People and personalities from Dorset Tennis gathered for the most celebrated night on the county’s calendar as the winners of the annual awards at the Darren Toop Memorial DSinner were announced.
The event, which took place at the Cumberland Hotel on East Overcliff Drive, Bournemouth, allows the county to give deserved recognition to the outstanding contributors to Dorset tennis over the past 12 months.
Whilst the award generally focus on five set categories; Club of the year, Coach of the year, Player of the year, Volunteer of the year and School of the year, there was also a special mention and award for the Dorset under 10s Boys team who recently became national champions in the Aegon National County Cup. The team, made up of: Toby Samuel, Luca McManus, Alex Knox-Jones and Harrison Mcdonald-Taylor, were captained by Shane Deacon and all received a special congratulations.
The Club of the year award went to Southbourne Tennis Club after an impressive year both on and off the courts. A hugely successful cardio tennis charity event in June helped raise £1773.50, with help from Barclays Bank, which has been split between helping the club develop and to the Chernobyl Children’s Charity. The club’s Aegon Team Tennis teams have both secured promotions with the first team moving up to the National League and the second team going up to Division 1 of the county stage. Southbourne also hosted the county’s first Learning Disability tennis tournament in June, which proved to be a great success. Other nominees for the award were: Bournemouth Gardens, Ferndown, West Hants and Christchurch.
Adam Glynn was named as Player of the year after enjoying a hugely successful past 12 months which has seen him become one of the best upcoming young players in British tennis. Since winning both the 16&under and 18&under singles titles at the 2012 921st Bournemouth Open, Glynn has won three regional tournaments at 18&under, a title on the Winter National Tour at 16&under as well as a runners-up and a semi-final finish on the Winter National Tour at 18&under. There was stiff competition for the award as fellow nominees; Jodie Burrage, Alex Knox-Jones and Eliz Maloney have also been in top form this season.
With a large number of nominees for the Coach of the year award, the winner, Shane Deacon, will no doubt be full of pride. The West Hants coach captains the Dorset under 10s boys team who became recently national champions, he said: “This is my fourth year captaining the team and preparations for this event started last year with both Toby and Alex playing here last year. Luca came into the team and brought a great deal of positivity and big tennis. Harrison sums up what our team is all about, teamwork.”
Southbourne Tennis Club had another award winner as club chairman Keith Mitchell was named Volunteer of the year. His work alongside the club over the past year has led towards some outstanding achievements which include: The record-breaking cardio tennis charity event, the county’s first Learning Disability tournament and the introduction of wheelchair tennis at the club. There were two other nominees from Southbourne; Jenny Hawkes and Brenda Woodham, and other nominees were; Bradley Webb (Weymouth), Comfort Ingram (Shaftesbury) and Andrew and Judith Sanger who organise the Dorset LTA competitions.
The School of the year award was between; Talbot Heath, Heatherlands, Yarrells and Bournemouth Collegiate. After successful runs for their year 8 and year 10 teams in the Aegon Schools Team Tennis among other achievements, Bournemouth Collegiate School took home the award. Star player-pupil Harry Butler has been one of the players to watch over the past 12 months and his achievements as part of the Great Britain 12&under team and on the European Junior Tour.
Darren Toop was the youngest coach to successfully complete the LTA Performance Coaches award. He died in a tragic accident in 1996 aged 22.
By Harry Lund
