Monday, 19 February 2024
President’s Report
Williamstown Tennis Club Inc
Annual General Meeting
Welcome everyone to the WTC AGM for 2024. The past 12 months has witnessed a period of change and disruption at the club that I would like to thank the entire committee for, especially in terms of their unwavering support for the decisions made and transitions performed.
In 2023 Club Coach Vanessa Saragozza sold her coaching business to Hot Shots Tennis Academy spearheaded by Gim and Elma Kurti. The club entered into a new coaching agreement with Hot Shots Tennis Academy and I thank Gim and Elma for how well they have navigated the handover, particularly enduring the disruption caused by the club closure during Dec and January.
Collectively we thank Vanessa for her years of service in building the coaching service at WTC, Vanessa’s work was tireless and went over and above what was expected of her. We are pleased Vanessa remains a member and her family is associated with the club through competition and coaching.
The club continues to have a strong representation of teams across all competitions and associations and from all reports registrations and enquiries remain buoyant for competition and club membership. Thank you to all team captains and Gim our club coach for the work in liaising with all associations and captains to ensure senior and junior teams are able to seamlessly enjoy their tennis.
Not everything has been seamless, most notably the court lighting project which saw facility and court closure for two months. It was a long road to achieving the lighting upgrade which required a lot of patience and collaboration with council. The end result is fantastic and on behalf of the Williamstown Tennis Club we give thanks to the HBCC for their investment in our club and facility. We now boast state of the art LED lighting which is a huge achievement. This process also allowed me to build strong relationships with the capital works team at council and we are confident that we will make progress on clubhouse works and restoration sooner rather than later. This will be a renewed focus for me as President throughout 2024 and 2025.
The club’s financial position and memberships remain stable and healthy. A special thank you to my fellow committee members and club members who have assisted me and the club over the past year. Thank you to our Treasurer Melissa for your tireless and consistent efforts, Melissa is incredibly reliable and always the voice of reason, to Annabelle our secretary who always keeps us on track and organised, you have been terrific. Thank you to Sally and Wayne for your contributions – and lastly we are sad to have four committee members resign tonight and thank Peter Tantau, Kylie Skinner, Andrew Chang and Vanessa Saragozza for their huge contributions over the years, you will all be greatly missed.
As a volunteer committee we always feel like we never get through the never ending to do list so please if you know someone who is passionate about our lovely club and willing to support the committee we encourage you to connect with one of the committee members or take the opportunity tonight to get involved.
We are seeking nomination for a number of roles and ideally I am looking to step down from President at some stage in the near future, but for now as the current President and on behalf of the entire committee we welcome any committee nominations or support you can offer in the year ahead and into the future. There is so much opportunity for us to capitalise on now that we have stability with facility lighting, coaches and systems in place, but there is always more working to be done. We would love you to be a part of this.
Thank you once again.
Creina Lister, Club President.