Tennis is Back!

Thank you to the ever-enthusiastic band of workers who have prepared the courts for our re-opening tomorrow. As we know, rules still exist to keep us all safe so we have updated the club guidelines. Please do read these as there is useful information contained within. If you are at the club please do register using either the link on the WhatsApp groups or the QR code on the posters at the club. And there is plenty of hand sanitizer so please use it!

Our first junior coaching session will take place on Saturday, 10th April, with our first social session being on Saturday, 3rd April. Given the rule of six and other guidelines, we will have to ask people to register for the Saturday social session. Martin and Jo will organise the first one and information will go out soon. There won’t be a social this coming Wednesday. Martin has put a note on the Bovingdon Tennis Social and the Weds evening club social WhatsApp chats. If you are not on these chats and would like to be added please contact jax.brabazon@gmail.com

Box Leagues

With the start of tennis we are able to start our popular box leagues again. The boxes remain unchanged from January so if you would like to be added or withdrawn please let Steve know. Deadlines: end of April for doubles and end of May for the singles. Good luck to all players! To remind yourself of your box please check on the website here.

Steve Spikings continues to run these so any questions please reach out to Steve at stephen.spikings+boxleague@gmail.com

Team News

Although we haven’t been able to play our Team Captain, Ali, has been busy getting us prepared for the upcoming season. While we are still waiting for confirmation indications are that the WDTL will start in May / June. We’ve confirmed our interest in entering at least two teams in each category, in addition to a new Mixed C team. 

Hot Rackets is likely to restart in April / May and we have entered two ladies teams and one men’s team. 

If you are interested in playing please let Ali know at ali@j-mer.co.uk Details of team captains can be found on the website here.

Safeguarding & Inclusion

This is a hot topic and rightly so. If you haven’t acknowledged that you have read our Safeguarding & Inclusion Policy, please do so – you do this by loging into the club site and editing your profile. It can be found under the Your privacy and consents tab. 

Coaching

The coaching team welcomes all players back to tennis and imagines that you are all desperate to get back to playing. A word of caution - please take it easy at the start and take care of your body by warming up before playing and stretching afterwards to turn those muscles off. 

As regards playing, the program will restart as before the lockdown:

Wednesday 

7pm - 8pm - Improvers 

8pm - 9.30pm - intermediate/advanced 

Friday (normally Wednesday but for Easter holidays will be Friday )

9.30am - 11am - Improvers/Intermediate 

If you are looking to improve your tennis please let the team know. Also if you would like to set up a regular coaching group session please don’t hesitate to contact Craig so he can let you know what can be done.

Juniors

There are still places on the junior Easter camps so if you’re interested, please email Craig at craig.tennis@outlook.comThe juniors coaching starts again on Saturday 10th April (NOT on 3rd April as previously communicated) so we are looking forward to seeing the courts packed with our young talent. We will also start the once-a-month Friday afternoon junior social sessions on 9th April. More information to follow on that one. 

Gin Tasting Evening

On Saturday, 13th March members were treated to a fun gin tasting evening. Six craft gins, paried with six different mixers were consumed while our amazing hosts regaled us with fascinating facts about the history of gin. We were assured that there would be no hangovers with craft gin and it appeared to be the case! Thanks again to Tim for the excellent suggestion and execution. More information here.

Reminders:

Membership Renewals – current memberships run out on 31st March so remember to renew so that you can continue to book free courts, get discounted coaching, take part in box leagues and be eligible for other benefits.

Visitors - the club has rules around visitors playing with club members. Our visitor rule is aimed at "occasional" use for those that, for example, want to bring someone out of area up to have a game of tennis. It is not for non-members to be able to come and play without joining. You are asked to play during the day or at weekends if possible and, as with non-members, please only book a court to play no more than 48 hours before so that our members get priority

Survey – the club survey results are out and the Committee is working on the strategy which will be presented at an upcoming EGM. Date to be announced. Thank you to all who gave such thoughtful and valuable input. 

Well, that’s it for this month’s edition. Enjoy your tennis and stay safe. See you all soon!

(Thank you to Rebecca and Brian for their photographs!)