Congratulations to Helen Hill who was voted Hereford and Worcester Volunteer of The Year for 2011. Helen has been a member of Wythall Tennis Club for 40 years serving on the committee numerous times, never losing her enthusiasm for the sport or club.  In 2007 she became ladies captain, with so many experienced ladies retiring there was concern for the future of ladies league tennis. Through her commitment the ladies team continued and there is now a second team for 2012. Helen remains an inspiration to everyone at the club.

We will be holding our club open day on Sunday August 14th from 1pm – 4pm

We have activities and coaching available throughout the afternoon for the whole family, and Maurice Robinson Sports will be on site with the latest Yonex rackets available for you to try out plus a range of tennis bargains.

Rackets for all ages can be borrowed on the day. So whether you’re a complete beginner looking to give tennis a try, or a seasoned pro looking to get back into the swing of things, come check us out!

The Warwickshire LTA invited 30 juniors from the club to spend the day at the Women’s Aegon Classic tournament on June 7th at the Edgbaston Priory Club. For many it was their first experience of this level of tennis.

In addition to the visit the juniors had a great time enjoying a 45 minute session in the Highland Spring Kids Zone. Parents were welcome to attend and many took advantage of the offer. All the juniors were a credit to the club throughout the visit.

To celebrate the visit club polo shirts were designed and procured for the club by Larissa Hobbs-Jones. All the children looked very smart in their club shirts so thank you Larissa for all your efforts.

The latest Hereford & Worcestershire league tables for June place Wythall in 5th place for the county. Clubs are split between 3-5 courts and 6+ courts, as the larger clubs have more courts available for matches and other activities. Based on these criteria we were placed 2nd in the county in our category. Congratulations and a big thank you for the hard work of everyone involved.

Wythall Tennis Club open day from 2pm

Club coach Les Swaby is running free coaching sessions throughout the afternoon of the Carnival for adults and children. This includes the latest rackets which can be tried out during the session.

Maurice Robinson Sports will also attend with various types of sportswear for sale at discount prices.

So if you’d like the opportunity to try out the sport and have a go with the latest rackets come and visit us!

The Wythall and Hollywood Fun Run will be taking place on Sunday 20th June.

For more information and to register please visit the official website here

Wythall held a boys and girls tournament again this year. The entries from Wythall were the highest in Hereford and Worcester with 22 boys and 12 girls taking part. Nathan Snow won the boys final beating Sam Robinson with Hannah Murray winning the girls final against Emily Harris. All four finalists now represent the club at the County Finals at Malvern on the weekend of 19th /20th June.

In the AEGON 8U league Wythall are second in their league. Their only defeat was away to leaders Worcester. The team recorded wins away at Droitwich and home against Inkberrow. Their final match is at home against Belbroughton. The 8U won the league in 2209 and with three of the squad now moving to 9U to be second is a testament to depth of junior tennis at Wythall.

The 9U team in the AEGON league are unbeaten and joint top with HDA who they play in the final match of the season on June 13th to decide who wins the league. The team had two good away wins at Belbroughton and Boughton beating Hallow and Ledbury at home.

Wythall Tennis Club was voted club of the Year for 2009 by the Hereford and Worcester LTA. Club captain Kevin Turner received the award on behalf of the club.

It seemed fitting that the award was presented by Ian King who is President of the H&W LTA and past President of the LTA as Ian opened the new Clubhouse in 2000. We have a come a long way in those nine years and the committee is confident we can continue to improve.

As chairman Rob Spencer commented it has been a remarkable 12 months in Wythall Tennis Club’s history. Our achievement is an example to any rural tennis club what can be achieved.  In essence we offer everyone the chance to play tennis while borrowing a racket from us until they decide if the sport is for them.

A critical part of the award was the clubs work in providing tennis to the community at a realistic price.  A club coach ran an after school club at Woodrush Secondary School during the summer with the club providing tennis balls for the lessons and other coaching equipment if required.  At the Coppice Primary School there was a different challenge for the club. With facilities after school at a premium an after school course was not an option.  This was solved by a coach from the club coaching tennis in curriculum time as a PE lesson. Any expenses incurred by the coach were covered by the tennis club. This initiative began in April and ran until half term in October.  From these lessons many children began to attend the Saturday pay and play sessions.
The club now have 2 junior club nights a week coaching mini red – orange – green and improvers. Non members are welcome but pay a small surcharge and these are well attended. If anyone is interested please contact Kevin Turner on 01564 200282. The courses start again in February.

An example of how popular these initiatives have been was confirmed when the extended schools coordinator if from our attendance forms the club could quantify how many juniors from the local schools play at the club. This included non members who attended pay and play plus junior nights. The total was 83 which is proof the programme is working.

Roll on 2010!

Two of our mini red juniors, Jacob Cope aged 6 and Ruby Lee aged 7 are now being monitored by Matt Allen who is the Talent Coordinator for H&W LTA after impressing at an talent ID day earlier in the year. Both juniors are attending a further assessment in February and we wish them all the best with our full support for their progress.