Sunday 29 November 2015

Auction of Promises


President Andrew Franklin and his friend Tony (former Wasps Captain) take up their Auction of Promises bid of watching Wayne Barnes referee a Premiership rugby game and have a beer with the ref afterwards. The game was Wasps versus London Irish at Twickenham on 28th November. Andrew and Tony seen here with Barnsie and Sean Davey (Television Match Official) plus Roger King in the Prince Blucher after the match.



Charity tournament in aid of Shooting Star Chase Children's Hospice



Back on the 20th of September the club held a charity mixed doubles tournament to raise funds for the Shooting Star Chase Children's Hospice in Hampton. On the day Debbie Pearson and Chris Davis came out on top as winners.

Graham, Club Tournaments Manager and David, Club Treasurer, presented a cheque for £100 raised at the tournament to David Lyon,the representative of the Shooting Star Chase Children's Hospice, at the Club last Wednesday prior to the Playcom meeting.


TLTC receives TennisMark accreditation

TLTC has received accreditation under the LTA's TennisMark scheme. This replaces the previous ClubMark accreditation that TLTC also had. Tennismark is a way of recognising good standards and best practice at tennis venues in Britain.

Friday 24 July 2015

Chairman's update Summer 2015

It's been a busy, and unusually summery, three months since the last news update and there is lots to report.

The Winter Singles competitions were completed in April and congratulations to Ann Newport and John Howard for winning the trophies after defeating Philippa Christov and Chris Midgley respectively.

The annual Wing Plate tournament took place in May and the winners after a great afternoon's tennis were Andreas Whelan Merediz and Julia Kurzeja.  Little did we know at the time that this would be the first of many triumphs for Andreas this summer!

The Open Tournament Finals Day was held on Saturday 18th July.  In the matches that were played on the day Andreas won both Mens Singles (against Tom Brewis) and Doubles in partnership with Chris Midgely, against Alan and Jonny Cardy.  Both matches went to three sets and provided great entertainment for the spectators.  The Mixed Doubles was won by Carolyn Edwards & John Howard who defeated Ann Newport & David McWha, also in three sets.  On Monday evening the Ladies Doubles Final saw a titanic battle between Geri Cummins & Nuala O'Connor and Steph Harrison & Mayuko Akiyama. After two tie-break sets and in the gathering darkness, Geri and Nuala won a champions tie-break 10-7 to clinch the title.  The Ladies Plate was won by Sarah Cecil in a close match against Ali Cardy, and the Mens Plate went to David McWha for the second year running after Ollie Chan was forced to concede.

Thanks as always to Graham Gamble for organising the tournaments so efficiently and to everyone who provided food and helped with the post-match BBQ.  The final final - the Ladies Singles between Ann Newport and Carolyn Edwards - is scheduled to take place on 26th July.

The Summer League season started with the welcome news that our Veterans 2 team achieved promotion in the Winter. Congratulations to captain Steph Harrison and all her players.

Steph is also now captain of the Womens 1st team and they are having a good season in Division 1 West. Unfortunately a couple of teams have dropped out of the league, so the team will not play as many matches as expected, but currently they sit in 2nd place in what is now a 6-team league.  But fewer league games have been offset by more cup matches and the team reached the Middlesex Cup final where they came up against a strong team from Riverside Northwood on Club Finals Day.  It's the first time for several years that a club team has reached a county cup final, so congratulations to Steph and her team.

The Womens 2nd team currently lie 6th out of eight teams in Division 4. The team has much to play for in its remaining matches and every set looks likely to count. Sadly captain Philippa Christov broke her arm in a fall in a match at Brentham and is now leading from the sidelines.

The Womens 3rd team are having a great season under captain Ania Haskins and are currently top of Division 6 with one match to play. They recently achieved a great win over 2nd placed Will to Win Chiswick and look strong favourites for promotion.

The Mens teams have found the going a bit harder this year after the loss of several regular players from last season.  Mens I look to be in a fight to avoid relegation from Division 2 with the outcome likely to go down to the wire on the last match of the season.  Best of luck to Rob Blundell and his team.

Mens 2s are going well in Division 5 and are currently 2nd in a very tight league. Again every set will count as Damian Tambirasa and his team look to bounce back after an unlucky relegation last summer.

Mens 3 are finding life hard in Division 6 and are currently at the foot of the table. But a strong finish to the season could see Peter Saunders' men stave off relegation. Adam King's Mens 4s are in 7th place out of 8 in Division 9 and defeated local rivals Whitton in a crucial match on the hottest day of the year.

Good luck to all our teams for the remainder of the season and huge thanks to our team of caterers for home matches.  It seems that Twickenham has quite a reputation on the 'circuit' for both the quality of the food we offer and the contents of our fridge!

Away from competitive tennis, our social sessions continue to be busy at weekends, but it would be good to get more players down on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Hopefully the combination of Wimbledon and summer weather will tempt more people to come down and join in.  Chris Davis ran a successful and enjoyable Friday evening tournament in June and thanks to Guy Pearson for cooking up a delicious paella.  Thursday and Friday daytime social tennis continues.

The junior tennis programme has been very busy in recent weeks, not least with their own tournaments which have been expertly organised by Andrea Costello.  Holiday tennis camps are also taking place over the summer.

Eight separate events were staged with finals on four different dates  to accommodate everyone's availability.  Here are the results in age order:

U8 Boys & Girls Competition : Cormac Henry beat Oscar Mo 10-5
U9 Boys & Girls : Elise Jimenez beat Patrick Henry 7-3, 8-6
U9 Box League Results : Boys & Girls Matthew Taylor won his group box league with 70points and Rocco Yellen with 51 points came 2nd
U12 Boys & Girls : Oscar Midgley beat Jacob Elley 1-4, 4-2, 4-0
U14 Boys : Noah Goalen beat William Thomas 6-4, 6-3
U16 Boys : Noah Goalen beat William Thomas 6-1, 6-3
U18 Boys : Sam Derbyshire beat James O'Farrell 7-5, 6-4 (that was the best match this year with fantastic rallies, a display of drop shots, lobs chasing lobs and carrying on a bravely fought point time and time again!...)
U18 Girls: Shelby Rowe beat Freya Connor 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 6-2 (another nail biting contest between last year's girl finalists!)

Earlier in the summer, The Road To Wimbledon event ended up with a super match between Noah Goalen and Joshua Breadmore (6-3, 7-5 to Noah)  Tennis leaders accreditation has been taking place in July and we currently have four 14 -16 year olds working towards their certification.

Off the courts, thanks are due to Paul for repairing benches and putting up new nets; and to JJ for maintaining the off court areas. Andrew and Gloria Franklin have made a wonderful job of the memorial garden and it looks fantastic at the moment.  We are engaged in dialogue with local residents over some of the issues around our potential application for court lighting.

And let's not forget, in all the activities of the summer, we have been awarded Tennismark status by the LTA.  Congratulations to all involved who worked hard to achieve this national recognition of good practice.

Sunday 12 July 2015

Summer Holiday Tennis Camps

Two weeks for ages 9&U and 10 - 16 Half day £18 Full day £35
Mini world ( 9&U half days : 10.30 - 12.30)
Maxi world (10+) fulll days : 10.30 - 3pm)
w/c 27th July 10.30 - 3pm 
w/c 3rd August 10.30 - 3pm
To register your child/children please contact our Head of Coaching Andrea Costello zippycostello@yahoo.co.uk 

Sunday 19 April 2015

TLTC Spring 2015 Update


Club AGM in March

At the club's Annual General Meeting in March, Roger King stepped down after two three-year terms as Chairman. Thanks to Roger for all he has done for the club and we are delighted that he is remaining on the Club Committee to look after 'Facilities', as well as working closely with John on the Lights Application. John Howard and Liz Emmens were voted in as Chair and Deputy Chair Claudio Maggio has stepped down from the committee - thanks to Claudio for all his work over the years.

The full comittee is now: John Howard (Chairman); Liz Emmens (Deputy); Diran Meghreblian (Secretary); David Snow (Treasurer); Roger King (Facilities); Graham Gamble (Playing); Andrea Costello (Coaching/Juniors); Chris Davis (Bar & Social); David McWha (Web Site IT); Steph Harrison (Membership); Philippa Christov (Safeguarding/Membership); Mandy Bullen (Catering)

We are looking to add someone to the committee to look after Publicity - which is essentially providing up to date information for the web site. If anyone is interested in taking on this role, please contact John in the first instance.

In addition to Mandy, we have several other excellent 'in-house' caterers, including Nuala, Geri, Sabrina and Chab. Thanks to all of them - and to everyone who gives up their time for the club.

Winter League Season

The Winter league season has recently finished. The club fielded 7 teams in various leagues and their final results were:-

Womens 1 - 5th in Division 2 (out of 9) Captain - Mayuko Akiyama

Womens 2 - 4th in Division 4 (out of 9) Captain - Philippa Christov

Womens 3 - 8th in Division 4 (out of 9) Captain - Ania Haskins

Mixed 1 - 7th in Division 2 (out of 9) Captain - Rob Blundell

Veterans 1 - 4th in Division 4 (out of 6) Captain - Ann Newport

Veterans 2 - 1st or 2nd in Division 7 (out of 6) Captain - Steph Harrison

Veterans 3 - 6th in Division 8 (out of 7) Captain - Roger King

Thanks to all who played, especially those who travelled to the far corners of North West London in the evening rush hour, and special thanks to all the team Captains.

Vets 2 finished top of their league at the end of March, but a couple of matches are still to be played, so we are waiting to see if their deserved promotion is confirmed.

Also on the playing side we shouldn't forget the Winners of the Men's Handicap Doubles held over from the end of last year. This was won by James Hurworth (rapidly becoming the club's 'Handicap King') & Jonny Cardy, who beat Tido Eger and Andrew Greenleaf in a well-contested Final.




Juniors


Our Summer term kicked off with three full days of Easter Tennis Camps. Despite some blustery winds our committed juniors (ages 9&U through to 16) turned up on all three days. The morning went very quickly with instructional delivery on fundamentals both physical & technical and we moved swiftly after lunch to TLTC's most popular games: touch the net/round the world/21.

The developmental courses and squads started last weekend and we envisage a busy summer schedule for our coaches. If you are interested in signing up your child/children or interested in beginner adult/improver/advanced coaching sessions please contact our Head of Coaching Andrea Costello on 07747 108131 or email:

zippycostello@yahoo.co.uk

Big Weekend (10th to 12th April) - Everyone's A Winner!

Huge Thanks to Chris for organising such a great weekend. Friday saw a Wine Tasting of high quality wines and some fantastic food provided by Sabrina, Chab and Mandy.

Saturday featured the Grand National Sweepstake which saw 12 winners (four for each of the first three places) and a tidy profit for the club.

The climax of the weekend saw the Davis Cup on Sunday, a tie-break based tournament which involved players from across the club. After a great day's tennis, the winners in the two groups were Philippa and Clare, while Jake, Andreas, Liz, Julia, David McWha and Mandy all featured very strongly.

Also on Sunday Rob brought down a speed gun to check our serving speeds. The current hot shot is Harvey with a speed of 110mph. The challenge is on!

What's Coming

Next events are the latter stages of the Winter Singles competitions; the Wing Plate and Wimbledon Draw on 10th May; and the Open Tournament which gets under way very shortly.

Please make sure you have paid your annual sub - and enjoy your tennis in 2015!

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Quorn Family Tennis Cup


We were the first club to stage the Quorn Family Tennis Cup on the 21st March, despite a really really cold Saturday, parents and children absolutely loved the event. We had 11 entrants so we opted for two box leagues. The format was tiebreak to 10 points and winners of each box league played each other for the final. The players named their box leagues : “The Heart” and “The Awesome Team”. Guess which team the winning pair was ???!!! Yes you got it ..."The Awesome Team".

A note from a participating parent with two children taking part in the event:
The LTA Quorn family tennis day was brilliant fun. It gave us all the opportunity to play tennis as a family and to have a laugh together. The spirit of the day was fantastic with adults getting the children to rally as much as possible and really get to play some good shots. The underarm rally meant the younger children could get as involved as the older children. Andrea managed the event seamlessly and her enthusiasm is always infectious! A great day had by all, we will return next year on centrecourt! Trudy