It was a great night for Sheffield venues at the Yorkshire awards evening as Hallamshire LTC picked up the Club of the Year and Hillsborough Park won the new Community Venue of the Year award.
It was the second year running that Hallamshire have picked up the prestigious COTY award at the presentation evening that was held in Leeds on 14th December. Club assistant manager Jayne Bonner was there to pick up the trophy , along with Dave Marray and Jason Torpey, Tennis Directors for the Academy who deliver the tennis programme at the club.
The presentation of consecutive club awards is testament to the progress that has been made at the club over the last 5 years. During this period the club has gone from strength to strength, from the professionalism in which it is run behind the scenes, to the improvement of the facilities and increase in membership. The club works in partnership with The Academy, and is a great example of how clubs and professional coaching services can work together to achieve a vibrant, balanced and inclusive club culture to its members and the wider community.
The Academy Tennis Director Jason Torpey added “our role is to provide the club with a quality tennis programme for its members. This doesn’t just include coaching but also social events and competition as well as reaching out to the wider community with our schools and disability programme. The management structure has allowed us to grow just as we have helped the club retain and grow its membership through the services we provide. The YLTA club of the year award is recognition of this dedication and everyone form the board of directors, tennis committee, management and staff deserve credit.”
There was also recognition for Hillsborough Park in Sheffield as the site picked up the inaugural Community Venue of the Year award. Hillsborough was a leading site in the ground breaking Sheffield parks programme during the summer and has made huge steps forward during the last year.
The parks programme was delivered by Premier Tennis, in partnership with Sheffield City Council, the LTA and Places for People. The courts at Hillsborough Park were deep cleaned and re-painted in May 2015, before the new parks programme was launched at the venue in June when LTA Chief Executive Michael Downey visited Sheffield. There were nearly 3,000 court bookings at Hillsborough as part of the new online booking system, and the new coaching programme at the park was very well attended.
There are also some great partnerships in place at Hillsborough Park to support delivery including the Sheffield Wednesday FC Owls in the Community programme and Sheffield College.
Alison Steel, the Sheffield Parks Programme co-ordinator was there on the evening to pick up the award on behalf of everyone involved in the partnership.
Both venues will now go forward to the Aegon sponsored North of England regional awards in early 2016. The regional winners will represent the North of England at the national awards in June in London.