It’s been a busy May and with public holidays, sunshine and lengthening days it feels like our summer tennis season has well and truly begun. I hope you’re able to get out and enjoy your tennis over the next few months – it’s a great all-year round sport but (certainly for me) it’s nice not to have to play in a coat and hat!
Emma Pattison
Club Chair
Floodlights
Did you know that changing to LED floodlights will mean we reduce our carbon emissions(CO2 e) by 6.4 tonnes every year? That’s equivalent to an average car being driven for 16,000 miles or a smartphone being recharged 768,000 times!
The project to replace our floodlights is continuing at pace – a contractor has been selected and the technical details of the new installation have been agreed. We’ve secured a grant of £8,000 from Bristol Airport to help pay the bill – this is fabulous news and much appreciated by the club.
We have other external funding options in the pipeline to help us meet 50% of the total c.£50k project cost, with the remainder paid from our club funds. We’ll update you on this next month…
Coaching the Coaches
Nationally, there is a shortage of coaches in tennis, yet at our club we are blessed with the number and quality of coaches we have to run our tennis programme, including group and private coaching sessions. This is a result of the brilliant coach mentoring scheme that develops children and adults into LTA Coaches, run by Ben Tilling (our Tennis Manager and Head Coach).
Thanks to the unique programme conceived by Ben, over 75 individuals have gained their LTA Level 1 badges, over 30 gained their LTA Level 2 accredited badges, and three have gained Level 3 accreditation. These three have gone on to take Club or Head Coach roles in the county – including Tom Fowler at Backwell, and Andy Gray at Saltford.
As well as building coaching capability, this programme makes a significant difference to young lives – helping to build self-confidence, self-management and communication skills as well as opening up opportunities for new career or life experiences. This year, Mattie Knowles will be the third coach from Backwell to teach tennis at Camp America, and programme alumni like Freya Hollowood, Tom Jackson and Emily Sparks have all used their skills in their University tennis teams.
We should all be proud of this programme but also grateful for the energy and commitment of Ben and everyone who attends it. It’s a great asset for our Club – long may it continue!
Let's Get Digital!
Social media is an important part of today’s society and we are interested in exploring how we use digital tools to help us attract new players, market our club and engage with our existing membership community.
We have a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of (free!) digital mentoring from the experts at Deloitte Consulting and we are looking for a small group of volunteers from our members to help us. This will not be a significant time commitment but is a great opportunity to make a difference to the club – either by using your existing skills or by building new ones.
Please contact Emma if you are interested in getting involved.
Prime Video LTA Youth Girls programme / Summer Holiday Coaching Camps
We are proud to support the Prime Video LTA Youth Girls programme which will help young girls enjoy tennis for the first time. The course is £35 for six weeks of coaching including a racket, balls and t-shirt.
We are also offering three weeks of Summer Holiday coaching camps. These are always popular so book early to avoid disappointment.
BOOK HERE
Drop Shots…
John Tate will be presented with his ‘Unsung Hero’ award at the Avon Tennis Big Night Out on 17 June – tickets can be booked here
Men’s League players needed – we have four men’s teams in the North Somerset summer league which plays on Monday nights. Due to injuries, we are struggling to fill all teams every week so if you haven’t already signed up but fancy a go at some competitive but still friendly tennis then please contact our Men’s Captain - Stuart Beaver
Based on feedback from the public, we’ve been asked to remind all members using the car park to please take care and go slow when exiting onto the A370. Visibility at the junction is poor but a couple of ‘near misses’ have been reported where pedestrians using the pavement have felt at risk from cars leaving the car park.
External contractors completed the first intensive maintenance inspection of our new artificial grass courts this month and we’re pleased to report that, one year after installation, they are in really great shape. Thank you to John Tate for organising the work…and also for all the time he spends every week making sure the courts remain in perfect order.