From: The Racketeer 10, December 1994
Captain's Report 1994
by Geoff Firmin
PRIDE OF PLACE in last year's report went to the men. This year it goes unequivocally to the ladies. Yes, at last the Ladies' first team has broken free from the shackles of the split fourth division and achieved promotion, as champions, to the third. This places them in the upper echelons of ladies tennis in Notts, with the prospect of lots of good tennis next summer.
Congratulations to everyone who played, particularly Cynthia Lindo, a dedicated captain, for whom it has at last come good after being tantalisingly close in previous seasons. It is undoubtedly true that this year's success is largely due to the fact that four key players were able to make themselves available far all six matches: Shelagh Mitchell, Lisa Ostrowsky-Weston, Nicola Galley and Cynthia herself, with Shirley Darlaston making a welcome return to the team and playing in four matches.
Congratulations also to the Indoor team who, also under Cynthia's leadership, won the first Indoor Summer League.
Last year the Men's first team achieved a league ranking not seen since the heyday of messrs Britton and Pullman, by gaining promotion to Division 2. We always knew it was going to be tough, especially without Andrew Hursthouse and Mark Bullock to call upon. But the squad rallied magnificently under the astute captaincy of John Broomfield and the brilliance of newcomer Duncan Burd, to win three out of six matches, remaining in Division 2 on games difference. This was a highly creditable performance, achieved not only by determined effort on court, but also by some canny fixture planning by John. We call this total tennis!
All the remaining teams put in solid performances and held their places in their respective divisions. Thanks to all the players and particularly the captains, who must not only find a team, keep it together until match day, and find weather fit to play in, but also maintain their sanity in the process.
Team tennis, while important, is only one aspect, and we have always set out to cater for all standards. A major initiative this year has been the development of junior tennis. We have worked hard at this throughout the year, starting with Monday evening classes in May and going right through to the end of November with Saturday morning sessions.
We have three categories of juniors: beginners, improvers and advanced. It has been heartening to see how they have progressed under the tuition of coach, Adrian Morgan, ably assisted by Adam Richardson (now with Part 1) and Annette Kashdan. Some of the toddlers could hardly hold a racket in May, yet by the end of summer those who stuck with it were able to keep a simple rally going - no mean feat! The older children have also been given inspiration and better technique and it is noticeable that their unguided social play has more structure. We look forward to continuing junior development next season.
Club night (Wednesday) remains the core of general club play. We set out to make this a friendly social evening, often with a bar, where members are encouraged to get to know each other both on and off court. In the main this has worked well., although attendance seemed to fluctuate more this year than in previous seasons. The committee will be addressing this, but everyone, new members especially, please note that Wednesday is the night, so as soon as the evenings begin to lighten again, please come down if you can possibly make it. You'll be made very welcome.
Meanwhile don't forget that the courts are all weather and we have a comfortable new clubhouse, so you can play throughout the winter in daylight hours.
This year's Club Tournament went fairly smoothly, although inevitably some matches fell behind schedule, leaving me with the unenviable task of having to scratch people in order to keep the tournament moving. I dislike doing this so make my annual plea to competitors for next year to try to play their matches not even by the due date but just for once ahead of it. Then we could all sleep at nights!
We were lucky with the weather and saw some magnificent tennis on the day. It was good to see two new names, Cynthia Lindo and Duncan Burd, on the sing!es trophies, and cliff-hanging men's and ladies' doubles finals. All of the junior matches were intriguing with good performances in all age groups; several promising prospects making their first appearance in an MPTC final.
All of this augurs well for the future. Thanks to my colleagues on the tennis sub-committee, to Jan Hursthouse, Christine Preston and everyone who helped with match teas and junior tennis. See you next season.