Victoria Park Tennis Club - Spring Newsletter 2024

Dear Members
Welcome to Spring at the Victoria Park Tennis Club, and especially to all our new members.  We are pleased to report that we have had 26 new people join up since our last Newsletter - including 10 juniors!  Our overall number is into the 160’s.  And when you realise that following COVID we were   dipping below 100, and that you have you go back nearly a decade to find a similar total, the Club is getting into fine shape.

Anticipating this back in February, the Committee were determined that 2024 would be our ‘Year of Engagement’ with members, when we would bring people together in Club activities.  To this end we applied to the Boroondara Council for both a Small Grant and a Community Strengthening Grant, to  purchase a BBQ, some outdoor seating and a cantilever umbrella to support our engagement activities. We are happy to announce that both these grants have been awarded to the Club.

The grant process was really educational.  We lined up with a host of small clubs: scouts, choirs, senior citizens, artists, musicians, sports and so on.  The Council officers were really supportive, and we got to see how we are all actually part of a little army of voluntary organisations engaged with making Boroondara a great place to live.  Moreover, it turns out that the funds are donated to the groups via the Council by the Balwyn Rotary Club, out of money raised through their Camberwell Sunday Market. How good is that!

We are now finalising our actual engagement activities.  These will be later in Spring to allow for better weather, and for the grant funds to be made available.  There will be an over 55s social tennis event on November 25th as part of the Seniors Festival; a Family Day to celebrate the return of Junior Competition to the Club; and a night tennis function to highlight the possibilities opened up by our new LED lighting.

Of course some of you may not want to ‘engage’ in Club activities but are happy just to have access to courts for yourselves and friends. And that is fine. But we would hate to think there were members who joined the Club but simply haven’t had an opportunity to meet others and organise a hit. For this purpose we are creating a casual, ad-hoc WhatsApp group for ‘Catch-ups’. To join the ‘Catch ups’ and post updates or messages there to find a hitting partner, please contact Mazdak Mansoury: dr.mazdak.mansoury@gmail.com

Our junior teams have reached the half way mark of their seasons, and they are doing very well. Enjoy the break over the school holidays, and best of luck for the second half of the season.

Finally, some great news from our coaching team. Recently the newly constituted national Tennis Coaches Association held their annual awards ceremony at the Royal South Yarra Tennis Club.  A group from the Committee attended the function and were very happy to see Head Coach Jason Lindeman nominated as a Finalist for the major award of “Club Coach of the Year”. Well done Jason!

Regards
Paul Smyth, Club President