Since these initial changes, a team led by David Marchant and including all the coaching staff, Darrell Cooke, Claus Cunild and myself, have been planning hard for the next phase for coaching at the club. Collectively we visited or talked to over 100 other tennis clubs. We had discussions not just with the LTA but also other sporting bodies including Rugby, Rounders, Hockey and Cricket to build up a picture of what is coaching best practice in a club such as ours. The resulting plan was presented to the Committee and approved in January 2010. Much of that plan has been covered before in newsletters or at the last two AGMs, but at a high level included:
On Sunday 4th October between 2 and 4pm, they will be working with local tennis talent from the Cavill Academy, who are based at Stony Stratford Tennis Club. The players will endure a 2-hour session from the internationally experienced coaches. The Cavill Academy coaches will also be working alongside Jo and Alan, to share and discuss opinions that will help advance the players in the future.
Stony Stratford Tennis Club, one of Bucks premier tennis clubs, is welcoming anyone to come along and see Alan and Jo in action with the players. Club Chairman, Simon Burn, said, This is a wonderful opportunity for the whole of Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas to come see the past and the future of tennis talent in one place. Jo and Alans results speak for themselves and we are delighted that they can come and inspire Milton Keynes young talent to hopefully go on to achieve great things. Stony Stratford Tennis Club is a great place to be, whatever level of tennis you play or even if you want to get started. Everyone is welcome to come and see who we are and what we are about.
Extract from the press release
Building on their success, in August Mark, Simon and Brian joined by Ian Spanswick entered the British Grass Court Championship to be held in London. Qualifying was at Raynes Park for entry into the main draw to be held at Wimbledon on the hallowed grass, week commencing 10th August. Justifying his number two Bucks ranking in the age group, only Brian made it through to the main draw of the singles, unfortunately meeting some pretty stiff opposition in the first round.The doubles pairings fared a little better and after some quick chatting up of the tournament referee, Alan Mills, both Ian/Brian and Mark/Simon got top billing on Courts 14 and 15 respectively, sandwiched between Number One and the Centre Courts. Both pairs won through to the Quarter-Finals where the fairy tale came to an abrupt end, Mark/Simon going out to the #1 seeds whilst Ian/Brian fought hard against the #3.
Spurred on by their success the boys travelled down to Maidenhead on the weekend of 26/27th September for the Maidenhead Vets and dominated the whole event. Ian got to the final of the Men's 45 singles, Brian won the Men's 45 singles plate and Mark & Adrian beat Brian & Ian in the final of the Men's 45 Doubles. I promised to Brian not to mention his opponent in final of the Plate. A 64 year old who after several hours at one set all said he didnt have long left on this planet so didnt want to spend the majority of it out here with Brian and walked off to live a little.
Onwards and upwards. More success for the Vets over the winter we hope with both Men's and Ladies teams in new leagues. You can find pictures from Wimbledon and Maidenhead in the Club Gallery.
All members are welcome to a family social day of mix in tennis starting at noon. We will be serving Pimms to keep you refreshed through what is likely to be a heatwave. It is after all a British Bank Holiday!
The BBQ will also be fired up so if you would like to bring something to cook, seat out on the balcony for your lunch and soak up the sun's rays.
On Sunday 18th January, Ben Westlake, an U16 member and regular at Junior nights and Friday teenage tennis, is performing on clarinet supported by the Cornerstone Chamber Orchestra of Abigail Burrows playing flute, Daniel de-Fry on the Harp and Adrian Boynton conducting. Since Ben took up the clarinet at the age of eight he has excelled, winning many national competitions and performs concertos regularly including many chamber music performances and solo recitals. Ben has played in many orchestras including the National Children's Orchestra in 2005 (where he was one of the first Lever Hulme Scholars), the CBSO Youth Orchestra from 2005-7 (who gave him a seat when he was 12 years old), and he is currently principal clarinet in the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. Ben also appeared on BBC2's Classical Star programme in 2007, was featured a lot and is now often recognised in the street. Ben currently studies clarinet with Karl Leister in Berlin. Peter Stark - Professor of Conducting, Royal College of Music said "I recommend him, without reservation, to anyone who wants to see young talent at its best."
An advertising poster can be found on the download section of this website, under Social Events, with more details. Alternatively you can visit Ben's website at www.benwestlake.co.uk where you will also find details of his latest CD. The evening begins at 7pm at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Milton Keynes with a pre-concert talk immediately followed by the performance. Tickets can be bought at the door for 12.50 adult or 5.00 child.
Our second event is a return of SSLTC's social Bridge Evenings on Friday 23rd January. The emphasis is on social and you are encouraged (read, we insist!) to bring a bottle of wine. Bidding comes so much easier after a glass! The evening is from 7pm, with tea, coffee and a sausage in a roll for snacks. The cost is 10 a pair towards club funds. If you are interested in a bit of a laugh and some good company over a few hands, call Alicia Lilley on 267295 or email her at alicia@online.rednet.co.uk, no later than Monday 19 Jan. A advertising poster can also be found on the download section of this website, under Social Events.
The LTA have developed Tennis Clubmark to recognise and reward clubs for the important contribution they make in developing tennis players and to British tennis in general. Other sports have similar programmes for their clubs, for example ClubFirst in the Hockey world. Tennis Clubmark is the LTAs club accreditation programme. Achieving Tennis Clubmark means the LTA endorses and supports the tennis programmes SSLTC delivers on court, and the policies and procedures we have in place off court. These are crucial to ensuring that SSLTC is managed effectively and that we provide a safe environment for junior members to enjoy and play tennis.
Tennis Clubmark provides a framework to help clubs such as ours improve ourselves, and to ensure that their programmes, policies and procedures are all in line with best practice. In achieving Tennis Clubmark we are demonstrating our contribution to the delivery of the Blueprint, by improving the quality of our club, our coaches that work within SSLTC and the competition that SSLTC delivers.
Both the Junior and Senior Club Championship finals took place on Sunday 7th September. After the initial dampish start, the sun even came out for brief periods allowing a small crowd to assemble, some without raincoats!
Congratulations to all the competitors this year. Some draws continue to attract a huge entry which is fantastic. In particular the Men's singles is always fiercely competitive with 32 entrants again this year. Both the earlier rounds and finals day saw their fair share of matches going to the final set or match tie break.
Full Junior results will be posted to this article just as soon as I have the results and scores. In the meantime here are the Senior results. You will also find some pctures from the day on the Photo Gallery
Ladies Singles: 2008 Champion: Sam Knaves Runner-up: Rachel Palmer Third Place: Ann Lambley Ladies Doubles: Champions: Rachel Palmer/Sam Knaves beat Alison Locke/Jenni Gatley 6-2 7-5
Mens' Singles: 2008 Champion: David Marchant beat Richard Finch 7/6 5/7 6/4 Men's Doubles: Champions: Ian Spanswick/Seb Calcut beat Simon Burn/David Marchant 6-2 5-7 6-3
Mixed Doubles: Champions: Jenni Gatley/David Marchant bear Rachel Palmer/Chris Cooke 6-2 7-5
Busy days for both Rachel and David.
Finals have come round again and we have some exciting matches to look forward to in both the Juniors and the Adult tournaments. The Junior programme will start at 10am and the Adult Singles from 11am. Please come down to the club and support. We are guaranteed both a previously uncrowned Ladies' and Men's Singles champions. There will be tea and cakes to help get you through the afternoon. Not all semi finals are complete yet, but the line ups so far are:
Ladies Singles: Round robin of the surviving competitors Ladies Doubles: Rachel Palmer/Sam Knaves vs Alison Locke/Jenni Gatley
Mens' Singles: David Marchant vs Richard Finch or Harry Kellner Men's Doubles: Ian Spanswick/Seb Calcut vs Simon Burn/David Marchant or Jez Tibbetts/Andrew Lawson
Mixed Doubles: Rachel Palmer/Chris Cooke vs Jenni Gatley/David Marchant
Busy days for Rachel and David. See you on Sunday
The title landed in Stony's lap when Newport Pagnell conceded their match on Tuesday 15th. Stony finish above Milton Keynes in second place and Gilpin slip to 3rd.
Congratulations to the whole squad of David Marchant (captain), Simon Burn, Seb Callcut, Seb Prioul, Ian Spanswick, Brian Hayward, Jez Tibbetts and Andrew Lawson. ...and a small thanks to the 2nd team who might have helped by beating MK A
Notable improvements are a new calendar. We will endeavour to keep this up to date including the number of courts booked out for each event. In time we will be able to have downloads and external links. In the more distant future there will be a secure membership area with contact details, ability to renew membership online, purchase from John's tennis equipment shop, an enhanced calendar and loads more.
The committee would like thank:
Once a month we get the new BBQ out too. The future dates for the BBQ are July 20th, August 17th and September 21st. (so you have advance warning as Budgens I think closes at 4pm). Wednesday club nights remain unchanged. Make sure you remember to put a bottle in your racket bag for the 20th and we look forward to seeing you then.
