Tom Rushby and Gemma Praditngam walked away with the top prizes at the Third Annual Derbyshire Tennis Awards Evening. The event took place at Pride Park Stadium in Derby on Friday 24th February and was enjoyed by in excess of 300 tennis enthusiasts from around the county.
Rushby crowned what was been a great year for him after he picked up a title treble of the singles, mens doubles and mixed doubles at Derbyshire County Closed last August. Tom was also a key member of the Derbyshire mens team that retained their position in group one of county week.
Tom who is a coach at the MyTennis International High Performance Centre at Loughborough University commented "It's nice to win this award, particularly as it was the 10th year I've represented the county.
"I enjoyed playing at the Derbyshire County Closed and, when I was playing professionally, I always tried to make the effort to come back and play for the county. And I like working with the Derbyshire youngsters at Loughborough."
Tom’s mother Jane made it a successful evening for the Rushby family when she picked up the Veteran Player of the Year in recognition of her performances for Great Britain.
The awards celebrate the many successes of Derbyshire Tennis and there were a number of notable achievements that were recognised this year. The Boys Player of the Year was jointly awarded to Sam Ferguson and Jay Clarke. The two juniors have recently been members of the Great Britain 14&U team that was triumphant in the Tennis Europe Winter Cup in Italy. Ciere Mullins picked up the Girls Player of the Year trophy.
One of the most popular winners on the evening was 73 year old Tony Buck who was presented with the Volunteer of the Year. Tony is the secretary of Stanton Tennis Club and has kept the club going over recent years. The club have recently secured a grant of £63,000 from the Lawn Tennis Association to renovate the courts at Rutland Sports Park in Ilkeston which will become the new home of the club. Another popular winner was Jonny Brooke of Chesterfield LTC who won the Club Player of the Year.
The prestigious Club of the Year trophy was shared between David Lloyd Derby and Ashbourne. David Lloyd Derby have been at the top of the LTA Clubmark league table for the last year and also introduced a very successful grade 3 tournament in February half term. Ashbourne continue to do an outstanding job serving young and old in a rural community.
One of the most hotly contested awards of the evening is the Coach of the Year, and this year Simon Thornewill of Duffield and Loughborough IHPC picked up the top honour, with Matt Lowe of David Lloyd Derby being highly commended.
The Derek Wardle Award was presented this year to Callum Edworthy in recognition of his development and results during the last year.
The awards evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all the guests, which included Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett. The evening kicked off with an introduction from County President John Last and a warm up quiz from event organiser Rob Salmon. The awards began with the presentation by Rachel Keal to the winning teams from the Derby Area and Chesterfield Leagues. Following the meal and individual awards, the revellers danced the night away at the disco.
The full list of winners is:
Mens Player of the Year – Tom Rushby (Church Broughton).
Womens Player of the Year – Gemma Praditngam (Ashby Castle). Highly commended Ena Ankutse (David Lloyd Derby)
Boys Player of the Year – Sam Ferguson (David Lloyd Derby) and Jay Clarke (David Lloyd Derby)
Girls Player of the Year – Ciere Mullins (Derbyshire Tennis Centre). Highly commended Olivia Nelms (Chesterfield)
Coach of the Year – Simon Thornewill (Duffield). Highly commended Matt Lowe (David Lloyd Derby)
Club of the Year – David Lloyd Derby and Ashbourne
Volunteer of the Year – Tony Buck (Stanton).
Veterans Player of the Year - Jane Rushby (Church Broughton). Highly commended - Ashley Broomhead (Duffield).
Club Player of the Year – Jonny Brooke (Chesterfield). Highly commended – Nick Wharam (Duffield).
Derek Wardle Award – Callum Edworthy