Author: Gillian Sanderson

After six rounds luckily with no rain interruptions, our American Tournament winners were Caroline Gaitley and Chris Rackham. Congratulations to both! We were pleased to welcome Deb Saund’s husband Paul and brother-in-law Dave to the club to present the trophies. Caroline received the new Deb Saund Memorial Trophy from Paul whilst Chris received the Beresford Marshall Memorial Trophy from Dave.  Many thanks to Steve for organising the tournament and Hazel for making tea for the players at the end. Also thanks to Andy for opening the bar. Good to see so many new members playing in their first tournament at the club.

Well done to club member Anthony Weingarten who won his first round match 6-3 6-3 in the LTA Youth National Series 18 & Under event held in Nottingham against his opponent ranked 15 nationally in the age group. Anthony then came up against the number 3 seed in his quarter final match and after taking the first set, eventually lost 8-10 in the third set championship tiebreak. The LTA Youth National Series was an initiative to get GB’s best juniors back to competitive play. Anthony was one of 16 players taking part in the third and final week of the series, so a great achievement for Anthony to be competing at this level.

A lovely evening at the club with five courts in use for Tuesday social tennis and a “bring your own picnic” in place of the planned barbecue proving popular with both old and new members. Thanks to Steve and Andy for looking after the bar. Postponed 100 club draws resulted in twelve March to August winners, with number 13 proving lucky for John Colman! The wheelie bin challenge was harder than it looked and the eventual winner was Alex Simpson, who is new to tennis and has been a member for just three weeks but had a great technique getting 5 out of 10 balls in the bin and taking the prize of a bottle of wine. Good to have a social event at the club again.

Starting later than usual with entries limited to 3 events per person and a rescheduled  finals day on Sunday 27th September, the 2020 Club Championships are underway. The draws are available on the LTA Tournament Software so they can be easily accessed away from the club.  Competitors will receive notification of matches to be played by email.  Please arrange matches within the play by dates and send results to Steve promptly.  Go to the Club Tournaments page on the website for individual links to each event.

Look at these archive photos featured in the Evening Echo on Monday 6th July 2020. The main photo is of Westcliff Lawn Tennis Club in 1924.  Almost 100 years ago but both our clubhouse and court layout are easily recognisable.

With doubles permitted again, it’s been good to see more members returning to the club to play.  The new online booking system has been well received by members https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/WestcliffLawnTennisClub  with the app ClubSpark Booker also available to install on your phone.  Limited size group coaching has also been given the green light and details will be available from Head Coach, Graham Boosey, of his planned weekly programme.

With the club set to reopen, Jane posted a photo of her free set of tennis balls marked ready for play.  This started a challenge among members to get creative!  Here are the results….

After many hours of work, Steve and Hazel have successfully set up an online court booking system for WLTC members to use. It is part of the LTA’s ClubSpark online platform and members will receive an invitation to register after which they will be able to sign in to use the booking system.  Here is the link to the webpage https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/WestcliffLawnTennisClub  There is also an app ClubSpark Booker which can be installed on mobile phones to give easy access to the system.  Any questions about the system, please contact Steve.