LOTS of exciting news to share with you all, please spend a few minutes to read this.

Club AGM

The Club AGM was held last Tuesday 1st March at the golf club. Huge thanks to Matty at the golf club for staying on so late for our meeting.

There were 19 attendees in a mixture of in-person and online via Zoom. There was a lot of news to share. Please read the minutes and Chair’s report. I’d also recommend reading Ben Rushby’s Junior Coaching report, which outlines some of the great successes that our juniors have had over the last year.

Jeremy has rather reluctantly agreed to stay on as Chair for a sixth year. However, we really could do with new people to join the Committee and help out on the wide range of different tasks that go on in the background to keep the club running smoothly. Please get in touch if you could offer some of your time, whether you have been on the committee before or are new to the club and keen to help.

The sad news given to the meeting was that Ben Rushby has recently accepted a full-time role as Head Performance Coach at the soon-to-be-expanded Repton School Tennis Club, so will be leaving the club as Head Coach and First team captain. It is a fantastic opportunity for Ben and we all wish him every success. He has inspired many juniors over many years and been a key part of the club’s success since he first came along as a young boy. We will miss him greatly.

Fortunately, we have a ready-made replacement and Rob Salmon has agreed to take on the Head Coach role. Rob has already brought huge energy and enthusiasm to coaching at the club and exciting times are ahead. Ben and Rob will be working together closely over the next few weeks to ensure a smooth handover period when Ben leaves us at Easter 

Padel Tennis Court Construction starts on Monday – put Sun 1st May Launch Day in your diary

Today we have heard the fantastic news that South Derbyshire Council have approved a grant of £25,000 to the club towards our Padel project as part of their “Community and Environmental Partnerships” scheme. This will augment the £50,000 LTA loan that we applied for and also the £2,000 East Midlands Airport Community grant that we received to buy an initial set of Padel rackets for anyone to use when starting the game.

So, on Monday, it is full steam ahead. Diggers and other equipment will be arriving on site to start construction of our new Padel Tennis court. This will be a very exciting addition to the club, hopefully giving an alternative game and court for existing members, as well as being a chance to reach out to the local community and encourage more people to take up this exciting new sport.

Please put Sunday 1st May in your diaries and let all your friends know about it. It is Bank Holiday weekend and we’ll be having a special Padel Launch Day. There will be demonstrations and coaching sessions, racket demos, refreshments and several people visiting the club, including local councillors and press.

I’ve attached the presentation that I gave at the AGM all about the Padel project, which you will hear a lot more about over the next few weeks and months.

We expect the court to be ready in about 3-4 weeks’ time. I hope that construction will not create too much disruption to tennis during this time as most of our tennis is played in the evenings. All the tennis courts will remain open the whole time, but I must apologise in advance for any noise for people that are playing during the day. Some of our car park may also be taken up so you may need to use the golf club area for short periods of time. Please only use the section along the grass near our sign and, if this is full, please park on the grass verge outside on the main road. The plan is to get it all finished before the main tennis season starts in earnest.

LTA “She Rallies” Day on Saturday 2nd April

Ellen Taylor is organising a “She Rallies” Fun Day on Saturday 2nd April from 2-4 pm. This is a free event open to women and girls of all ages and abilities! Everyone is welcome! Girls bring a friend from school, ladies introduce your best friend to tennis.

It will be a fun event with the chance to try tennis for the first time or develop existing skills for those who already play. We would love to get as many people to come as possible and make it a big party filled with music and tennis! Please support the club and invite as many people as possible.

We are encouraging everyone to bring cakes so what’s not to love!

Please use this link to book on to attend: bit.ly/SheRalliesCBTC