Hello again. I hope you are all well and coping with these challenging times.

Boris is back but we still await more news on when and how restrictions may be lifted -hopefully this Thursday. Like most of you, we watch the news intently to look for a green light for tennis, or more realistically, an amber one. We may even have to consider singles games before we get back to a kind of normality. As an alleged keen tennis player, we hope he looks at our cause sympathetically. Kim and Carole are looking at how best to introduce a court booking system using Clubspark for all registered members when we are allowed back and what to do about the Club Tournament. More on that later this week.

Of course, we are all missing our time at the Club and looking forward to getting back, getting fit and seeing if we can remember what to do whilst catching up on some serious socialising with our 'temporarily absent friends'.

In the meantime, as we struggle to keep fit and waistlines down with all the increased home cooking and perhaps increased alcohol consumption (?!), I have searched the internet for ideas on 'Tennis at Home'. If you wish to follow any of the links you can copy & paste them into your browser.

Paul & Gemma, Carole and Will and Stefano have 'got the ball rolling' and posted some great videos on the BTTC Facebook page on the '100 volley Challenge' and 'Off The Wall' skills. After years of resisting Facebook, I have finally joined just to see what's happening on our site and I must say it's really good (thanks to Paul for administering and all those who have contributed). I do commend this to anyone who has not joined yet, not only to see our guys in action, but also because we plan to use this and other Social Media platforms to spread the word about our great club and hopefully recruit some new members. A big thank you to Gemma Duckworth who has kindly agreed to help us go up a gear. She / we will be writing to you with more on this later. We do ask for your help, so please consider joining in if you are not already there. Just Google 'Facebook', set up an account, find our Club and ask Paul to let you in ! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjsHLnSsvlI 
This link may help after you have created your account.

Here are a few internet video links (from the many available) that might interest you:-

Five Ways to Improve your tennis at home:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6gmO7ejtL4

Want to strengthen your arm and wrist and finish your swing properly ? Try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVx7qLZQaRQ

Do you need to improve your footwork ? Here's some ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XSy4Buhk50

Do you have kids at home ? Great videos and ideas here from LTA for ages 4-11: https://www.lta.org.uk/about-us/tennis-news/news-and-opinion/general-news/2020/march/lta-tennis-at-home-series-celebrated-for-helping-families-stay-active/

Finally, if you have an old 'Wii' video game, maybe time to dust it down and get back on court. Great fun, but warning it may not improve your 'real game' and could destroy it ! Here's a 'best ever' game if you need a laugh :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJRaykRtrc

I hope that you find these updates a good way to stay in touch during the Lockdown. More to come soon on:- New playing surface for Court 1, Padel Tennis Evaluation , Social Media, New Land, Growing the Membership, Working with LTA and more. Your Committee is still hard at work !

Take Care, Stay Safe, Stay Fit and Healthy, Stay Sane
David Burton, Chairman.