Over the past year we have seen the number of teams at Fishbourne, playing in leagues, grow from three to six (writes Luke McEwen, Competition Secretary). As a club we are now involved in two leagues: the LTA Sussex League and the Portsmouth & District League.

In the Sussex League we have a men’s double team captained by Chris Gosden. With regular players including Tom Craddock, Phil Tite, Andre Rogers, Bill Cove and Joe Rawlings, this team was unbeaten in its division in the 2015/16 season and is now relishing the challenge of promotion to a higher division this year. This league is age unrestricted. If you are keen to  take part in this league, contact Chris Gosden and attend one of the regular try-outs. The club is keen to field more teams if there are the players from Fishbourne to warrant them.

In the Portsmouth & District League Fishbourne is fielding three teams, unrestricted by age, in 2016. The men’s team is captained by Tom Craddock, the ladies’ team by Persephone Hagan, and the mixed team by Luke McEwen. These matches are played at the weekend. Contact the captains for details of how you can take part.

There are also two Fishbourne teams taking part in the summer Portsmouth & District Masters Tournament, following an enjoyable first campaign in the winter series last year. The Masters series is for women over 45 and men over 50, and all the matches are played Monday-Friday between 9.30am and 5.30pm. Each team is made up of two men and two ladies, and both men’s and ladies’ doubles are played along with a mixed. Each round is the best of three sets with a championship tiebreak as third set.

The Masters Division1 team is captained by Shaz Morris, and the Division 2 team is captained by Mandy Davies.

The P&D League now boasts 105 teams from 15 clubs and is still growing. Fishbourne can increase its number of teams if there are more players who want to take part in this enjoyable series, either in the Masters or age-unrestricted categories.

If you would like to get into match play and be part of a continuing success story for Fishbourne Tennis Club, then talk to Luke or any of the captains. To contact any captain, you can use the ‘contact us’ page of the website and your mail will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

We are also hoping to have another series of friendly matches with our neighbours at Southsea – the matches here are always good fun, very close and following by a magnificent tea! If you would like to take part, and indeed help organise, these matches please contact Luke.