Despite the rather chilly weather last Sunday, there was good turnout for President’s Day – the annual Senior/Junior Doubles tournament. Playing a Champions tie-break the first section played as r/robins decided the places in the knockout draw. Group A winners were Neri Gricevius/Sophie Christian and r/up Ray Roberts/Hannah Soliven; group B winners Aalish Kelly/Noah Chambers and r/up Jayden Go/Gabriel Murphy; group C Jan Gaskill/Orry Farnworth and r/up Charlotte Clarke/Henry Leigh. The knockout stage provided a lot of close matches, with four going to 10/9 and three were 10/8. Unfortunately in the semi-final Jan was injured – it was agreed that as this wasn’t a LTA sanctioned event we could use a super-sub. So, in the sei-finals Simon Austerberry/Orry Farnworth bt Jayden Go/Gabriel Murphy 10/9 and Jack Christian/Hadassah Smith bt Ray Roberts/Hannah Soliven 10/8. Simon and Orry won the final 10/5. The Sharp Trophy and prizes were presented by the referee and club President Bryan Sharp. Thank you to the Seniors who supported their young partners on court and the young players who played well against the adults.
Dates for your diary: the Equiom Junior Open tournament starts this Friday 12th Oct–14th Oct. The forecast isn’t too cheerful and we may have to use the indoor court, in which case the Mini Tennis coaching will be cancelled for just this week. The 12, 14 and 18 events will be played this weekend and thr 8, 9 and 10 events plus Finals played on Saturday 20th October with the prize presentation at approximately 4:30pm. All players will be informed of their first match times by e-mail from referee Ian Watson.
I am repeating myself but the following events are important to the future running of the Club. The club’s Annual General Meeting will be held in the club lounge on Wednesday 28th November starting at 6:30pm. We would like to see more members attend, especially the parents of our Juniors. We have ideas for the future but your input is important.
The AGM for the Isle of Man LTA will be held at Douglas TC on Monday 29th October at 6pm. All club members are entitled to attend. The IOMLTA Dinner & Presentation Evening will be at Douglas Golf Club on Friday 16th November starting at 7:30pm. The two-course meal (£18) can be ordered through our club captain by e-mail: captain@albanyltc.co.uk. There will be a raffle to raise funds for our Island Games tennis team playing in Gibraltar next July.
The annual LTA Club Forum will be held on Wednesday 14th November. Venue and more details next week. On 25th January 2019 we will be holding our annual Race Night more info later but please start thinking about possible Race sponsors and we need members to take race sheets and find sponsors for owners, trainers and jockeys. These sheets will be available before Christmas - contact me if you want one.
Most importantly Friday 26th October will be Wear Pink Day for the Friday Morning Ladies group in aid of Breast Cancer Care. Please feel free to call in and make a donation.