BROADBRIDGE HEATH TENNIS CLUB

BBHTC – CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – 2008

Since last year’s AGM, the committee have tried various strategies to increase participation with mixed results. There are some new ideas to be discussed later this evening.

MEMBERSHIP
There has been a slight decrease in numbers this year, from 110 to 92, which is obviously disappointing, but there have been quite a few new members, so if we can get more people to join in that would be good.

CLUB TOURNAMENT
As usual of recent years, there was an extremely good level of entries in most categories. Once again the weather played havoc with matches, but eventually on a glorious weekend in September, the finals took place. Some titles were retained but there were several new champions! Robert Leigh is men’s singles champion for the 4 year but it was a very close match with Ken Pierce being within 3 games of getting his hands on the trophy when he got injured. Maybe next year Ken! We have a new ladies’ champion when Joanne Coombs beat Claire Pierce. Joanne, with daughter Sarah, also won the doubles beating myself and Elaine Jowett in our usual gruelling 3-setter! Men’s doubles were won by Robert Leigh and Roger Jowett after a lengthy battle against Nick Trout and Tim Shelton. Unfortunately Tim sustained an injury during that match which means the mixed doubles final has still to be played when he is fit again. The junior title was won by Tom Leach after a fantastic match against Ben Lines which went the full distance and both boys played brilliantly with the lead going from one to the other right to the end. Congratulations to all the winners!

COACHING
We changed the format this year so that each session was a specialised clinic covering areas such as backhand or volleying, which members could do just one or several. The general consensus was that it was a better format and will probably be repeated next season.

COURT USE AND CLUB SESSIONS
Having had a return to such good numbers last year, I feel the club sessions have been disappointing this year. However on a positive note we have some ideas for a new format but as that is on the agenda for later we will discuss it then. American Tournaments have been quite well attended – the October one had nine people. The Wimbledon event and BBQ was a great success.

COURT MAINTENANCE
The courts were treated and cleaned at the start of the season. However the jet-washing caused some damage to areas of the courts which we have been trying to get repaired for many months – I am greatly relieved to report that the work was finally carried out last week. I had a look yesterday and it is certainly better although apparently any remaining holes are too small to fill in effectively. There may be a need to treat the moss again before too long. I have to feed back to the company so I’d be grateful for the opinion of others before I do. One of the screens has been removed as where it over-lapped there was a “sail “ effect and the posts had to be repaired.

SUMMARY
My thanks go to the committee for their hard work and support over the last year. Let’s hope that together with member’s support we can all get the maximum out of our club.

Sue Whitty
Chairman
BBHTC