VICTOR HARBOR TENNIS CLUB AGM (2020) - Presidents Report (Chris Scheid)
Last year I opened my annual report by stating that “people matter most and it is people that make up the Victor Harbor Tennis Club”.  That still rings true today and if I go further with the analogy of our club being a strong brick wall, then the cement that holds the wall together is the people on our committee and our members.

In my annual report, I would like to acknowledge some people in your club who have volunteered their time and have made a significant contribution to the progress and culture of your club along with some achievements this year…  

Kylie Seidel (Secretary):
Again, this year, Kylie took on the role of Secretary for our club (as well as GSTA Secretary and her numerous other voluntary roles she undertakes for the benefit of our community).  Kylie did a great job in her second year keeping us all organised, minuting meetings and happily accepting tasks to keep your club operational.  

A highlight for me of Kylie’s dedication was where Kylie showed great initiative in fundraising this last year.  When short of Victor Harbor tennis club committee and volunteers for the October long weekend Aboriginal football and netball carnival, it was Kylie’s own initiative to have her family staff a bbq and cake/lolly selling stand for 2 days and raise $2000+.  That’s Kylie.  Thankyou Kylie for your dedication and service to Victor Harbor Tennis Club and we wish you well for the future and understand that your role and membership of VHTC and future involvement with VHTC is unknown at this stage.

Jo Daniels (Treasurer):
Jo has brought a higher degree of financial oversight to VHTC committee meetings with a monthly summary of debtors and creditors reconciled to bank account.  All committee members have full knowledge of your clubs financial position at each meeting so together we can make timely decision on payments to our suppliers.  In fact in collecting our audited profit/loss and balance sheet, the auditor could not suggest to me any way to improve upon Jo’s assembly and summary of our club’s income and expenditure.

Jo does not have any children remaining playing tennis and Jo has informed our committee some meetings ago that she would be unavailable to stand as Treasurer or on the committee next year.  I thank Jo for her diligence and attention to detail and for serving your club, its members and our community this year.  

Jeremy Bell (Vice President):
Jeremy’s assistance too has been significant.  Along with holding down a regular division #1 spot, Jeremy has continued to maintain our website (https://www.victorharbortennisclub.com/).  Our website acts as another member of our committee in that it saves many of us time in not having to answer enquiries.  Our website provides a single point of call for our members and members of the public to find answers to their questions about Victor Harbor Tennis Club, register to play tennis, book a court online, get an update on a club matters, club governance and find out about our tennis coaching services provided by Erica Modra and access Tennis SAs Match Centre.  

I thank Jeremy for his service to your club and look forward to working with Jeremy again this next season.

Maryka Smit (Junior Co-ordinator)
Maryka is a powerhouse around our club.  If it is not managing a team of Juniors, coordinating coaching, taking parent enquiries as Junior Coordinator, facilitating Wednesday practices, then it is arranging and managing our Club Championships.  All with a smile. 

Thankyou Maryka for your service to our Junior players at Victor Harbor Tennis Club.  Our good numbers of Junior players and team success is due to your efforts.

I would also like to thank Amanda Dixon and Darryl Pearce for their time and service on our committee this past year.

Team Managers - I would like to acknowledge and thank the past season’s Team Managers who, each week managed to get a Saturday morning Junior team or Saturday afternoon Open team on the court.  My thanks go to Darryl Pearce (Open Div 1); Ian Fishlock (Open Doubles); Maryka Smit/Kylie Seidel and Nicole Millard (Jr Div 1), Nicole Millard (Jr Div 3), Jodie Prosser & Nicole Millard with our two Jr Div 4 teams and Katie Dempster (Jr Div 5). 

Sponsors (our partners): Sponsors (our partners) and player subscriptions are our major two sources of club funds.  As well as promoting local businesses, sponsors assists to keep your members’ subscriptions costs down.  Please remember to support our club sponsors with your business - The Grosvenor (Gold sponsor), South Coast Realty; Swan Pharmacies; Victor Harbor Tyrepower; McDonald’s; The Office Shop; Victor Harbor Driving School, BCS Electrical, OPSM, SA Design & Print, Jims Handy Moves, Goolwa Kitchens and Wardrobes, Sportspower, The Beach House, Victor Harbor Bakery.  In addition two new sponsors joined us this year – Bailey Homes and Bartel & Hall.  We are well progressed to retaining these valuable sponsors/partners and to add 1 or 2 more for season 2020/21.

Achievements 2019/20 season:
Team highlights - in season 2019/20, VHTC fielded the same number of teams as season 2018/19: 3 Open teams (divisions #1, #3 and Open Doubles) and 5 Junior teams (division #1, #2/#3, x 2 #4s and #5).  In season 2019/20, again this year just past, 5 of 8 teams made finals (Open Div #1 & #3, Jr Div #1, Div #3 and Div #4) with our Junior Division #1 and Junior Division #3 teams being premiers and Open Division #3 team being grand finalists before CV19 ended the finals season.  Congratulations to the players, parents in these teams for their efforts throughout the season.

Child Safety – remains a standing agenda item at all VHTC general meetings.  Your club is pleased to report that again, all committee members are DCSI compliant and currently accredited to be working with children.  Your club will maintain this standard.

Coaching – your club lost the services of Tozer Tennis Academy Dec 2019 and quickly engaged Erica Modra’s coaching services (retained again for season 2020/21) for our Juniors.  Our committee has worked with Erica in the off season to bring to the club Junior coaching developments that will keep our Junior players not only interested in tennis but also improve their skills, strategy and social side of tennis. This what tennis is about at your club – assisting to develop the whole person.  
Future club projects 2019/2020 season:
1.    More social tennis: as a club we need to be responsive to our members and members of the public’s tennis playing needs.  With tennis nowadays being more of a social activity than a competition activity and with family weekends being increasingly valuable to families, and with a burgeoning local and tourist population and good weather to play tennis in Summer, our club should be able to position itself to offer week night social tennis.  This not only meets a need but also may plug a revenue gap should member numbers fall away if Saturday morning and afternoon competition tennis should also fall away.

2.    Lighting upgrade: we will work with VH Netball Club and City of VH to see if there is a mutual need to upgrade our courts lights.  If there is, our club will seek a quote, a cost sharing agreement and grant funds to make this project become real.  It could be 2 more seasons before lights are upgraded.  Full lighting will complement the Book A Courts system and allow competition and social tennis during summer nights and provide your club with the ability to service an important demographic – social night tennis.     

Finally, this year has been my sixth year as president and, like all voluntary sporting clubs, we only run with the assistance of unpaid volunteers. There is always something to do and we welcome your assistance, so please just ask one of the committee members ‘how can I help’?  Like your committee, you too, may find voluntary work as rewarding as your committee does. We will be asking more form our members to assist this year.
In conclusion:
As our motto says, I do believe we are truly a ‘family friendly club with big court facilities’.  With about 50 paid members, we do hit well above our average.  It is because of the valuable work of your committee and its members and the value we place in people at our club that makes Victor Harbor Tennis Club what it is.

Thank you to the outgoing committee in assisting me to run our club?  I wish the new committee, players and parents all the very best for season 2020/21.

Chris Scheid
(President – season 2019/20)