AGM Highlights & New Season’s Subs

The main hall in the St.Sebastians Pavilion was packed on Friday evening as members refreshed themselves with drinks and nibbles while waiting for the meeting to start.

The Highlights of the evening were the presentations on two major developments taking place at the club in 2019…

  • The New Clubhouse – Having recently received planning consent and with a new lease and loan agreement about to be signed with SSPFT, we are now able to work on our LTA loan application.  The documents were only received from the LTA on the day of our AGM as they have changed their requirements since our original draft application a year ago.  However, Club Secretary Mike Smith said he was expecting most of the information required to be an update of that produced a year ago and he would start working on it later this week.
  • New Coaching Initiative – Head Coach Dom Evan-Hart gave a résumé of our new partnership with a local performance coach who will be bringing the benefits of his links with a number of schools in the area to Crowthorne Tennis Club.  The first of these should be an influx of new junior members to the club, on the basis of which the club has entered a total of six junior teams for this summer as compared with our previous two.

For more details, including pictures of what we expect the New Clubhouse to look like and details of our new Performance Coach, go to the Members’ Area on the club website.  After logging in, click on the AGM & Accounts tab and you’ll be able to see a PDF copy of the AGM Presentation as well as the Minutes, Accounts (I&E, Balance Sheet & Cashflow Forecast).

Following the resignation of our Chairman Richard McCully after nine years in the role and that of Ladies’ Captain Lorraine Fowler to concentrate on recovering from her injury, the meeting ended on a high note with three members joining the Committee for the first time.  These members will bring both experience and a new outlook to our Committee as well as strengthening and providing support in a number of areas.  Our next Committee Meeting is on Monday 8th April.

  • Alison Nicholson – is our new Ladies’ Captain
  • Mark Callaghan and John Phillips – have joined as Committee Members and their roles will become clearer during the coming year.

On the subject of Subscriptions for the new season, these are marginally up on last year – 3% to cover increased costs – so no surprises there.  The website Subscriptions Calculator and the new Membership Application Form  now show the new season’s rates and any new member wishing to join during March will become a member immediately, thereby getting a whole year plus the rest of March for the new yearly subscription.

Club Treasurer Karen Smith requests that existing members please renew their subscriptions as soon as possible, preferably before the start of the new season on 1st April, as this helps to spread the administration load as well as helping the Team Captains to know who is available for the Summer League matches which begin on 6th April.

 

Places must be booked in advance via the Members’ Area and selections will then be confirmed on the morning or evening before the event.  Please do not turn up if you have not been selected as you will be turned away. Players are selected on a first come first serve basis usually in multiples of 4 players.  Note that none of these sessions is suitable for beginners.

  • Note that the Committee tries to accommodate the wishes of members, within the constraints of time and 4 courts, but a session for each ability level is the guiding principle.
    • The Friday session is for recreational and higher players and runs from 6pm to 8pm
    • The Thursday 5:30 session is for intermediate players and runs from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
    • The Thursday 7:30 session is for intermediate and advanced players including potential team players and runs from 7:30 to 9:30pm.
    • The Tuesday session is for advanced players and runs from 7pm to 9pm. 
    • In all cases you must commit to the full two hours.
  • Before the session you will have been told by the organiser your starting court, your partner and your opponents.
    • These will take into account each player’s normal playing standard with the best players starting on court 1 and, with 16 players, the least able players on court 4.  However, the organiser may occasionally decide to organise it differently such as a “lucky dip” for starting court & partner.
    • In addition, for the Thursday 7:30 session, the organiser will take into account any pairings for matches at the coming weekend.
  • Play is split into 3 rounds lasting 40 minutes each.  Play 1 set with normal deuce scoring.  If you finish early either carry on or mix in your 4.
    • If you haven’t finished the set after 40 minutes and the scores are level, play a sudden death point
  • At the end of the 40 minutes the winners of the first set played move up a court, the losers move down a court (court 1 is the top court). Winners on the top court stay, as do the losers on the bottom court. If you didn’t finish your set then the pair winning at the time moves up.
  • Pairs then split partners with the pair joining them and you play a second round.
    • Partners are selected by spinning rackets or using common sense to try to get a balanced 4.
  • Exactly the same happens for the third round.

Drop-In club nights are, as the name implies, more informal sessions than the bookable ones and you can arrive and leave when you like.  Those attending organise themselves, changing who plays with whom after most present have completed a set, although there’s often a more senior member present who  will take charge if needed.

We are currently running 2 Drop-In  sessions for all levels from Starter upwards…

  • The Tuesday session has recently been rebranded for All Levels and runs from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.  If you want to sit out and watch, maybe with a drink, you can do that too.  If you’ve arrived early for the 7 o’clock session, you’re also welcome to join in.
  • The Wednesday session is for all levels of player including beginner and usually runs from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.
    • You can expect members attending adult coaching to join in.
  • The Sunday session is for All levels and runs from 3:00 – 5:00pm.

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