Spring newsletter

/ March 6, 2017

Dear Fishbourne Tennis Club member,

Welcome to the latest regular email update of the exciting things happening at your tennis club.

Dates for your diary 

  • 9 March Thursday, 6pm, Havant: Portsmouth & District LTA Fixtures meeting and AGM  for team captains
  • 12 March Sunday, 10am: friendly match against Southsea at home
  • 15 March Wednesday, 7pm: next FTC committee meeting, Fishbourne Centre, observers welcome
  • 19 March, Sunday, 9.30am: American Tournament (fully booked)
  • 1 April: Latest for members to renew FTC subscription for 2017/18
  • 26 April Wednesday, 7.30pm, Fishbourne Centre: FTC AGM and Wimbledon ticket ballot
  • 29 April Saturday 9-12, YONEX club session with all the latest racquets to try

Planning permission for more floodlights – granted! 

Stage one of FTC’s bid to illuminate two more courts has been approved by Chichester District Council. There were no objections. This opens the way to get courts 1 and 4 floodlit by the end of the year – given that we can raise the money. Chairman David Lord is leading FTC’s efforts with Sport England, the LTA, district and parish councils and others to contribute. Plus we can report we now have £560 in the club’s Floodlight Fighting Fund. Ideas for fundraising initiatives welcome!

Club close to TennisMark accreditation

FTC is well on its way to being a TennisMark accredited club, which means a better service for members, more opportunities for juniors and an improved resource for the local community, along with, most importantly, help with funding applications. One of the things the club has to do for TennisMark is put in place a welfare officer. The committee is pleased to report this position has been filled by Kate Gurl.

Five FTC teams in LTA summer leagues   

With the winter league season drawing to a close, after some notable successes by Fishbourne – most recently our ladies having a resounding win against Chichester –  the summer leagues are shaping up to be Fishbourne’s best season yet. Five teams have been entered for the Portsmouth & District series and if you are interesting in playing for one of them do not hesitate to contact the relevant captain (to email them, just click on their names).

Weekend only games, no age restrictions:

Weekday games, +50 men, +45 women:

Men’s singles ladder back for 2017 

With more men in the club who want to play singles, it is good to report the men’s singles ladder is back this year, kicking off on 4 March. With the likes of James Willson, Howard Roeber, Chris Gosden and Harry Dry the standard will be high but this is not just for younger members – all men any age can take part. The matches are best of three sets with a third-set tiebreak. It is free to enter, and all match-arranging is done online at our own section of the Global Tennis Network website; once you have registered it is easy to navigate. Just click here and all will be revealed. At the end of the season there will be both winner and wooden spoon prizes. Already the sledging has begun!

Club session times for 2017

Club session times for 2017 are as follows, with Monday and Thursday evening sessions kicking off at 5pm for those able to start early. If you are able to start at 5pm please do so because then more games can get played in the light. Remember only courts 2 and 3 are currently floodlit. This is also something that all members should bear in mind when booking their own courts online for evening play. The online system doesn’t prevent you booking courts 1 and 4 in the evenings – just remember tennis isn’t much fun in the dark…

Club sessions:

  • Monday evening 5.00pm – 9.00pm
  • Wednesday afternoon 2.00pm – 5.00pm
  • Thursday evening 5.00pm – 9.00pm
  • Saturday morning 9.00am – 1.00pm
  • Sunday afternoon 2.00pm – 5.00pm

 

Eliot is Fishbourne’s new junior champion 

Eliot Milman beat Ollie Hawkins 6-2, 6-4 in a nail-biting exchange to take the honours in Fishbourne Tennnis Club’s 2016/17 Junior Championship Final. Both boys are coached by Generation Tennis’s Alex Bone. The trophy was awarded by club chairman David Lord. The club’s junior championship in 2017 is going to be sponsored by YONEX and promises to be a bumper occasion. Meanwhile the club is working towards establishing the FTC/Generation Tennis YONEX Junior Tennis Academy at Fishbourne. More on this soon.

Generation Tennis coaching schedule for summer 2017 

Tuesdays

  • 4.45pm – 5.45pm, Mini Tennis ‘Pay and Play’, ages 4-10 years old.
  • 6pm – 7pm, Adult Beginners/Improvers, £5 per session.
  • 7pm – 8pm, Adult Intermediates, £5 per session.

Wednesdays

  • 4pm – 5pm, Mini Red/Orange, pay termly. (Fully Booked)
  • 5pm – 6.30pm, Junior Boys Performance, pay termly.
  • 6pm – 7pm, Adult Cardio Tennis, £6 per session.
  • 7pm – 8.30pm, Men’s Intermediate/Advanced Coaching , £6.50 per session.

Fridays

9am – 10.30am, Ladies Improvers/Intermediate Coaching, £6.50 per session.   

Saturdays

2pm – 3pm, Mini Red/Orange, pay termly.

3pm – 4pm, Mini Green, pay termly.  

For further information or to book, contact Alex Bone or see the website.

Could you play for Sussex?

The County Ladies over 60 and 65  teams are on the look-out for fresh talent and have naturally come straight to Fishbourne. They are holding a selection/practice session at Pavilion and Avenue Tennis Club on Monday 20 March  between 1-2pm. Anyone from Fishbourne interested (and we can think of several who should be!) the person to contact is Janet Crome or Rebe Cleveland.

What’s Norwegian for condom? 

That was just one of the questions members of the club got wrong in Gavin Argent’s brilliant quiz on 27 January. There were lots of other questions that we were able to answer – none more so than Ivor, Lynne, Ray and Anni (the Four Players) who came top. They won day passes to the Goodwood Health Club and four bottles of wine. More than 60 people squeezed into the Blue Room for what was a fantastic fun evening with superb curry at half time. Plus the evening raised £156 for the Floodlight Fighting Fund! You can see all the quiz results on the website here.

 

Spring is on its way…get out on the courts and play tennis!

FTC Committee

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