The month started with Ron Grew bowing out gracefully, after 15 years of dedication to improving Junior Tennis within the Chew Valley. The final hurrah saw Ron retire at Finals Day on the 8th September on what must be said was a fantastic day seeing some brilliant tennis being played by some of our young up and coming juniors, combined with many stalwarts. The highlight of the day was the men’s final between Mike Stephenson and 5 time reigning champion Duncan ‘I haven’t lost a set for 5 years’ Grew. Mike upset the form book and beat Duncan 6-2 7-6. It was an unbelievable final and the quality of tennis was breath taking at times.
After recent communication from our treasurer mentioning that membership was down over the last 3 years it was time to turn the tide….why was membership down you may ask? Well it’s simple people, we have had a new club house built. For some time we were surrounded by mud and gunk and a portable building set up in the mini courts, we had major issues with the relay of courts 1 and 2, then we dug up courts 3, 5 and the mini area….So basically not a lot of playability and not an attractive proposition if you wanted to introduce new members to the club. However it’s done, we have a swanky new club house, courts 1,2,3 and 5, the mini courts have all been resurfaced and now play beautifully. We have had issues with the flood lights, the bulbs have now been replaced and if anybody has played recently you will agree this is now very different playing under floodlight. We are by far the cheapest club in the area and now with £250k worth of investment we can certainly boast the best facilities!
The testament to this was on the 14th September we had our first open day for a good few years and wow, ’what a day!’. We had a local Radio DJ, providing music, a bouncy castle for the kids, food and drink was kindly supplied by Reuben from the Mezze at the Warwick Arms, Clutton. Also we had free kids coaching and speed gun for your serve. New members came to have a look at the club and 15 memberships later you can firmly say the day was a success!! However, one of the most important things to come from the day was the unveiling of our new Tennis Manager. After months of searching and the numerous interviews, we finally agreed on appointing Mr Mike Kopaki. Mike is from Coombe Dingle and is a performance level III coach. He has coached juniors up to national standard and has worked underneath some of the top coaches. We firmly believe he is going to be a massive asset to the tennis club. If you have met him you will see the guy has an infectious personality and has really big aspirations for the club. In order to join us at the club, Mike is leaving behind a big gap, he is moving house and slowly relinquishing coaching duties at Coombe Dingle, so please be patient over the next few weeks, but rest assured he is working to our common goal and we are very excited about his appointment as he builds a new tennis programme and a new regime of tennis at BSTC.
This week sees the launch of the tennis club’s new website. The new site will be more of a place where news will be posted regularly: the committee recognises that there has not been much communication to members and we are going to be more focused on this via the website, emails to members and notices at the clubhouse.
We have also launched our twitter and Facebook pages. Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/BishopSuttonTC and like us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BishopSuttonTennis
I hope you all agree that the tennis club has never ever been in such a strong position and we as the committee are really excited about the coming year.
www.bishopsuttontennis.org.uk