Tennis Report - A Roundup of 2021

As we all know 2021 has been a very different year with many restrictions imposed upon us. However, tennis was one of the first sports where restrictions were lifted, as a result of which the Club saw a much heavier use of courts, which was great to see. Hopefully this new level of enthusiasm to play more tennis will continue.

Colchester and District League

This year the league took a different stance, with each team playing each other only once, either home or away. There was no promotion nor relegation following these matches. Next season, teams will play in the same division as they were this season. Like some other teams the opportunity was taken to experiment a little with pairings etc.

Colchester and District Friendly League

This year we entered teams in Men's, Ladies and Mixed divisions, captained by Paul Gloc, Fran Clarke and Karen Ainley respectively. Each team managed to complete all of their fixtures and coincidentally they all ended the season in third place of their respective divisions.

Colchester and District Friendly League - Individual Tournaments

Congratulations to Paul Gloc, who won the Men's Singles final and also to Loess Overbury-Tapper who won the Veteran's Mixed Doubles final whilst partnering Alex Temple (Lexden Hill).  These finals were played at Wivenhoe this year and we would encourage more of our members to enter one or more of the various categories next season.

Club Tournaments

Various in-house tournaments were held during the year which were all very well attended, including our annual Pimms/Wooden Racquets tournament, won this year by David Simpson and Paul Gloc.

Box Leagues

These have continued to be very popular throughout the year. Many thanks to Ikuko White for giving up her time to run this. There are various categories to enter:

• Ladies singles
• Ladies doubles
• Men’s singles
• Men’s doubles
• Mixed doubles

If you would like to join in the box league for the next round, please let us know on tennis@cgoclub.co.uk.

Club Championships

The number of entrants this year was encouraging with possibly the highest number of participants to date. Only a small number of matches did not get played, mainly because of injury. Thank you to all those who took part and made every effort to play matches within the cut-off dates to ensure Finals Day could go ahead as planned.

Finals Day itself was a big success with a lot of good quality tennis being played. Thank you also to all of those who turned up to support those playing. This made the day more special for all those involved and made for a great Club event.

Here are the full results:

 

Club Championships 2021 Finals Results

Men's Singles                      Otto Friedlein bt Dan Cotton 6-4, 6-1

Ladies Singles                     Anna Bisco bt Coralie Smart 6-4, 7-5

Men's Doubles                    Dan Cotton/Harry Chatterton bt Otto Friedlein/Joe Friedlein W/O

Ladies Doubles                   Ali Friedlein/Anna Bisco bt Jane Taylor/Caroline Hogan 4-6, 7-5, 7-5

Married Couples                Angela/Kevin Eastaugh bt Bridget/Guy Wynter 6-4, 6-1

Mixed Doubles                   Anna Bisco/Dan Cotton bt Angela Eastaugh/Adrian Mann 6-3, 6-3

Men's 45+ Singles              Rob Hobson bt Adrian Mann 6-0, 6-0

Ladies 45+ Singles             Karen Ainley bt Fran Clarke 5-7, 6-3, 6-1

Men's 45+ Doubles            Adrian Mann/Joe Friedlein bt Anil Mahendra/Rob Hobson 5-7, 6-0, 6-4

Ladies 45+ Doubles           Ikuko White/Angela Eastaugh bt Caroline Hogan/Jane Taylor 6-4, 7-5

Men's 60+ Singles              Kevin Eastaugh bt Steve Ainley 7-6, 6-4

Men's 60+ Doubles            Steve Ainley/Mark Chatterton bt Ron Sands/Kevin Eastaugh 6-2, 6-3

Boys 18U Singles                Louis Gannon bt Tom Thatcher 3-6, 6-0, 7-6

Ladies Rest'd Doubles        Christine Long/Sarah Ward bt Jane Taylor/Deborah Roome 6-4, 7-6

Men's Rest'd Doubles         Tom Thatcher/Louis Gannon bt David/Josh Burrows 3-6, 7-5, 6-4

 

Player Profile - Ray Allan

I was born in Colchester and have lived here all my life. I am married to Annie and have two sons. I followed in the footsteps of my parents who also played and coached various sports. 

My mother was also born in Colchester and in her teens was Essex swimming and diving champion and went on to train for 2 years for the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki as a high board (10m) diver, but when WW2 broke out the games were cancelled. My father who was born in Belfast was an International professional footballer. He played for Ireland against England and Scotland. He came over to England when he signed for Chelsea F.C. and then finished his playing career when he signed for Colchester United. His football career was also cut short by the outbreak of war.

I also signed Associate Schoolboy forms for Colchester United when I was 15, playing for 3 seasons. After doing my A levels I attended the London College of Printing and after 5 years became a Photographic Lithographer at QB in Colchester. I worked for 35 years for 3 different companies in the print industry doing all the film and camera work for newspapers and magazines. 

Sport however has been a major part of my life. I had tennis coaching when I was 8 years old and squash coaching when I was 16. My first tennis club was Lexden Hill, and my first squash club was Lexden S.C.

In the 1980's I got my LTA coaching qualification and coached adult evening classes for Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council. I have been a member of C.G.O.C. for nearly 40 years.

Nowadays my interests are archaeology, history, playing guitar and my grandchildren.

 

New Committee Members

As you know a small team of committed members make up the tennis committee. Lisa Bass has decided to step down after many years of serving on the committee. We’d like to say a big thank you to Lisa for her commitment and all of her help.

This leaves us with a vacancy on the committee and we would like to appoint one or two new members to join us. We meet approximately once a month to ensure the smooth running of tennis activities. Committee members take on various actions such as arranging tournaments, box league and league matches, organising events and writing this newsletter! It’s a great opportunity to input into the running of the club and join an energetic team.

The committee currently consists of:

• Peter Halliday (Chair)
• Tom Perry
• Kevin Eastaugh (Club Captain)
• Anna Bisco (Secretary)
• Angela Eastaugh (Safeguarding Officer)
• Ikuko White
• Anil Mahendra

If you would like to be considered for a place on the tennis committee, please email us at tennis@cgoclub.co.uk with a few sentences about why you would like to get involved, by 30th November. Current committee members will then vote on applications. Feel free to ask any of the current committee members if you would like more information about what’s involved.

 

Defibrillator

We wanted to remind all members that we have our own Defibrillator stored safely behind the bar. A defibrillator can help save the life of someone experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest. The defib is portable, easy to use, with clear step-by-step instructions.

 

 

Next Year’s Charity Tournament

Following the charity tournament held during the summer, players voted on which charity they would like the club to support next year. The charity slips were counted, and the MS Society Colchester Branch won the most votes so will be the charity we support next year.

 

Andrew Canessa’s Epic Ironman for the Alzheimer’s Society

Sadly, Andrew’s younger sister has early onset dementia. As is the case with almost all forms of dementia, there is no cure. The Alzheimer's Society is a charity that supports people with dementia and their families through this illness. Because of COVID, this and many other charities are suffering a lack of donations (people not running marathons etc. for almost two years).

Andrew therefore decided to take on an epic challenge to raise money for this wonderful cause. He completed an ironman triathlon in Portugal on October 23rd. This consisted of a 3,800m swim, a 180km bike ride, followed by a marathon - back to back! He completed this in 13 hours and 16 minutes, a very good time for a first Ironman! We’d like to offer Andrew our warmest congratulations for such an incredible achievement. If you are able to support Andrew through a donation of any size, you can do so here:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrew-canessa

 

 

Future Events

We’d love you to join us for some festive fun at our annual Christmas jumper tournament which will be held on December 28th. Further details about how to enter will follow.

 

Dates for Next Year

Here are some dates for your diary for next year, there is lots of tennis to look forward to!

Sat March 19th - Pre-season social mingle

Sat May 7th - Fun tournament

Sat June 4th – Fundraiser tournament for tennis equipment

Sunday July 3rd - Wooden racquet and Pimm’s tournament

Sat July 30th - Charity tournament

Sun Sept 18th - FINALS DAY

Sun Sept 25th - Finals back up day

Sat Oct 1st - Tennis end of season dinner

Tues Dec 27th - Christmas jumper tournament