With the new school year beginning now is a good time for a junior tennis e-news letter....

(5 minute read)

Junior Memberships

Many of you will have recently received correspondence from the club about the renewal of junior memberships.  As we have a mixture of new and more established players this is a summary of the options available...

All juniors who play at the club are required to be club members.  The club has different levels of junior membership:

• Bronze - Under 11 Years, no court booking rights (suitable for those who just attend coaching sessions) = £FREE
• Silver - Under 11 Years / 11-17 years, with court booking rights (suitable for younger children who wish to play outside of coaching sessions and all older children) = £4 per month
• Gold - As Silver + the opportunity to play in adult sessions (nominated by coaches) = £4 per month
• Student - 18-25 years in full-time education = £5 per month
• Intermediate - 18-25 years not in full-time education = £10 per month

The club also offers Family and Parent with kids membership packages, these are great if you all want to be active club members or if you just want to play as family, the full description of these and prices can be found HERE

For convenience you are able to create a package which includes membership + coaching sessions in a monthly direct debit:

• 1 hour coaching per week = £25 + £Membership
• 1.5 hours coaching per week = £35 + £Membership
• 2 hours coaching per week = £40 + £Membership
• 2.5 hours coaching per week = £45 + £Membership

We continue to offer the opportunity to Pay & Play for coaching sessions, however direct debit is the cheaper option per session.  If you want to sign up for direct debit then CLICK HERE.  To make changes to your current package or check you are on the best option then please drop Matt a message on 07788713672 

Coaching Calendar

The regular coaching sessions take place every week apart from 2 weeks off at Christmas, 2 off at Easter & 2 off in the Summer Holidays.  This year, rather than increasing any of the prices we are going to have one extra week off, May half term was very quiet so there will not be regular sessions the Thursday or Saturday at the end of this week.

We endeavour to run sessions even if the weather is inclement but there may be times when it is not sensible to do so, in the last year we did not cancel more than four of any session, these possible cancellations are factored in to the direct debit price.

Dates of no regular sessions:

Saturdays - 21/12, 28/12, 12/04, 19/04, 31/05, Summer dates TBC

Thursdays - 26/12, 02/01, 10/04, 17/04, 29/05, Summer dates TBC

Junior League

In addition to the coaching sessions we encourage players to compete at other times, to support this we have various teams playing in Avon Junior Leagues.  Gemma has spent many hours organising these matches with lots of success in terms of results and seeing players taking their first steps in to competitive tennis...

Winter 2023/24:

18&U girls won their division. Represented by Tilly, Lucy and Eliana.

18&U boys finished second in a very competitive division 2 winning 40 of their 60 matches.  Represented by Liam, Charlie, Sam S, Harry & Louis.

12&U boys won their division 2, represented by Arthur, Will & Josh.

Summer 2024:

We entered 4 teams and were able to field a full compliment for every single match, showing great commitment.

18&U boys represented by Liam, Charlie, Sam S and Sam G-B, with Arthur and Will stepping up to cover on 1 occasion each. The boys did us proud, all matches played in great spirit with sportsman like conduct.  Finishing 3rd in a division of 6 teams.

12&U boys represented by Arthur, Will, Josh, Archie and Finley.  Currently sitting in 1st position however after some missing results are added we expect for them to take the 2nd place position.  This team had some great wins throughout the season claiming victory in 25 of their 32 matches!

12&U girls represented by Faith and Summer. This was a big success. The girls loved being a team and it has really brought their tennis on. Due to a lower number of teams entering divisions 1 & 2 were amalgamated, meaning they were up against some very tough opposition who play a much higher level. The girls did manage to get some wins, ending in position 4 in their division of 6 teams. 

10&U Mixed Division 2, represented by Rowan, Louis, Ishita, Gabriella and Thomas.  This team enjoyed some very competitive matches and all represented the club in a great manner, they finished in 2nd place in the division.  It was great to have this team, with 2 of our players being experienced league players and an opportunity for 3 others to step up and try team tennis for the first time.   It's a shame they won't get to stay as a squad now as it splits into separate boys and girls teams from 11&U upwards but at least they will be able to continue training together.

We are entering teams into the Winter league again, our hope is to have 18U Boys, 18U Girls, 14U Girls, 14U Boys x 2, 11U Boys, 11U Girls & 10U Mixed.  It is a challenge to work out the best age groups to enter as players move through the age categories.  Our aim is to provide as many opportunities as we can.  Gemma will be in touch with any further players who we feel are ready to make the step in to league squads.

Club Championships

It has been a busy time for adult club members who are competing in knockout draws to reach the club championship finals.  Finals Day is Sunday 22nd September with play from 10:30am-6:00pm.  This is a great event to come and watch with some high quality tennis expected across the men's & ladies' singles, doubles & mixed doubles events.

Junior Club Championships will take place in Autumn half term & the Christmas holidays.  Look out for advertising of the different events to enter in the next few weeks.

Well Done, Thank You & Good Luck

We would like to say well done to our players who have recently received their GCSE & A'Level results and who are moving on to their next stage of education.  Particular thanks to Sam S who previously helped with the coaching programme on a Saturday morning, Lucy who has been involved with lots of the groups for the last 18 months and Eliana who helps with the Thursday sessions; they are all off to university we wish you good luck and look forward to seeing you when you visit home.

Also massive good luck to Tilly who has just left Clevedon to train full time at the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy in the French Riveria!  

Matt & Gemma are continuing to work on improving the quality and opportunities for junior players at the club, please feel free to have a chat if you have any ideas or can help in any way!