The summer is racing by and, despite the slightly dodgy weather, there’s been plenty going on at the club. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Ben Kirkley for his positivity and help in publishing these newsletters – I couldn’t do it without him and I hope you are enjoying the output.
Emma Pattison
Club Chair
LTA Prime Video Youth Girls
During June/July we ran the new LTA / Prime Video Girls Start courses on Sundays at Backwell Tennis Club. This is an amazing programme which recognises that we all need to do more to encourage girls to be active through tennis – hopefully converting them to continue playing throughout their lives.
The LTA goal was for every participating club to introduce 20 girls to tennis. I’m delighted that we were able to attract 26 girls to the first programme. This is a brilliant result and is testament to the hard work put in by Tom Fowler (supported by the coaching team) both in terms of advertising the programme but also in executing a very enjoyable and productive set of lessons.
Despite the final lesson being on a horrible weather day, there was great feedback from the girls and their parents. So much so, that they have encouraged us to run a follow-on course, in addition to the introductory programme – these will start on Sundays during the September term.
If you have family members or know any other girls keen to start on the LTA Girls Youth Courses, we have a new class starting on Sunday 3rd September for 6 weeks for girls aged 5-13. Please use this link to book.
A big thank you to Tom for his passion and energy in getting this programme up and running for Backwell Tennis Club!
Season All Over
July saw the end of another enjoyable and (mainly!) successful season for our teams playing in the summer league. We were delighted to welcome some new players to the club and to match tennis, as well as enjoying the company of the normal crowd.
As a reminder, we play in both the North Somerset (two ladies’ and four men’s teams) and Avon (two ladies’ and two men’s) summer leagues. Thanks to the amazing hard work of our captains (Pippa, Zoe and Stuart, and helped by Michael) we managed to field full teams for all but one match.
Big congratulations to all our teams who finished in the top two of their divisions and will be promoted next year – namely the NS Ladies 2nd team, NS Men’s 1st team, and NS Men’s 2nd team. Woo hoo!
We’d love to have more of you playing match tennis – it’s a great way to develop your tennis skills by playing in different situations and against players you don’t know, but also another way to make connections and friendships. We have enough teams to help everyone feel comfortable with the level they are playing at – why not come along to a Friday Night Match Practice and see whether you enjoy it?
Match practice sessions run every Friday night from 6.30pm until next summer season.
Floodlights
A reminder that our new floodlights will be installed in the week commencing 21 August and, while our contractors will work to ensure any disruption to court use is minimised, please bear in mind there will inevitably be some impact on court availability during that week.
The new floodlights will cost around £48k and I am delighted that we have secured a third grant which means the lights will be fully-funded by external parties. We’ll share all of the details on this in the next newsletter…
Our Club Needs You
As highlighted in our last newsletter, our Committee is a fundamental part of keeping the club running smoothly but also helping decide how we shape the club for the future. A number of our existing committee members will be stepping down later this year and we need YOU to think about whether you can play a bigger role in the club.
My experience of stepping onto the committee is that being part of the conversation is energising, it gives you the chance to both harness existing strengths and to learn new things, and there are plenty of ways to make your mark. Please have a conversation with us – we would love as much or as little time as you can give!
If you’d like to get more involved in the club then please contact Emma on
Drop Shots…
Club Tournament – time scurries on and a reminder to please get your matches completed by the dates set out in the tournament timetable. This makes everyone’s lives easier!
A new adults beginner course starts 3 September – open to everyone and please book here if you are interested.