Anyone for tennis? Great opportunities in Somerton

Thursday, July 11, 2013

With annual ‘Murray Mania’ having culminated in Andy Murray’s breathtaking, historic victory over world number 1, Novak Djokovic, in the Wimbledon men’s final last Sunday afternoon, will you be searching for your racket in the cupboard or heading down to the nearest sports shop to gear up for a game during the current glorious summer weather? If you live in or near Somerton, you have a great opportunity to hire a court at Somerton Tennis Club for just £6 or to join this friendly, thriving, two court club as a club member.

The Club’s men’s team recently became the Aegon Team Tennis Somerset county champions (pictured left to right, Chris Treece, Mike Jenkins, Neil Driver, Bruce Hall, Dan Fry and Jamie Neslen) after wins against Taunton, Trull and Avenue Club, Burnham-on-Sea.

Last Sunday (14th July), they played an epic match against East Dorset Lawn Tennis Club – whose members enjoy the luxury of 19 courts in Poole in Dorset – in the South West Divisional promotion playoff semi-final on Somerton’s two courts at the Sports Ground in Gassons Lane. The match started at 1.30pm in blistering heat – 31ºC in the shade and well over 40ºC in radiant sunshine. Wimbledon ice towels for the players’ necks were the order of the day! The thrilling match concluded at gone 8.15pm in a singles and doubles tie-break shootout – tennis’ equivalent of football’s penalty shootout and cricket’s ‘bowl-out’. Somerton had two overall match points in the second singles, but East Dorset’s youngest player, 15 year old Louis Allen, saved them and his team went on to clinch victory 10-7 in the doubles decider.

Somerton team captain and veteran player, Neil Driver, said “It was a fantastic match and really exciting for the many club members who came to watch and support us. Level after the four singles. Still tied after the two doubles, AND after the two singles tie-break shootouts. I felt we all held our nerve well given how close the match was and how fierce the weather conditions were. But well done to East Dorset for managing to edge us out. Our team, hopefully with some new recruits, will look forward to playing again next year in the Aegon county group.”

Somerton Tennis Club is in the process of being re-awarded the LTA’s upgraded Clubmark status, which is the tennis governing body’s seal of approval for clubs across the country. The Club has an extensive junior coaching programme run by the club coach, Bruce Hall, which provides children of all ages, whether they are junior club members or not, with the opportunity to learn the game and to develop their standard of play. Younger members of the Club’s committee, led by local Somerton residents Catherine Hodsman, Chris Treece and Mark Williamson, organise and run regular junior competitions in conjunction with the South Somerset Tennis Development Group (SSTDG), which is doing important work to grow participation in competitive and social tennis throughout Somerset.

The Club runs six teams in the Yeovil and District Summer Leagues – two men’s teams, two women’s and two mixed – and three mixed teams in the Y & D Winter Leagues, which offers club members of a wide variety of standard competitive tennis all year round. The Club also offers group and individual coaching opportunities for its adult members, including, perhaps uniquely, Tennis Psychology sessions, with some of the group coaching courses being open to members of the general public through the Adult Learn to Play sessions supported by the SSTDG.

We were interested to hear that Somerton Tennis Club has recently applied for planning permission to build a third floodlit court at the Sports Ground, which, if granted, will enable the Club to offer improved facilities for both club members and for members of the general public - of all ages - who might feel inspired to get out their racket and take to the courts after Andy Murray’s landmark success.

If Dunblane in Scotland can lay claim to the first British Wimbledon men’s champion for 77 years, then maybe Somerton, or another Somerset club, might just launch the career of the next British winner at Wimbledon!

 
 

SOMERSET | TENNIS

Somerset Lawn Tennis Association
c/o The West Hants Club
Roslin Road South
Bournemouth BH3 7EF
01202 519694
info@somersetlta.co.uk