Hello everybody,

We hope you will be renewing with us for another year or maybe joining us for the first time. We aim to be a friendly and inclusive club, encouraging people of all ages and levels of experience to have the opportunity to play and enjoy tennis. Whether you are a full member, a junior or someone who can only play occasionally, this is your club. You will be able to find plenty of opportunity to improve your game, keep fit and enjoy the experience.

Our membership subscriptions have increased this year due to inflation but on first glance it may appear they have gone up by more than you might expect. This is because we have added the £10 per adult cost of being a member of the Wythall Community Association (WCA) into our subscription instead of treating it as a separate charge. The WCA is the largely voluntary body responsible for running Wythall Park for the benefit of its members. As we are located in the Park we all have to be members of WCA to play tennis here. If you are already a WCA member or a member of Wythall Community Club then just let us know your membership number and we’ll knock off the £10 charge.

It has been wonderful to have new LED lights installed on three of our courts during 2022. They provide excellent lighting and will hopefully be more efficient on energy. We also expect the bulbs to last longer, ensuring more opportunity to play during those cold dark evenings we all love. It is great to have high-quality courts and lights and we appreciate the time and effort people have invested to build this club up over the years.

Finally, our coaching team of Alex Doffman and Les Swaby continue to provide a wide range of options for all ages. There are opportunities for adult beginners, regular social tennis and competitions, as well as league teams for those wanting to represent the club. At our presentations event in January it was lovely to hear some of our newer members appreciating the welcome they had received. We want everyone to enjoy their tennis with us.

Chris Maggs,
Chair

As you know the committee has been investigating possible LED Floodlight companies and have gathered a range of quotes and specifications for various ideas. And even entered a competition for free floodlights.

Our Welfare Officer, Andy entered a competition with JHP Electrical. The competition was for free LED lights for a court/pitch etc and their installation. When Andy entered this competition we didn’t expect to win but, guess what….? WE WON! This was a amazing surprise and opportunity for our club. We are grateful that JHP were providing such an expensive but much appreciated competition. The installation of court 2 LED floodlights was in August 2022.

JHP, have provided us with drone footage for the lights they have fitted and a couple of aerial shots. Here you can see the difference between the LED lights they have fitted on court 2 and our original floodlights on court 1.

We are also pleased to announce we have decided to have JHP fit court 1 with the same LED lights.

Testimonials:

Having coached at a number of clubs across the UK the newly installed lights are one of the best I’ve played under. The difference in glare and ball visibility is noticeable and I’d recommend them to any club going forward.

Alex Doffman, Head Coach

First and foremost I must congratulate your installation team. I am not brilliant with names but if I am correct they were Bayley and Lucy. They were punctual on both days and very professional throughout their time on site. Bayley encountered a number of issues as the lights being dismantled were over 30 years old. The only solution was to grind original brackets off to solve the issue. Rubber mats were in place so the cherry picker wheels were never directly in contact with our court surface. The perimeter fence was pulled away from the upright posts so the cherry picker could gain access to the courts and the fence returned to original state. I and other members are impressed with the newly installed lights. The immediate improvement is the difference in glare and ball visibility. It is even more noticeable as the adjacent court has not yet been converted to LED.

We would recommend JHP to any tennis club or sports outlet.

Kevin Turner, Club Captain

Unfortunately, this year we lost Alan White. Our condolences and thoughts are with all his family and friends. We held a minute silence in his name before the tournament began.

Alan, was much loved here at WTC, he helped us get a lottery grant which built the clubhouse and put floodlights on court 3. We are so grateful for everything Alan did for our tennis club. We will miss him.

As you know the committee has been investigating possible LED Floodlight companies and have gathered a range of quotes and specifications for various ideas. And even entered a competition for free floodlights.

Back in July 2022, we had our first LED Floodlights fitted. These were installed by ORBS. Our club captain, Kevin worked hard and find the best quotes for the type of LED lights required for our courts while taking into consideration the clubs location. A huge thanks goes to Kevin for all his hard work and commitment to this club. These lights have greatly improved court 3 availability and have extended play times for all members.

Moving forward to court 2. Our Welfare Office, Andy entered a competition with JHP. The competition was for free LED lights for a court/pitch etc and their installation. When Andy entered this competition we didn’t expect to win but, guess what…. we WON! This was a amazing surprise and opportunity for our club. We are grateful that JHP were providing such an expensive but much appreciated competition. The installation of court 2 LED floodlights was in August 2022.

We hope all members enjoy the use of our new LED floodlights. We hope to have court 1 converted in due course as well.

We introduced club morning (Rusty Rackets) a couple of months ago on a Wednesday morning between 10am until 12noon. This was a great trial to get players to join the club and enjoy playing tennis.

Unfortunately, this trial has now finished. The last session will be on Wednesday 15th June 2022. The committee will discuss in their next meeting whether to continue these sessions.

Thank you

The men’s singles ladder was created in lockdown for some friendly competition.

In 2021, 77 matches where played in total from July 1st 2021, so not a bad effort from all involved. In the final was Les Swaby and Craig Lock . Les beat Craig 6-1 6-2.  The match was a good watch and Craig gave his all but Les’s experience and technical ability saw him lift the Wythall’s Men’s Singles Ladder trophy for 2021! 

Hopefully with a few tweaks to the format we go again in March 2022.

The Knockout Rounds:

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Ladder Rules:

1. As it’s friendly competition the core aim is to first and foremost play as much tennis as possible, keeping fit and healthy. But this time your goal is to avoid the bottom 3, and again trying to finish as high as possible. Qualifying for the last 16, making it through the knockout stages and all the way to the final to be crowned champion!

2. Exactly the same as last season every match is to be the best of 3 sets. For example : If you win 2.0 in sets, you win the match. If it’s 1.1 in sets it will be decided by an extended tiebreak (first to 10 points… to win by a clear 2 point margin). 

3. Also the same as last season you’re allowed to challenge anyone 1, 2 or 3 places above yourself. You cannot challenge below.

4. If the challenger wins he will move up and swap places with the loser. If the challenger loses, the positions will remain the same (as last season).

5. The ladder will be updated in order of results coming in.

We hope you will be renewing with us for another year or maybe joining us for the first time. We aim to be a friendly and inclusive club, encouraging people of all ages and levels of experience to have the opportunity to play and enjoy tennis. Whether you are a full member, a junior or someone who can only play occasionally, this is your club. You will be able to find plenty of opportunity to improve your game, keep fit and enjoy the experience.

We look forward to enjoying fine weather and plenty tennis with you this year.

Our Membership Renewal Form:

At our AGM, we have decided to create a new club social session.

Introducing to you… club morning (Rusty Rackets)! Every Wednesday 10am until 12noon.

This social is perfect for:

🎾Members who would like a gentle hit

🎾Members who play a slower, but still competitive game

🎾New members to help engage and make new friends

🎾New tennis players/players who are re-discovering the love of tennis

Please note, this is a 3 month trial and will be reviewed by the committee. This new session has the same rules as any club afternoon/night. This session is already booked for you on the online court booking sheet.

The eagle-eyed members would have noticed that court 4 has been available to book during club hours and coaching. This is no mistake, your not seeing things!

We decided to have a trial period of court 4 being open for both off-peak and full members to book.

Our aim with this initiative was to be fair to all members. To allow off-peak members the chance to book a court during club times in-turn this will help different members mix and socialise together. We know it can be daunting for new members to find other members to play with and we hope this will help. We wanted to make sure that all members can book a court if needed and that there is one free court available to do this.

So from this successful trial period we have decided to continue with this court 4 initiative. This means we can offer at least one court (court 4 only) for both off-peak and full members to book during weekdays and weekends.

Please note: Saturday Pay & Play will still have all 4 courts as this session is open to members and non-members and numbers can vary week on week. Also Sunday afternoons will still have 4 courts due to being a popular club session.

Happy Playing…

The following is the procedure for parking at Wythall Park from Monday 23rd November 2020. All details can be found on the signage in the car park or via their website here.

The system is pay on entry using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition).

On entry to the car park, the vehicle entry will be recorded by the ANPR camera. There will be a grace period of 15 minutes, between entry and exit points, to allow for taxi and parent/child drop off. Also to allow the driver time to park and purchase the required ticket.

To purchase the ticket at the machine, enter your vehicle registration number, or part of, until your number plate shows on the screen. You then follow the instructions on-screen. (This is not pay and display and no windscreen ticket is issued).

For full information on charges and procedures please visit WCA Website here…