LTA Volunteer of the Year – South East - Helen Clague, Kenton Tennis Club (45 y/o)
Helen is responsible for the junior teams, competitions and social evenings at Kenton Tennis Club which are popular and successful. Not only is Helen’s enthusiasm and generosity noted in her nomination but also her success in encouraging parents to start playing tennis and her welcoming nature for new members.
Volunteer of the Year – East - Gareth Cox, Dallington LTC, Northants. (40 y/o)
Gareth is chairman of Dallington LTC and has been for the last year. Previous to this, Gareth held the membership secretary position for 4 years. In his time at Dallington, Gareth has been inspiring and innovative in helping the club progress. Gareth’s nomination cites his extraordinary skills, drive and creativity that has helped drive the club forwards with a welcoming and positive atmosphere.
Volunteer of the Year – South West - Gary Tovey, Ilfracombe Tennis Club, Devon. (46 y/o)
Gary has been described as a true “pied piper” of tennis, encouraging clubs in the local area to pull together and creating opportunities for everyone to play. In his nominations we are told about Gary’s selfless commitment and constant enthusiasm for his role and Georgina Loosemore, Tennis Development Manager for Devon and Cornwall, noted that thanks to Gary players have a real sense of belonging and have gained a true love for the game.
Volunteer of the Year – Midlands - Marcus Sinclair-Watkins, Coventry & North Warwickshire Tennis Club, Coventry (63 y/o)
Marcus was nominated for his enthusiasm and creativity to help develop his club and secure funding from Sport England. Marcus’ skills around working with his committee, liaising with members and driving the club forward both on and off the court have been mentioned in his nomination, all contributing to him being a valued member and chair of his club and a worthy winner of this award.
Volunteer of the Year – North - Julie Whalley, Norbreck Bowling and Tennis Club, Lancashire (59 y/o)
Julie has been volunteering at Norbreck Bowling and Tennis club for the past 12 years. She has been running junior teams, administering the coaching programme, transporting players and general DIY and maintenance around the club. Julie’s nomination mentions her enthusiastic nature, willingness to volunteer and all round dedicated attitude that has without doubt contributed to the success of the club.
Volunteer of the Year – Scotland - Carol Jones, Kelingrove Park, Glasgow. (51 y/o)
Carol has been nominated for her tireless work to obtain funding to improve social tennis in Glasgow. She has secured funding to provide tennis coaching for people with mental health problems and has increased the accessibility of tennis in the local area. Carol has also organised coaching, social tennis, tournaments and nights out to really help a lot of people’s well-being. Thank you Carol!
Volunteer of the Year – Wales – PM - Simon Elias, Penarth LTC, South Glamorgan (55 y/o)
Simon has been commended in his nomination for his dedication to the club in turning it from a 3 court club to a 6 court venue with soaring membership numbers, full time coaches and profits each year. Simon does all of this for the club on a voluntary basis! Congratulations Simon!
Lifetime of Service Award – PB - Caroline Ratcliffe, Shooters Hill LTC, Kent (57 y/o)
Caroline has held a number of roles at the club, including team captain, Board Director, Club Secretary and club captain, all on a voluntary basis. While Secretary of the club, membership has now risen to an all-time high and this increase in number and revenue has meant the facilities can be improved.
Caroline works closely with the local community, has been instrumental in the club achieving Clubmark and becoming a limited company. Her dedication and innovative way of working makes Caroline a worthy winner of the Lifetime of Service award, congratulations Caroline.
AASE Apprentice of the Year – PB - Jack Findel-Hawkins (19 y/o)
Jack has won this award for his achievements during his time on the AASE programme; particularly his strong commitment to ITF tournaments and futures events, which has seen him gain his first ATP ranking points in recent months and an NCAA Division 1 US College Scholarship. Jack is currently in America on his scholarship so is unable to be with us today, but his parents are here to collect the award of Jack’s behalf.
Seniors Player of the Year – PB - Frances Maclennan (69 y/o)
Frances has won senior player for the year for leading her team to a gold medal at the ITF World Team Championships in Austria, followed by winning gold in the Women’s 70 world doubles. This is in addition to taking singles titles at the indoor and clay court championships this year. Congratulations Frances!
Disability Player of the Year – PB - Fabrice Higgins (18 y/o)
Fabrice is this year’s Disability Player of the Year because of his numerous outstanding achievements over the last 12 months. These successes include being triple world champion after winning gold in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and the Team event at the INAS World Tennis Championships. Prior to this Fabrice was also involved in the Tennis Foundation’s Disability Tennis Festival at the National Tennis Centre to inspire others to take part in disability tennis. Fabrice is a true role model for other young people with learning difficulties and is a worthy winner of this award.
Disability Network of the Year – PM - Halton Inclusive Tennis
In the Buckinghamshire Network, weekly participation has increased from 47 to 188 people, which is an increase of 300% since January 2013, thanks to the hard work of the team at Halton Inclusive Tennis. To encourage players to join and continue, the membership for players with a disability is subsidised by the club and players with disabilities are welcomed into regular club sessions. The coaching team are also extending their tennis programmes into the wider community to get as many people as possible enjoying tennis and ensuring it is accessible to all.
Education Award - Peter Symonds College, Hampshire
Over the past year Peter Symonds College have expanded their tennis provision to enable even more students to pick up a racket and play. College staff and College Sport Maker, Kitty Yarwood, have worked with Hampshire LTA to develop a link with Winchester Racquets and Fitness, boosting in the number of recreational players aged 16-19 years. Tennis has become a popular activity on the college enrichment programme with ‘Back To Tennis’ courses and Short Tennis sessions resulting in many more students playing regularly.
Competition Organiser of the Year - Chris Holt, Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament (66 y/o)
Chris has organised the Hunstanton tennis tournament for over 25 years and the fun, friendly atmosphere at this highly competitive tournament is recognised across the country. Chris’ tireless hard work and dedication ensures the smooth running of a 38 court grass court event which makes it bigger and better every year.
Place to Play of the Year - Langley Tennis Club
Langley Tennis Club received numerous nominations for this award and the overriding theme was the friendly and sociable atmosphere that has been created at the club by Director of Tennis, Tim Walter. Whether it is through encouraging teenagers to stay in the game or a social BBQ to bring members together, Langley have worked to increase and retain membership and create a positive and encouraging atmosphere.
Official of the Year - Lesley Whitehead (53 y/o)
Lesley was the Tennis Competition Manager for the Special Olympics National Games held in Bath in August 2013, providing expert advice on organisation and classification as well as acting as the Referee. Lesley has been involved on a voluntary basis with Special Olympics GB since 2007 as head coach for the GB tennis squads at several European and World events and has recently been appointed as Head Coach for the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles in 2015. Lesley was most recently the Tournament Referee at the Annual Learning Disability National Event in Nottingham, which attracted record numbers of entrants.
Highland Spring Hot Shot Award - Jacob Fearnley (12 y/o)
Jacob has worked exceptionally hard within his programme to develop many aspects of his game, resulting in some great performances both at National and International level this year such as winning the 12U Winter European Team Championships and the Aegon National Championships in Bournemouth. Both in training and competition Jacob consistently demonstrates great attitude, professionalism, the spirit of fair play and is a great role model to other young tennis players.
Aegon Coach of the Year - Stuart Maidment (29 y/o)
Stuart has had a hugely successful 2013, attracting 70 new players on to his Tennis Xpress course by using Amazon Local for bookings. Stuart also runs an outreach programme for Edgbaston Priory giving people the opportunity to try tennis that otherwise would not be able to. Stuart was also one of the coaches who ran the hugely successful School Zone at the Aegon Classic in the summer, giving hundreds of school children the opportunity to play tennis. And finally, Stuart successfully completed his Master Club Coach qualification within the last 12 months which is the highest level of LTA qualification.
Aegon Junior Player of the Year - Alfie Hewett (15 y/o)
Alfie has been junior world no. 1 all year and has climbed to 24 in the world senior rankings for singles, and 23 for doubles. All this at just 15 years of age. Aflie won the Junior Masters singles and doubles to become world champion, alongside being part of the GB junior team that won the World Team Cup. Not only this, Alfie has won 2 doubles titles at ITF 2 level and 4 singles and 3 singles titles at ITF 3 level. What a year… congratulations Alfie!
Aegon Player of the Year - Andy Murray
Andy’s outstanding year makes him a clear winner for Aegon Player of the Year for the 3rd year in a row. This year, Andy ended Britain’s 77 year wait for a male singles Wimbledon winner with a fantastic Wimbledon fortnight culminating in claiming the title over Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
2013 also saw Andy reach the final of the Australian open, win the Miami Masters and reach number 2 in the world. He also played a crucial role in the September Davis Cup tie in Umag seeing Great Britain promoted to the World Group with a convincing 4-1 win over Croatia.
Andy is currently recovering from back surgery so isn’t playing at the World Tour Finals this year but we wish him all the best for a speedy recovery and an equally successful 2014. Congratulations Andy!
University Tennis Award - Leeds Metropolitan University
Schools Tennis Award - Danum Academy, Yorkshire
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