Hello Everybody,

Welcome to the 2020 newsletter. 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. Or perhaps you are looking at the possibility of joining. Be assured that you would be very welcome. You will be able to find plenty of opportunity to improve your game, keep fit and enjoy the experience.

Our fourth and final court was laid with artificial grass last year and we are very pleased to have so many all-weather surface courts to play on. They have proved very effective over the winter and we aim to keep them in good shape. One of our members, Dave Winters, has taken on the role of leading the maintenance and we are grateful to him and to Kevin Turner who does so much for the club alongside many other volunteers.

Our club is situated in a private park run by the Wythall Community Association. Maintaining this park is not easy. As a charitable trust it also relies on a team of local volunteers. Unfortunately, the Trustees have not been able to balance the books for a while now and reserves are depleted. The action they have decided to take is to increase rents significantly (our rent has doubled this year). This represents £2,000 we had not budgeted for. We are challenging this but ultimately any increase will have to find its way through to our membership fees. We have not done so this year though. The small increase against last year’s membership represents inflation and a small allowance for maintenance costs. We believe this continues to offer good value for a year of tennis at the club. If anyone is interested in becoming a Trustee of the Association in order to represent the Tennis Club and play an active role in the future of the park, then please let myself or Kevin know.

Our coaching team of Alex Doffman and Kevin Turner continue to provide a wide range of options for all ages. We encourage juniors to participate in local competitions and have had some notable successes. Youngsters are invited to join with the adult players as they develop so that they gain experience and again this has proved beneficial in improving everyone’s game. There are opportunities for adult beginners, regular social tennis and competitions, as well as league teams for those wanting to represent the club. It truly is a club for all and we look forward to enjoying the sport with you this year.

Chris Maggs,
Chair

On Sunday 9th Feb 2020 WTC held its annual Presentation Afternoon to celebrate its members achievements within 2019.

Last year, we introduced a new competition called ‘The Over 50’s Tournament’ which was a great success from the start with many members getting involved. A huge thanks goes to the LTA who helped with tournament funding. Additionally, this now means WTC has a huge total of 15 in-house tournaments for all ages and genders to participate and enjoy.

On the day, we presented trophies and awards to those who have achieved success over the past year (2019) and after we all enjoyed a meal together. The event was attended by many members and their families to celebrate everyone’s successes. Thanks goes to all the committee members who helped the event run smoothly.

2019 Results:

Junior Winners:

Congratulations to all our Winners and Runners-up, of our in-house tournaments and to our juniors success too. Good luck to everyone in our 2020 competitions.

Let’s play more tennis this year… 

Here at WTC we have:

Junior and Adult coaching on Monday and Wednesday nights every week, coached by our Head Coach, Alex Doffman and Club Captain, Kevin Turner.

Don’t forget we have club evenings on Tuesday and Friday nights including Ladies only nights on a Thursday. As well as Sunday afternoon socials for all members to take full advantage of. Here is our timetable.

Remember, Saturday mornings are for members and non-members to enjoy coaching for a very low cost and most importantly to have fun and exercise at the same time. For more information please visit our coaching page.

For prospective members please just pop along for a couple of hours on the weekend either Sunday Social or Saturday Pay & Play, a warm welcome is guaranteed to all!

🎾 Wythall Tennis Club can help you hit that Tennis Ball! 🎾

Since 2015, WTC has had a vision to update all four of our courts. We decided on Astro-Turf because of its many benefits. Astro-Turf is less slippery when it rains and dries out much quicker too. Another benefit is that the ball is slower and bounces lower, they are softer than a hard court, and therefore gentler and more forgiving on the joints. Our courts would be all-weather and used all year-round.

With this in mind, we started applying for small grants from the local council and creating fundraising events. Court 1 & 2 were updated in May 2016 which were self-funded through membership fees and fundraising. Court 3 was June 2018, where we were awarded a grant for £17,790 from Bromsgrove District Council (backed by our Councillor Sue Baxter) from a community fund provided by developers building new homes in this area.  At the start of August this year, Court 4 was also laid with Astro-Turf using club funds raised again through membership fees, fundraising and support from local events like the Wythall & Hollywood Fun Run.  

Fundraising and community events have included family skittles evenings, presentation afternoons and we were even hired at St. Marys Church to coach.  So, we would just like to say a huge thank you to our members for their continued support and to the local community because without you we could not have fundraised the money to update our club.   

We now have four Astro-Turf, all weather, all year-round courts and we feel very lucky and blessed to have them. We hope they will be well used not just by our regular members but by the wider community so that as many people as possible can enjoy the game of tennis.  Thank you.

Below for just a few pictures of our new courts…

On Sunday April 28^th Wythall Tennis Club held their Spring Mini Green tournament. Those taking part were Lewis Bridgens, Harry Kazmi, Ethan Astle and Matthew Powell.

After the round robin matches Lewis and Matthew qualified for the final and Ethan and Harry then played for 3^rd place.

Ethan took 3^rd place defeating Harry in a close match and Lewis won the final against Matthew 4-2.  

Wythall Tennis Club held their Spring Mini Orange tournament on Saturday April 27^th. The juniors who entered were: George Hughes, Eban O’Reilly, James Tonks, Alex Willett, Noah Hemming and Katie Bridgens.

There was excellent tennis throughout the afternoon with Noah and Eban only just missing out qualifying for the semi finals. These saw George defeating Katie and James winning against Alex.

The final was won by George, defeating James 7-2.

Throughout the event Evie Hughes was a very efficient ball girl.    

In March 2019 Wythall Tennis Club won the Stratford and District Winter League Doubles Floodlit Plate final. This was held at Littleton Tennis Club.

The achievement was even more impressive considering Tom Bick and Phil Todd were drawn away for all their qualifying matches. They beat Warwick Tennis Club, Shipston and Beckford.  In a close semi final Tom and Phil defeated Alcester.

The final was Wythall vs. David Lloyd Coventry. In the first set Wythall were in control until David Lloyd broke serve and took the set 6-4. Wythall levelled taking the second set 6-1. Wythall broke serve twice early in the final set to win the match and title 6-3.