Sunday - 6 December
Christmas BBQ and Neil Hendy Cup Final
The Club has reached the final stages of its Neil Hendy Cup for doubles and singles. The Cup, which we initiated this year, pays tribute to our life member, Neil Hendy, who has been actively contributing to the club for many, many years. Flyers with celebration timetables have been emailed to members and will be hung at the clubhouse.
The open doubles final, with Felix and Emily playing Mark and Susan, will commence at 8am to be followed by the marquee event - the open singles final between Hugh and Ben (not before 10:30am) - after which Neil will present the trophies. Then we will unveil the Clubhouse Refurbishment Story Board and move onto playing tennis and celebrating the end of a very unique year.
Members should bring their shoes and rackets to join in some very social doubles tennis or to try out the Open Court tennis being overseen by our club coach, Myles. The latter involves low pressure balls, smaller and lightweight rackets and low nets to give beginners the chance to get a feel for tennis.
The Club will provide a BBQ with soft drinks. Members wanting alcoholic beverages are asked to look after their own needs in moderation.
We will be joined by about 20 members from Braddon Tennis Club who are also coached by Myles. This presents a great opportunity to discuss the relative merits of synthetic grass v Melbourne clay.
In This Newsletter:
Fees and Membership for 2021
Fees to Increase
The Club’s Committee has decided to raise fees for 2021 to start the process of building up a substantial sinking fund to cover a number of infrastructure works already needed or that soon will be. These include replacing the synthetic grass on court 3, replacing the existing lights on courts 2 & 3 with LED lighting and building a hitting wall. The fees will raise on 1 Jan 2021 by $15 for juniors, $30 for all other singles and $60 for families.
Active Member Rebates
Members who have been active over the previous 12 months will, from now on, be eligible to apply for and receive an active member rebate equivalent to the impending fee rises. We are unable to set up rebates in the fee payment system, so members will need to complete and submit the application form which will shortly be available from the Ainslie Tennis Club website. Active members categories include activities such as attending and contributing to the Club Committee or participating in at least one working bee. Full details will be included in the form and rebates can be claimed at any time once in a calendar year
Hardship Rebates
Members who want to continue playing tennis and are doing it tough financially will, from 1 January 2021, be able to apply each calendar year for a hardship rebate equivalent to the Active Member Rebates. Again, the hardship form will be available on the Club’s website before 1 January 2021.
Membership Renewals
When earlier this year the Club moved its website across to a Tennis Australia template site, we received a number of benefits including the ability to change from fixed calendar memberships to rolling 12 month memberships from the date of application. Accordingly, a number of our current members have already used this facility and their memberships won’t expire till mid 2021 or later. For those of us that joined before 30 May this year, we will be moving over to the new system when our 2020 memberships expire at the end of December. If appropriate, you will receive reminders that your membership is about to expire 21, 14 and 7 days before expiry. Once you renew your Book A Court (BAC) access as a member will automatically continue. If you do not renew before your membership expires, you will lose member (that is free) access to BAC until such time as you do. You will be able to renew from 10 December with the renewal taking affect for 12 months from 1 January. New members joining after 10 December will receive 12 months immediate membership and pay the new rates.
Fundraising - Ainslie Tennis Club Wines
Ainslie Tennis Club have joined with Prospect Wines to offer a selection of six great value wines to help raise funds for the club. These wines celebrate ‘The Restoration’ of our historic Clubhouse made possible by the generous support of Club members and friends. Funds raised will provide support for improvements to our courts and surrounds.
The wines on offer are:
2019 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
2019 Adelaide Hills Reserve Pinot Grigio
Victorian Sparkling Prosecco
2018 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
2017 Coonawarra Reserve Shiraz
Rutherglen 10-year-old Gold Medal Muscat
Full descriptions are available at the website https://prospectwines.com.au/product/ainslie-tennis-club/, where orders can also be made. Contact club Vice-President Roger Brake on 0466 009 426 or at brake@grapevine.com.au for more information
We are looking to raise $2,000 from this fundraiser, and we will track our progress in future newsletters. Thank you for your support!
Meet our Club Coaches - Head Coach, Myles Emery
When did you first pick up a racquet?
When I was three - my whole family played tennis, so it was just part of growing up.
Who was your first coach?
My mum - she was Evonne Goolagong's hitting partner and a really good player. Bruce Larkham also coached me from an early age.
What is the most exciting thing that has happened to you on a tennis court?
Being involved as a tennis official on centre court for numerous grand slam finals at the Australian Open, including matches with Federer and Nadal. The footwork and speed of the top players is amazing.
What was it like to face Sam Groth’s serve?
Frightening! He was big and strong from a very young age; we had a close match when we played.
When/why did you start coaching?
I started coaching when I was 16. I'm really passionate about transferring my skills and love of tennis to junior players.
How many tennis balls do you use in a year?
We would use over a thousand balls a year, but we have a relationship with the dog day care centre so that the used balls can be recycled as fetch balls.
How many people have you coached?
Since I started 16 years ago, I would have coached over a thousand of players of all ages and abilities.
How does it differ coaching adults and children?
It is a completely different skill set. For juniors, part of the process is helping them to grow into confident, mature adults. For adults, it tends to be more about keeping healthy and active. But in all cases, I'm trying to help people achieve their goals.
What is your relaxation when you are not on a tennis court?
I like listening to music and, perhaps I shouldn't admit this, skateboarding at the skateboard park.
News from the Committee
Club Precinct Improvements
Thanks to the hard work of many members the courts and precinct around the club house have continued to be improved. We hope to complete the timbering edge work being overseen by our life member, Neil Pinkerton, before the 6th and for the first time in years we will cease having balls escape under the fences. Other members have stripped the triangular garden back to soil, cleaned the roof gutters, reduced the foliage around the front fences, cleaned out drains, etc. All is looking good and we look forward to presenting the work to the rest of the members.
Landscaping
The Committee at the last meeting agreed to convert the garden near the main gate into a Community Garden growing vegetables. If you think you would like to become involved with creating and/or tending the garden, watch out for details in a special newsletter coming soon!
Possible Partnering Arrangement with Braddon Tennis Club
The Committee has commenced the process of considering and negotiating a partnering arrangement with our near neighbours, the Braddon Tennis Club. Just exactly what would be the form of the arrangement is still to be determined and the Committee would certainly welcome any ideas from members.
From our Sponsors
Exclusive offer for ATC members
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, now is the perfect time to schedule an appointment with one of our dietitians for early in 2021. Our advice is always personalised for you and your goals, whether you want to lose weight, reduce discomfort or manage an underlying health condition. It will be the perfect time to see how the silly season impacted your body on our state of the art body scanning machine.
To help you to reach your goals, we are offering an exclusive 50% discount to ATC members on all appointments up until 15 February 2021. This offer applies to all of our services including assistance with Diabetes, Coeliac Disease, FODMAPS and even fertility nutrition, and our locations in Ainslie, Belconnen and Kingston. The discount will be applied at the time of appointment.
For information on internet and phone bookings, head to our website at http://www.livebetternutrition.com.au
From all of us at Live Better Nutrition, we wish you a happy, wonderful and safe festive season!
Pennant
Adult Pennant
Congratulations to all our four teams who made grand finals in the spring. We didn’t manage to get over the line any of these, but all were hotly contested and at least one was affected by key injuries.
Grand finalists were:
- Hugh, Ben and Dan in division 2 Monday/Tuesday comp
- Roger (out due to injury), Kai, Bob and JP division 5 Mon/Tues comp
- JP and Hugh division 3 Saturday comp
- Bob, JP, Indi, Kat (out due to injury), reserve Clare from Weston Creek, division 4 Thursday comp
Summer pennant starts in the week beginning 4 January and runs for six weeks. There is no Saturday comp for the summer. We’ll have a strong showing in the Monday/Tuesday comp, with 4 teams including 2 in div 1/2, and in the Thursday comp with 2 teams. Kat Knope is our adult pennant co-ordinator and can be reached at kat.knope@gmail.com
Junior Pennant
We had two teams representing our club in the Tennis ACT Junior League 2019 Spring Season. Both teams proudly represented our club and enjoyed the season even though there were a few washed out matches. An email will be sent out to members when the new Junior League season commences next year.