when asked what attracted them to the
club. In the 2014 summer leagues, the club had 7 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams
competing. On the men’s side, the 1
st
th
and 4
th
teams were relegated, the 2
th
nd
&3
rd
team
th
stayed in their respective divisions and the 5 , 6 and 7 teams all gained promotion. On
st
th
th
nd
rd
th
the women’s side the 1 , 5 & 6 teams gained promotion whilst the 2 , 3 and 4
teams stayed in their respective leagues. The squads are now starting to gear up in
preparation for team matches starting in April. Our Winter and Vet's teams are also doing
well. Our men's 1st and mixed 1st are top of their Winter league, whilst two or our Vet's
teams are also top of their respective leagues.
Members of the Tennis Committee have worked hard this past year and I would like to
thank them for their time and effort. They include: Jim Wakeley, Chris Penny, Jean
Hewitson, David Smart, Christian Hess, Cori Josias, Andy Dexter and Martin Lamb. A
special thanks to Sarah Luther for her work with court allocation and Ray Vernon, who
oversees our facilities. We also thank Jack Penman for organising the ladder. Thanks also
to Mark Lafferty who, with Chris Penny, helped reorganise and run the wonderfully
successful Club Summer Competition.
Cliff Chaplin
Tennis Secretary
16th February 2015