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WCTC December Newsletter 2020

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00

Welcome to the Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC) December Newsletter. 

President's Message

This is the last Newsletter for the year and on behalf of the Committee I would like to wish all our members a very merry Christmas and a very happy 2021.

Although 2020 was a difficult year for the Club, with the need to operate in a limited capacity for some of the year, it was also one where we achieved a good deal. In particular, courts 5 – 8 were re-surfaced, LED lights were installed on all our courts, the fence posts on all courts were painted, and the grounds and surrounds were significantly improved. I would particularly like to thank Geoff Kotz and Graeme Rossiter for playing such a large part in the successful completion of these projects.

Graeme was recently nominated for the 2020 Volunteer Achievement Award. Although his nomination reached the finalist stage, he unfortunately was not selected as the eventual winner. However, to reach the finals was an outstanding achievement and the judges clearly recognized the work Graeme has put into ACT tennis, and particularly our club. An extract from the nomination is included in this Newsletter and provides highlights of just some of Graeme’s achievements.

This Newsletter also includes a summary of the Weston Creek teams’ performances in the recently completed Spring League competitions. I would like to thank all those who represented the club in the various Leagues and encourage all our members to think about joining a League team in 2021. If members want more information about the Leagues, please contact our Club Captain Dan Green on mobile: 0415938772. 

Peter Ward
WCTC President

Graeme's Nomination

Graeme has a long history of executive level leadership within the tennis community since the 1970’s. His voluntary roles have included:

  • Vice President of the Weston Creek Tennis Club (1988, 1992, 2018 – present)
  • President of the Weston Creek Tennis Club (1983 – 1987, 1993 - 2007)
  • Publicity Officer for Weston Creek Tennis Club
  • Chairman of the Board of the Lyneham Tennis Club
  • Vice President of the ACT Tennis Association
  • Publicity Officer for the ACT Tennis Association
  • Member of ACT Tennis Association Junior Committee
  • Vice President of the Forrest Tennis Club
  • Member of Braddon Junior Committee

Although being involved with a number of clubs, Graeme’s major contribution has been with the Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC). Graeme joined the club in 1982 and immediately recognized a need for the club to grow its membership and to improve its facilities.

Graeme was first elected President of the club in 1984 and held President and Vice President roles for 25 years.

As President of the WCTC, Graeme set out a vision for the club by developing an ambitious 7-year Strategic Plan. The plan outlined a need for the Club to:

  • Develop a strong committee administration.
  • Undertake an upgrade and maintenance programme of the facilities.
  • Develop a publicity campaign for the Club.
  • Enter into an external contract arrangement for the provision of coaching services.
  • Build the social fabric of the Club by offering round robin competitions, club championships, and organized social events.
  • Develop convenient court hire arrangements with the local Rugby Union Club (Royals).
  • Build networks with local Cooleman Court Shopping Centre businesses.
  • Involve local and Federal Members of Parliament.

The strategic plan was ambitious but fully accepted by the WCTC Committee and the Club’s members. Consequently, over the next 20 years the plan was progressively implemented under Graeme’s leadership, and as finances and resources dictated.

Graeme was able to assemble a very committed Committee, and gradually the Club grew from 6 x clay and 2 x synthetic grass courts to a 12 x synthetic grass court complex, all with lighting. In addition, the Club gained recognition within the community and, as a result, membership numbers grew and the Club became one of the largest and most successful community tennis clubs in the ACT.

Although Graeme remained active in the Club after his term as President, his involvement once again increased when in 2017 he was elected Vice President in 2018. Graeme’s leadership skills quickly came to the fore and he set about developing a new Strategic Plan for the Club.

Although the plan is in its early stages of implementation, Graeme continues to work tirelessly to communicate the plan’s vision and progressively implement its objectives.

In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic reaping havoc in Australia and the world, Graeme showed his true leadership qualities when all community clubs and activities were shut down. He recognised the need to keep the Club open, particularly for the large numbers of senior members who benefit both physically and mentally from playing regular tennis. Graeme approached ACT Government representatives and, with their guidance, he developed protocols and guidelines which, once approved, would allow the Club to remain open on a “restricted play”. Graeme was successful in having the protocols approved and the Club re-opened. This was not only an outstanding outcome for the Club’s members, but also for the Club’s coaching team who were able to re-start their services.

Once the protocols were approved, Graeme personally supervised and co-ordinated the restricted tennis play, and supervised rosters for the Club. Further, Graeme worked with Tennis ACT and the other tennis clubs to supply his approved protocols and assisted the Clubs in their implementation. Thanks to the significant efforts and determination of Graeme, tennis throughout the ACT was able to re-open.

Lost Property

A reminder that the Lost Property area is located in the left hand corner of the Club house. If you find any items on the courts, please place item in this area and also advise the Secretary at westoncreektennisclub@gmail.com of the item. If you are missing an item, please check to see if our item is here.

Canberra Tennis League Competition

Despite a slow start to the year, the adult leagues finished strongly with the Spring season. Congratulations to all Weston Creek teams who participated. Once again Weston Creek was well-represented across all leagues. There are some statistics and highlights below.

The Walking Clinic Monday/Tuesday League - Spring 2020

  • Canberra’s most popular league saw Weston Creek use 31 players battling it out in 158 sets of singles and 312 sets of doubles.
  • In division 1 Weston Creek finished runner-up to Tennis World Canberra.
  • Weston Creek 2 were semi-finalists in Division 3 going down to Forrest Tennis Club 2.
  • Weston Creek 2 were also semi-finalists in Division 6 going down to Campbell Tennis Club.

The Walking Clinic Thursday League - Spring 2020

  • On Thursday nights Weston Creek used 24 players who took to the court in 540 sets of doubles (women’s, men’s and mixed).
  • Highlights included the division 1 Weston Creek 1 champions who defeated Melba Tennis Club 2 on games (41-32) after being 4 sets all. A special mention to Weston Creek Tennis Club 2 who made the semi-finals (another all Weston battle!) and finished first on the ladder after the regular rounds.
  • In both division 2 and 5 Weston Creek finished third on the ladder after 10 rounds and were unlucky to miss out on the finals as there were no semi-finals for their divisions.

The Walking Clinic Saturday League - Spring 2020

  • Weston Creek teams used 12 players who participated in 76 sets of singles and 61 sets of doubles in the regular rounds.
  • In Division 1 there was a close all Weston Creek semi-final where the victor went down in another close match to Belconnen Tennis Club in the Grand Final.
  • In division 2 Weston also lost a close final to Southlands Tennis Club, decided by the doubles.

The Summer leagues entries have closed and will include the Monday/Tuesday night and Thursday night leagues. Each league will be run over 6 weeks which includes play-off finals for all teams.

Check out the TennisACT website for more information on any league. The popular Monday/Tuesday night league offers players with a mixture of singles and doubles in a quick format. The Thursday league is a great option for players wanting to play just doubles, and the recently introduced singles focused Saturday league is perfect for players looking to play a longer format.

Finally, thank you to all captains for organising your teams.

Dan Green
WCTC Club Captain

Social Tennis

The Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC) offers social tennis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8:30am. It costs $2 for members and $7 for non-members with morning tea included. Please contact Maggie King on 0432 865 910 for more information. Please note there will be no Friday morning social tennis on Friday 25th December 2020 (Christmas Day). However there will still be tennis on Friday 1st January 2020 (New Years Day).

Wednesday night social tennis is held from 7-10pm. It costs $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Please contact Johnny Swientek on 0400 406 687 for more information. More information HERE.

Coaching

The Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC) offers a range of coaching options which caters to all cohorts, whether it be junior or adult group coaching, private coaching, junior competition, cardio and open court sessions. 

  • School Holiday Camps
    • 18th – 22nd January 2021
    • 25th – 29th January 2021
  • The next Coaching term will resume on Monday 1st February 2021
  • Open Day will be held on Saturday 13 February 2021, 1-3pm

Please contact the Club Head Coach Mark Walton on 0408 486 191 or at csot@grapevine.com.au. More information on the website HERE.

Mark offers restringing at the Club. But you must book. More information on the different types of strings below:

  • Natural Gut: By far the most liveliest & best feeling of all strings available, due to its elasticity, however it comes at a price. Most Natural gut strings start at $75 & upwards.
  • Syn Gut: For the social player who plays once or twice a week & rarely breaks strings a synthetic gut. Wilson Sensation or NXT are good examples of these multi filament strings. Prices start at $35 upwards
  • Poly: Poly Strings are longer lasting and can be quite stiff, however the evolution of these strings recently have allowed players to gain more control & power. Poly Strings are only recommended for Adv players, & preferably not younger than 12yrs old or older than 60yr. These players should also be playing multiple times a week and break strings no less than 3-4 times per year. Big Banger ALU POWER or ALU Roughare examples of these strings. Prices start at $45 upwards
  • Blended String: This type of combination is used with Poly & Synthetic String. Put in the mains is the longer lasting Poly string and then in the crosses we put a superior lasting Synthetic Gut string. This gives the player the perfect combination of Durability and Playability and at an affordable price. The best combination for this is Luxilon’s Big Banger & Wilson Sensation. Prices start at $40 upwards

Canberra Southern Cross Club

The Community Rewards Program is an initiative of the Canberra Southern Cross Club that launched in July 2015. The program empowers our members to help the Community Groups that matter most to them. Through the mechanic of nominating a Community Group participating in the program, the Canberra Southern Cross Club will calculate the equivalent of 7.5% of the member’s spend on food and beverages at their Woden, Tuggeranong, Jamison and Yacht Club to be donated to that group/club. More information HERE.

The Weston Creek Tennis Club is participating in the Canberra Southern Cross Club Community Rewards Program. If you would like to nominate the Weston Creek Tennis Club to receive 7.5% of your spend on food and beverages at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, please click HERE or you can link your membership with the Club when you next visit the Woden, Tuggeranong, Jamison and Yacht Club. Please note purchases at Snapper, on the MV Southern Cross or at functions are not included in this program.

Rebel Sport

Weston Creek Tennis Club participates in the Rebel Support Your Sport Program! Under this program, our Club can earn 5% from your purchases at Rebel as an in-store credit to spend towards our Club’s equipment. We have already used this credit to purchase tennis balls and other items.

Once you have joined Rebel Sport, let the cashier know that you would like to link your membership to Weston Creek Tennis Club and next time you make a purchase, the club will be credited.

Check In Canberra App

The Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC) is taking step to register to use the Check In CBR app. The Check In CBR app is a contactless, secure and convenient way for customers to sign into a Canberra venue. The app helps protect the community by assisting with faster contact tracing. The app enables individuals to check-in to venues and have this data stored securely with ACT Health in the event contact tracing is needed due to a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the community. Use of the app will help the ACT Health contact tracing team quickly identify and assist anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19. 

Please note the use of this app is currently not compulsory, however we recommend members and in particular guests of members, non-members and other members of the public to scan the QR code which will be displayed around the club. It may become compulsory if there is another outbreak, a change in restrictions or if the Club holds an event (for example planned Open Day in February). The Club will also use ClubSpark for contact tracing if required. 

 

Published on 16 December 2020