On a very wet and windy Tuesday morning in August Jo-Anne Downing (TDM) and Debbie Hale (TPC) headed down to St Austell Tennis Club to present the club with the award and pass on well deserved congratulations on behalf of Tennis Cornwall. Braving the storm and representing the club was Chris Raymond - Chairlady, Linda Hill - Secretary, Silvia Rawle – Treasurer and Eddie Wickett – Coach.
Set in the grounds of St Austell Rugby Club, the facility has 6 all weather courts 4 of which are floodlit and a clubhouse which boasts excellent viewing across the courts. Coach Eddie Wickett who has been involved in Cornish Tennis for over 40 years has developed a good junior coaching section for players of all ages but in particular has a great eye for spotting talent at a very age!
Eddie’s work with local primary schools in the area has provided a great opportunity for local children to link into the club programme which is growing in size year on year. More recently Eddie has worked closely with Competition Co-ordinator Claire Gribble to provide lots of fun competitive opportunities for the young mini tennis players at the club which are proving to be very popular.
“The Mini Red and Orange competitions run by Claire and Eddie have been very successful this summer and it’s brilliant to see so many young players enjoying local, fun events with their coach. I am extremely impressed with the way Eddie and Claire have worked together to provide these opportunities for their young players and I hope that they will continue to grow and expand the competition programme at the club “. Jo-Anne Downing TDM.
A special mention also to Chris Raymond who has worked very hard over the past year to pull together all the evidence required to meet the tennis Clubmark criteria and show that the club are meeting the quality benchmark set out by Sport England. A brilliant achievement for the club and volunteers involved congratulations on behalf of Tennis Cornwall!