We are opening Club News with a brief message from Jill.

It was lovely to see many of you at the recent AGM, my thanks once again to the Football Club for hosting us and opening the bar.

We are keen to continue to improve the offering we have for Junior and Adult members. Phil is looking to increase the number of Junior and Adult sessions midweek. Please see Phil message to you all later in this Newsletter.

If anyone fancies joining a team to make Bacon rolls and serve Hot drinks on a Saturday morning (last Saturday of the month). Please email me or one of the committee members if you can help. We wil only be able to do this is we have a group of volunteers to assist. 

Our Congratulations to Phil ( Our coach and an still an active tennis player ) who has recently successfully won The Bucks County Closed Senior Men’s 45 Doubles and The Bucks County Closed men’s 55 Singles.  
 

Finally, we would very much like to be able to increase our focus on Community activities. We value being a village club and we would like to continue to be seen as an active part of the village. We are incredibly happy to support local events where we can with publicity and volunteers (if members are happy to get involved). Please do get in touch with your ideas about how we can grow this area of the Club.

I am still a strong believer in BFTC continuing to be a club that offers a full range of Social, Semi Competitive and Competitive tennis to ALL our members and NEW prospective members allowing all members may welcome new players to our club and make them feel part of our Family.

 

AGM
This took place on Monday October 16th. The minutes have now been uploaded onto the website. If you have time, please take a few minutes to have a read to see what was discussed on the night.
 

We were pleased to present our awards at the recent AGM.

Roy Smith Cup

Every year this Cup is awarded to the most improved Adult Player at the Club. This year it was awarded to Felicity Bertin. Felicity was unable to be at the AGM, so Jill caught up with her shortly after the AGM, at the Club.

Most Improved Juniors

These are new awards that we felt as a committee, with the Help of Phil our coach, should be introduced for our Juniors who are recognised for their improvement as Junior players during the year. I am proud to congratulate Yasmin Mills and Rowan Bocker for thier achievements this year. Well done!

Contribution to the Club Award

This is a new award which the Committee wanted to make to acknowledge members who are regularly the first to volunteer and help. This year the Committee chose two members: John Bain and Matt Cannon. Both John and Matt have helped throughout the year in numerous ways. 

For those that do not know, John has volunteered his Saturday mornings to help with the Junior Coaching for the past 20yrs. John as given and continues to give up his Saturday mornings whether it be raining, snowing  or glorious sunshine . Thank you for your commitment to our club; for getting up early on those Saturday Mornings and for all you have done and continue to do for or club and especially the Juniors. 

Our Thanks also go out to Matt who has volunteered his services to assist with Facilities with the Help of the Hacro team. Matt gave up his time to widen our Car Park Entrances / exists and lay the stones under the Table. You will all agree that the Car Park and grounds are looking great. We could not have managed the year without them, and they both deserved a token of appreciation! John came forward to accept his Voucher. Matt was unable to attend the AGM so was presented with his Voucher shortly afterwards.

Our thanks also go to Laura and Evan for assisting Phil. If any member is interested in doing their Level 1 / Level 2 coaching, please contact Jill or Phil for more information.

Honorary Club President - Nick Leighton

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 It is our pleasure to have Nick Leighton awarded this prestige title by our Committee and Members. Nick has been and continues to be a valued member of our club who has assisted us voluntarily for the past 35 years and continues to provided us with sound advice and help wherever and whenever needed.

Committee Housekeeping

Prior to and during the AGM we received no nominations for the post of Head of Safeguarding & Welfare. This is a vital role, and the club cannot continue without this position being filled. As such and in the absence of volunteers Jo Alden has agreed to fill the position and joins the committee with immediate effect. Welcome on-board Jo I am sure you will be a real asset. I’d also like to thank the previous occupant Kay Gobby for all her sterling work during her time in this role and her continuing work in assisting Jo with DBS checks.

Similarly the Head of Admin was a vacant position and as there were again no volunteers , Danny Brennan has stepped forward to fill the vacancy but unlike Jo I will not be a committee member but will be more than happy to assist as & when required.

Facilities

 

Work on the fencing was carried out 30th & 31st October to provide better security at the club and the ability on both court areas to recover balls. You will notice there is a gate behind Court 2 and another between courts 4 & 5. These are locked and the code is on the Bovingdon Social Chat. Please ensure you all leave these locked when leaving the club.

The ball machine has been repaired and we are currently sorting out a method of hire & use. An update will follow in due course.

The leaf blower is to be kept in the clubhouse for everyone to use before playing in matches or social. It has a vacuum which is better than blowing.

Social Tennis Times

 

A reminder to all adult Members that you may attend ALL socials regardless of ability etc. The timings are as follows

Saturdays: from 1.00pm
Wednesdays: from 5.30pm
(floodlights in the winter)
Fridays: 09.30am till 12.30pm
Sundays: 11.00 till 1.30pm

Court Bookings
If you book a court and are subsequently unable to make your booking can you please make sure the court is cancelled to enable others to use it.

Coach

Our esteemed coach Phil Hill has attached the following message promoting his services for all players to be aware of his tennis background and the services he offers our club. We are lucky to have him on board and very much wants to put his expertise to good use for players to enjoy or improve their tennis.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well! For those I have not met yet, I am Phil- Director of Open Court Philosophy, the coaching provider here at BFTC.

I have coached for more than 35 years and lived in both Italy and Spain as part of my tennis coaching career. I love all forms of coaching and have a very varied background- from Toddlers, Juniors, Disability players, and Adults of all experience levels to travelling with professional players playing Grand Slams on the ATP, WTA, and Junior ITF tours! My mission has always been to get everyone out on court and enjoying the game.

I am a Level 5 LTA Master Performance Coach and an LTA Coach Education Tutor and am heavily involved in County tennis as Bucks Disability Coordinator and Bucks Senior County Coordinator, as well as still playing for the Bucks County teams.

The coaching programme at BFTC is designed to suit those of all ages and experience levels:

 

ADULTS

Beginner/Rusty Rackets

Monday: 1-2pm

If you are new to tennis (or you have not played for a while and fancy dusting off the rackets) … come and give it go!

Intermediates/ Improvers

Wednesday:10.30-11.30am

For those who attend social play sessions on Saturdays and Sundays or have some tennis experience and want to hone their doubles skills.

Phil’s Drills

Wednesday : 7-8.30pm

Open to all Club members and ability levels- this session is focused on learning the technical and tactical skills for doubles play.

 

JUNIORS

Toddler Tennis

Tuesday: 4-5pm

A fun way to develop coordination and introduce little ones to the game of tennis.

 

Team Tennis

Monday: 5-6:30pm

For players with some competitive experience/ Herts Youth League players keen to improve their game through drills and match play.

 

Saturday Morning Squads

Saturday: 9am- 1pm

An opportunity to learn the game and improve their skills in tennis whilst having fun with their peers- with coaching times based upon age and stage of their development.

All information regarding the coaching programme and how to sign up can be found on the BFTC website.

This is the current coaching program, but I am more than happy to discuss any additions to the programme that you would like to see, as well as helping players improve their games on personalised basis with individual lessons.

If you have any further ideas or suggestions to enhance the program, please do not hesitate to contact me on either pmhtennisservices@gmail.com or call me on 07900107953. 

New Members and returning members

Welcome to all our new members who joined the club in the last month. Welcome back to everyone who has renewed membership. We look forward to seeing you on court and at social events!