Statement from Chris Cunningham

In life, just as in tennis, timing is everything. I have been your club coach since 1995, and the right time for me to move on has arrived. The global health crisis has given many people, including me, an opportunity to reflect upon their lives and to focus more on those things that really matter.  I have decided to look for a new career, so it is not that I am leaving the Club to coach and play tennis elsewhere.

It also feels to me like this is the right time for the Club too, as it is in safe hands. The Committee has both passion and empathy to lead the Club through to the post-lockdown world and to recruit the next right coach.

Stowmarket LTC is widely known in the County as being one of the friendliest, most welcoming places to play tennis, and I have absolute confidence that it can continue to grow and reach out to ever more people in our community.

Our late President, John Reed, prepared my first contract and included a clause similar to ‘do his best to keep all the members happy.’ I’ve tried my utmost to fulfil this promise and wish to thank everyone I’ve met along the way and all of you for supporting the coaching programme.

Best wishes and love to you all.

Chris Cunningham.

Statement from the Club's Committee

Dear Members

We know that you will be shocked and saddened to read Chris’s resignation letter. He has been thinking about this for a long time and is convinced it is the right time for him. He leaves at the pinnacle of his coaching career, with a solid track history of professional success at the Club in the last three  three decades, and having made deep friendships with many of us over the years.

We know that you will want to add your own thanks and best wishes for his future to our own. But for Chris, many of us would not have enjoyed and succeeded at our sport, or found the friendship we have  at the Club. Some members have been in his coaching programme for 20 years and others were coached by him as children, and now bring our own children to be coached by him. We have all watched how he inspires the youngest children, supports those rehabilitating from injuries, deals patiently with the myriad personalities at the Club, and coaxes the best out of us all. He is also the first to volunteer to go above and beyond, taking responsibility for operational site management tasks that were never in his role description. He has been a tremendous support in recent months, and the success of our lockdown and reopening has largely been down to Chris.

There will be time for proper goodbyes and the priority now is to set the wheels in motion to find Chris's replacement and this will be done as quickly as possible.  The latest date on which Chris will leave is 25th July 2020, the natural end of the coaching programme before the Summer break . We have agreed that, if he can be released sooner without detriment to the Club and members, we will work towards an earlier date.

We have some confidence that the post will be attractive to other experienced coaches, and we will be looking for at least a Level 3 LTA accredited coach.

Members will inevitably be concerned about such a major change coming at a time when there is turbulence in everyone’s lives, so if you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch. Our aim is to secure a very good successor to build on Chris’s fine work.

Sally Gooch

Chair

07717 582150