Secretary
Our current Chairman tells me that a secretary’s duties are “typing and tea” and this year I have been kept busy with typing newsletters, committee minutes e-mail updates, facebook posts, website tweets etc. - things have changed considerably since I first became secretary ! (For the record, our current Chairman drinks more tea than any other Chairman !!)
Communication with club members is very important and the website helps considerably in this, whether letting members check the daily calendar, look up a team’s results or fill in their tournament entry online. Thanks to Phil Harris and Simon for all their work in administering this. However, as I have had to mention a couple of times this year, we are of course, volunteers (not a fully staffed centre like David Lloyd) and sometimes there may be time when there is a delay in updating information. Most members, of course, realise this.
Clubhouse bookings continue to bring in excellent income for the club. Thanks must go once again to Angela Bewick for managing all clubhouse hirings, a role which can be very time consuming !
Sue Lester
Membership
It has been a good year for membership at the club, maintaining a very high membership number in comparison to similar sized clubs across Leicestershire. We have lost a lot of members mainly due to injuries, retiring from tennis etc (seniors) and the usual turnover of juniors. However we have also gained 100 new members over the year, taking our total to 5 more than last year. Well done to the committee and all the members for providing a really welcoming environment for new members and helping them to settle in. Special thanks to Simon for creating a new online membership form and database and to Sue for doing a lot of the face to face welcoming and chasing up outstanding payments!
Please try and get your membership forms sorted before the end of January and take advantage of the Senior helper discount as it saves you money and really helps the club run to a high standard throughout the year.
2011
|
2012
|
2013
| |
Senior
|
114
|
119
|
117
|
Restricted
|
52
|
55
|
47
|
Student
|
9
|
9
|
N/A
|
Intermediate
|
3
|
3
|
12
|
Junior
|
47
|
64
|
69
|
Primary
|
46
|
44
|
50
|
Social
|
16
|
13
|
13
|
Parent Player
|
14
|
16
|
20
|
Coaching
|
6
|
5
|
6
|
Life
|
12
|
11
|
11
|
Total
|
319
|
340
|
345
|
Alex Brown
Tennis
Yet again the last 12 months have seen full use of the courts - with 5 social tennis sessions, fixed 4s, match practices, adult/junior coaching, 2 Ratings tournaments, 6 American Tournaments, the Opening Season Tournament, summer leagues, Annual Tournament and winter leagues. Getting the balance between social and match play is something that I hope we manage to get right at Oadby.
Team tennis dominated the summer with successes for the Mixed 1st team and the Men’s Vets 1st team winning Division One in their respective leagues. Thanks to all the captains for their time and effort in running a team.
Katie England
Grounds
During the last year there has been more replacement of court netting by Fosse, and rejuvenation of some of the court ends, which were done 'in house'. Various regular jobs have also been completed by grounds helpers.
Dave Cooper fitted a new lock to the box for courts 5&6. Hans has fitted keys to operate the floodlights on each box, much better than the old style key, as examples of improvements that benefit everyone. Dave has also spent a lot of time clearing blocked drains twice this year, many thanks to him for this unpleasant work which saved us bringing in outside contractors at considerable expense.
Also thanks again to Steph for her regular work on the courts and grass area, Paul H, Gordon, Martin, Jim, Chris and Simon L for their efforts. Sorry if I have missed anyone.
Tim Greenwood
Clubhouse
Following our major improvements over the last two year, this year it has been a question of general maintenance in the clubhouse, while future plans are considered.
Following an attempted break-in the kitchen was boarded up and then a re-glazed panel fitted. It seems our alarm system send the burglars away without theft or further damage on this occasion. Key holders do need to be vigilant with locking up, however, please.
Dave Cooper
Bar
Bar profit for 2012/13 is very similar to last year's; however, this current year we have had good takings over the league season and the September tournament. We took approx £750 over the tournament and BBQ, which is £300 more than last year. This, I think, was mainly due to the super weather enjoyed over (most of) the fortnight.
Thank you to all bar helpers for their support and to everyone who has stepped in to help with serving drinks, and collecting and washing glasses. Thanks especially to those who reply promptly to e mails as this makes sorting rotas and covering the bar much easier.
Sally Radford
Social Report
As I review the year from a social prospective it feels like ground hog day and that’s because on paper what we do each year is the same !
That said, in practice each event is very different with many factors impacting how successful or less successful an event turns out. One of the biggest factors for us is the weather and this year it was been blooming marvellous for two of our biggest highlights - The Opening Season tournament and Annual Club tournament. During both events the kitchen was in full swing. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to each and every one of the members who sign up for social duties. Both events raised healthy profits for the club which would not be possible without the continued support from the social team.
Once again we hosted two junior Ratings Tournaments where we offered full catering for all competitors and spectators during the day. Thank you to all who helped out with this - it is a good fundraiser for the club.
American tournaments have been in full swing this year and proving popular so will continue throughout the winter.
Other highlights of the year were:
A Question of Sport Night in November (over 75 people participating), Tinsel Tennis in December (where we merged some competitive tennis with a brunch in memory of Roger Braint) and Ladies’ Night in August when 22 took part and enjoyed good evening’s tennis followed by a 3 course meal. This year also saw the resurgence of Men’s Night where, on a warm August evening, 24 of our male contingent took to the courts to compete for the prizes on offer.
I look forward to another year on the committee if re-elected and welcome any ideas for social events we can all enjoy.
Louise
Coaching Report
It has been a very promising year with a large number of our juniors being retained in the
coaching programme. As detailed by George and the success of the Junior Aegon teams we
have a rich crop of orange ball players and a good number of yellow players that have made
the transition to play in senior teams this season. We have a large programme on Fridays
and a good, well established schools programme that’s helping to ensure numbers of new
red players.
I have changed the structure of coaching for better juniors by putting them in smaller squads
instead of leaving them in the larger mixed ability Friday groups. These smaller performance sessions, I believe, are the key to keeping our better players rather than them leaving for
other clubs who can offer this small squad training. We have also added Wesley Luton
to the coaching team who is a Level 2 tennis coach currently studying at De Montfort University.
On the adult front numbers in the first two groups have been rising steadily with up to 5 courts
of players some weeks. The 11 am team players session has dropped off in terms of numbers
but this is understandable due to winter league matches. The adult beginners group on Thursday afternoon has grown from 4 players to 10 most weeks. I’m pleased to report that we are developing the adult programme with ‘Cardio Tennis’ over the winter period too.
In the coming year I am looking to help reinforce this small squad coaching system for the
better players as well as continuing to develop the base of players that come on a Friday.
I am trying to do more school work especially in high school and colleges as these have
been somewhat neglected with most of our work being in primary school. I look forward
to developing and progressing the coaching programme in the next year, hopefully with
more success in terms of our junior and senior team performances and achievements.
I would like to say a special thanks to the committee, George Milne, Sue Lester, Ben Minski, Kevin Meeks and Paul Facer for their help and support.
Hassan
Juniors
This has been another good year for Junior Tennis at Oadby (Granville).
Hassan has consolidated the good work that he started last year, running a coaching programme with a clear, organised structure. He is well supported by a committed, enthusiastic, talented young coaching team of Ben Minski and Kevin Meeks, calling in other qualified coaches and junior assistants as required.
The coaching committee met regularly over the year, reviewing and planning activities. Hassan has been instrumental in our Club hosting two LTA Ratings Tournaments at Grade 4 level. Both were extremely successful and, apart from providing vital competitive tennis, also provided valuable income to the Club in the form of court hire fees and catering profits.
Hassan was able to obtain the use of indoor facilities at Parklands Leisure Centre for our Friday Mini-Red groups and Carisbrooke dome for Performance sessions during the winter months. These proved to be very popular.
We entered four teams in the AEGON County Club Leagues. These matches have provided valuable competition in terms of the development of the players and the opportunity to play competitive tennis. We now have 20 junior players and 10 mini-tennis players who have LTA membership and a Player Rating which is necessary for them to be able to compete in LTA leagues or tournaments. We entered two teams in the County Junior Winter League. We also entered the Fallows Cup (age 18 & under County knockout doubles competition) and held our own Junior Club Tournament. We have also encouraged our players to enter Ratings Tournaments around the County. Thanks go to all parents who have supported these events especially those who kindly provided transport to away matches.
As always, I am pleased to see that some of the older juniors have now become established players in the senior teams.
Thanks go to Hassan and the members of the coaching team for the work they have done in local schools which has attracted new members. Thanks also go to all the parents for encouraging their children to play tennis here at Oadby (Granville).
We do have a great group of junior members who, through their energy, enthusiasm and commitment make Junior Tennis at Oadby (Granville) such a valuable and enjoyable activity.
George Milne
