Club Championships
We held Club Championships in 2022 for the first time since Covid, with singles and doubles tournaments-using the Fast Four format with fixturing and overall management support from Club Coach Alexei Demajo. Sixteen entrants in the doubles tournament formed eight pairings. Eventually, Godfrey Wilson and Stephen Kim stretched Duy Nguyen and Sri Srikanthan to the limit before Duy and Sri prevailed in an entertaining final, winning the tie-breaker after both sides were locked at three-all.
The singles tournament, the first we have held for ten years, also featured eight competitors who played three matches each in a round robin format. Lapwings captain Jay Sempio and club assistant coach Tao He met in an enthralling final which went also to a tie-breaker that Tao ultimately won. The power hitting and athletic court coverage of both players was an inspiration for the good crowd that gathered to watch.
Social tennis
Social tennis has continued strongly on weekend mornings. The group culture continues to extend a warm welcome to other club members and new participants who join to get the blood moving early in the morning. The tennis is keen and very enjoyable, and a great opportunity to build social bonds with a great group of members. Several convenors take turns to organize the playing program and ensure the tennis is well matched and always fun.
Tao has organized social tennis on weekday evenings when competition and organized coaching have not taken precedence.
Other social activities
Although not strictly tennis club activities, our clubrooms continue to play host to regular games of Rummikubs and Scrabble for which long-standing members are among the organisers and participants.
Our vibrant weekend social playing group has hosted periodic BBQs, with an outstanding range of Sri Lankan and other delicacies prepared and enjoyed.
Website
The tennis club page is now hosted by Play Tennis under Tennis Australia (https://play.tennis.com.au/stchristopherssyndaltennisclub), although there is still work to be
done to ensure that the page is kept updated and that links are provided from relevant organisations such as Tennis Victoria, Monash City Council and WDTA. We also have a Facebook presence, providing an avenue for news and alerts about immediate matters like weather implications for scheduled competition or social tennis. I encourage all members to use the webpage and the Facebook group, and provide feedback about how these services could be improved.
Coaching
Former St Christopher's junior Alexei Demajo of Future Demand Tennis has served the Club as coach since the beginning of 2014, providing a number of coaching services, especially through St. Christopher's Primary School. We encourage all members to make contact with Alexei and his team, including Tao He, and take advantage of his services.
Maintenance
After decades of incredibly generous service, Leo Sargeant has stood down as our regular groundsman, and Alan McHenry has also stepped back from his weekly court maintenance endeavours. On behalf of all members I would like to record our thanks for their efforts which have kept our grounds immaculate and our courts the envy of all visiting clubs.
We will need new volunteers to step up to fill those large, vacant shoes, preferably on a roster basis to share the load and to build skills. We will also continue to schedule regular working bees to address more periodic tasks such as patching of bare spots on the courts and trimming of the shrubbery in the north easement.
Membership
Once again our membership has remained relatively stable this year, with a handful of resignations well balanced by new applications. The weekend morning social tennis group and night competition continue to be the main pathways for new members to join, along with Alexei's and Tao's coaching programs which have also generated new competitive teams. We will continue to explore ways to promote and build membership.
Promotion
With our focus on managing and delivering the upgrade works through the SRL grant, and as life has still been returning to a new "living with Covid" normal, promotional activities have taken a back seat this year. However, there are several Tennis Victoria options which the incoming Committee can consider.
Tennis as a sport continues to meet stiff competition from other sports and activities, and changes in modern lifestyles are often not conducive to regular sporting participation, whether socially or more competitively. It will continue to be important for the Tennis Club to work collaboratively with the Parish, neighbouring clubs such as Syndal and organisations like Tennis Victoria and Monash City Council if we are to maintain relevance and thrive.
Parish
We continue to operate with the blessing and support of St Christopher's Parish, for which we are very grateful to Fr Ralph and Fr Jacob Alvarez who has recently joined the Parish. We remain conscious that in our capacity as a Parish ministry we need to continue to work to maintain effective working relationships with the Parish Priest and Parish Council to ensure we align with and contribute to the strategic objectives of the Parish.
Conclusion
We have had another good year in many respects, thanks to significant contributions from many people, both within and outside the Committee, and in particular to the game-changing funding through SRL. But we have ongoing challenges, including building our membership, maintaining competition representation at appropriate playing levels and strengthening participation in traditional organized social tennis (although weekend mornings continue to be energetic and well-patronised). We certainly have grounds to celebrate, we have a strong base but this is not the time to relax on our laurels.
In closing, I would like to thank Fr Ralph and his Parish leadership team for their support for St Christopher's Tennis Club. And, very importantly, yet again, my thanks to my wife Cathy for allowing me the time to spend on tennis club business (as well some time on the courts).
Jack Krohn, President, July 2023