March Newsletter
Is it me, or can we feel the buzz of anticipation in the air around our tennis club? Whisper it softly, but as we move into Spring we can look forward to shedding the winter sports gear and playing a few sets of tennis with the sun on our backs!
There’s also a buzz about the club as we’ve just reached a milestone of 250 members–something we agreed to aim for with our coach, Kevin Durney when he joined us a couple of years ago. Kevin was recently voted LTA Somerset Coach of the Year and has helped us to gain the LTA’s TennisMark+ accreditation–a best practice standard showing our club is ‘safe to practice with an all-encompassing programme’, achievements he and the club can be proud of.
At our recent AGM, our committee reported that the club is in good financial shape, and that we continue to invest in the facilities, having completed pressure washing of all courts, provided new nets and we’ve also placed an order for all new floodlights that should be installed before the summer leagues begin. I would like to thank our committee and other members who all contribute to take the club from strength to strength.
Speaking of league tennis, our teams are looking forward to the new season with two new captains (Dave Mills and Julia Nest), a strong batch of players to pick from and an extra ladies team this year. The men’s team should be strengthened by the return of John Cooksley – hopefully in a playing and coaching capacity. No pressure guys, but John helped Wells A Team win the league a couple of years back! Good luck to all teams as the season gets underway.
So whether you’re a new member enjoying some coaching or social tennis, a junior wanting to see how good you can get, or a fiercely competitive old timer seeking to blast your way to glory, enjoy the buzz. See you on court (hopefully in the sunshine)!
Dan Cooke
Chairman, Wells TC
March 2017
Captains and competitions
Dave Mills has been a regular on court at Wells since 2009 and is looking forward to getting the A team upwards in division two and supporting the B team in their new promotion to division four. The mens C and D teams will be facing each other for an inter – club show – down in division six.Coaching update
This year we’re taking part in the LTA’s Tennis for Kids campaign. The initiative is aimed to inspire children aged from five to eight to pick up a racquet for the first time. I’ll be leading a six – week course that comes with a free racquet for all participants. As part of the briefing for the campaign I had the opportunity to meet both Dan Bloxham (Head Coach of the All England Club) and Leon Smith (Captain of Team GB). More to follow when I’ve arranged dates.
