This Newsletter is ONLY sent by email .  If needed, could you therefore share the newsletter with the rest of the family for whom we may not have individual email addresses!
P.S.  Printing out this Newsletter: background colours won’t print - to save on ink...

Welcome to SPRING TENNIS!

Dear Tennis Club Member,

It’s been a real pleasure taking the reins from Mark who has done a fabulous job as Chairman. Thank you Mark for all your work and organisational skills allowing the club to keep going from strength to strength.

It is amazing to work with such a lovely group on the committee and branching out to ask for help and support from others has already been met with enthusiasm. Look out for some new Social Events on the calendar soon.

Thank you to all of the volunteers that help the club continue to be such a happy, thriving and welcoming place - Captains, Committee members, Volunteers. We have more volunteers than ever before doing many different jobs on behalf of the club. If anyone is keen to get involved, please do speak to a member of the Committee – we’d love to hear from you.

The competitive wing of the club keeps growing. We are fielding more teams than ever – 4 mens teams, 4 womens teams, 2 mixed teams and both mens and ladies mid-week league teams – Phew!  With so many teams playing all year round, it’s been fantastic to see club members (and the general public) stopping to spectate. As we had hoped, the Folly Sports Park has become a Social as well as Sporting place to be and this will continue to be the case as the Folly Sports Park continues to develop.

The Junior Program has some great Easter options. Watch out for more communication around this and other plans for the Summer. Congratulations to Guy Mobey who has successfully completed his Level 3 Coaching  and Max Mobey is now starting his journey too.  They been doing a sterling job of helping out at weekends under the watchful eye of Matt Williams.

Again, we have a ‘New Season Social’ ( Saturday 27th April) based on the success of similar event in the past two years. Please do come and join us for a drink, meet fellow players in a social setting, and sign up for more tennis! You’ll be able to sign up for teams, Club Championships and coaching as well as put your name down for Wimbledon preferences. As ever, we’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for the future of the Club.

Looking forward to seeing you on court!

Juliane    

DATES COMING UP (for regular weekly events such as COACHING and CLUB NIGHTS - please see the TENNIS4ALL page) :

• Mar/April – Evening event in Faringdon, 8pm
• Sat 27 April – New Season Social, Cricket Pavilion, 10am-12midday
• May – Sep – Club Tournament Championships
• Tue 7 May Wimbledon Draw
• Tue 14 May – P+P, 6.30-8.30
• Tue 11 June - Committee Meeting
• Sun 16th June - Deadline for Champs - last 32
• Tue 18 June – Pimms + Prizes, Tue 6.30-8.30pm
• Sun 14th July- Deadline for Champs - last 16
• Sun 18th Aug- Deadline for Champs - Q-Finals
• Tue 10th Sep - committee meeting
• Sun 13th Sept - Deadline for Champs - Semi-Finals
• Sat 14 Sep Club Tournament Finals
• Mon 23rd Sep - Club Dinner at LA BOBINA
• Fri 27 Sep AGM Quiz
• Tue 3 Dec - committee meeting

Chairman: Juliane Spiers
Treasurer: Steve Perry
Secretary: Susanna Hunt

Committee Members:
Alan Elbourn,  Mark Mobey, Kate Haysman, Matt Williams, Sjoerd Vogt, Sam Bannister, David Crawley

Winter / Summer Match Secretary:  Adrian Noke

For contact details of all Summer and Winter League captains, see HERE

Other Responsibilities Maintenance Alan Elbourn Sjoerd Vogt Roger Starr Wimbledon tickets Alan Elbourn Social Activities Susanna Hunt Juliane Spiers Website & membership Sjoerd Vogt Consumables restocking Anne Sawyer Welfare Officer Juliane Spiers Press Officer Adrian Noke Competitions Organiser Guy Mobey Steve Wright Juniors Alan Elbourn Susanna Hunt Mark Mobey

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR ALAN!

If you’ve read this month’s Folly - then you will have seen that Alan’s invaluable contributions to the Club over the past 43 years have received well-deserved recognition from the LTA - in the form of a lifetime achievement award !

Alan’s held pretty much every position you can think of within the Club - including captain, chairman, social secretary, maintenance man, gardener, cleaner, and coach.

His love of tennis and his incredibly positive can-do attitude have helped the club grow to what we see now.

Alan’s ability to engage with others means that he’s well-known not only in Faringdon, but across the County and beyond. 

WELL DONE ALAN!

TWINNING TENNIS!

Le Mele ( our twin town in Normandy) has invited us to a friendly tennis tournament - as part of the regular Autumn Twinning Visit end October!

The “tournament“ will be for adults, but the whole family is welcome.  Cost per person is £130 - halfprice for under 16s.  This covers everything (coach, ferry, trips). We leave Thurs 31st Oct, and rreturn Sunday 3rd Nov.

Interested to know more?  Simply reply to this email!

WHY TENNIS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE ….

My mentor in tennis--a saint--
Had a system that had not a taint.
"You won't lose at all
If you hit every ball
At a spot where the other guy ain't.

A recent feature article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine followed more than 80,000 people over an average period of nine years, to find out if certain sports protected them against early death....

CLICK HERE TO READ ON!

NEW SEASON SOCIAL

Sat 27th April

at the Cricket Pavilion

10am-12 midday

MEET your members and SIGN UP for EVENTS and TEAMS and TOURNAMENTS and COACHING and WIMBLEDON DRAW

FIZZZZ & FOOOOD!

NOT TO BE MISSED!

FTC AGM HELD 21st SEPT 2018

Reporting on the new record membership of more than 300 members, the very successful Club tournament ( with more than 60 members taking part), and the multiple teams now taking part in match leagues, this was very positive AGM, taking place almost exactly four years after the relocation to Folly Sports Park, and was made all the more enjoyable by one of Alan’s inimitable Quizzes.  

Steve Pugh stepped down from the committee, and David Crawley has kindly agreed to join. All other officers and committee members kindly agreed to continue in their current roles. Steve - many thanks for all your hard work - and in particular the setting up of the Club Champs!

See HERE for full reports and AGM minutes

Do remember that all members are very welcome to come to any committee meeting. Meeting dates going forward are posted HERE, where you will also find minutes from previous meetings.

Next Committee Meeting is Tuesday 11th June - and Committee Meetings start at 7pm.  Remember - it’s your club and your views that matter!

ADULT CLUB TENNIS

Social Sundays

Tennis Tuesdays

Friendly Fridays

All sessions are open to all full adult members, students, and juniors with passports.

FRIDAY evenings are ROOKIE NIGHTS ; mainly for beginners and intermediates who feel they first need to build up a bit of confidence - but ALL are welcome! Rookie Nights start at 6.30pm

SUNDAY sessions are from 10.30am-12.30 , and TUESDAY sessions run from 6pm-8pm. .

Simply turn up. Balls provided.  See HERE for more details.

WIMBLEDON TICKETS 2019

We have just received our allocation of tickets from the LTA  and we have a record 21 pairs of tickets. As happened in previous years, the selection form will be emailed to all members who opted in - so that you can tick your preferences for dates.  Members DO need to have a BTM (British Tennis Membership) number and to have registered for the Draw to qualify. 

The DRAW will take place on Tuesday 7th May , at 8pm in the Clubhouse.  You DO also need to have renewed your Membership for 2019-2020 to qualify. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER DETAILS!

RENEWING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FOR 2019-2020

 See HERE for more details.  For the 3rd year running, Subscriptions have again been frozen at last year’s rates; ensuring that your subscription offers even better value for money than ever before! You will shortly be emailed the  renewal form for all the individuals living at your address. There are MASSIVE discounts if you renew before 1st May, and there’s even BIGGER discounts if you take out FAMILY membership! The Subscription Year runs from 1st May 2019 through to 30th April 2020. 

There’s also two categories of membership for those who want to support their children or enjoy the social side - but aren’t necessarily players themselves.  ONCOURT PARENT allows the parent accompanying their child or children to play with them. And NON-PLAYING SOCIAL MEMBER speaks for itself!

IN THE PRESS!

MANY thanks to our Press Officer Adrian Noke, who does sterling work in ensuring that the Faringdon community gets to hear about our tennis-related exploits on a regular basis. And it’s always fun to look through the old press cuttings!

ROOKIE NIGHTS!

Friday evenings ( 6.30-8.00pm) are the SPECIAL SESSIONS for those beginners and intermediates who feel that they first need to build up their confidence before coming to the Sunday or Tuesday Club Sessions!

Open to all full adult members and students

JUNIOR EVENTS COMING UP!

OUR COACHES ARE AGAIN PUTTING TOGETHER A SERIES OF EVENTS AND MINI-TOURNAMENTS FOR JUNIORS.   DETAILS TO FOLLOW!    Here’s a good explanation of the Mini Tennis Ratings system.

Following another successful JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT COACHING (JDC) winter programme, there will again be a rich range of different JDC courses over the summer  - starting 16th April. WATCH THIS SPACE.

Adult SUMMER LEAGUE Match Tennis (playing other Clubs)

We had 8 teams (4 womens, 4 mens) battling through the winter in the Oxfordshire Babolat league with our women’s teams all maintaining their status, including most notably, Womens A in the Premier League. The men’s teams’ results were more variable with our Mens D promoted but Mens A and Mens C both dropping down a tier. In the newly formed OLTA Winter Mid-Week League , Faringdon mens team were champions winning 7 of their 8 matches and the ladies were joint runners-up their division.

Summer beckons, and we now have a new ‘club record’ 13 teams on show - 3 womens, 3 mens, 3 mixed in the Oxfordshire weekend league, 1 womens and 1 mens in the mid-week league and a further 2 men’s teams competing in the Swindon & District ‘Monday evening league’.

All matches are doubles format with 2 pairs in each team. Weekend matches usually start at 1pm and the mid-week games in mid-morning. If you are interested in getting your competitive juices flowing, why not contact one of our SUMMER TEAM CAPTAINS. Matches start on 13 April and will run through to September.

SEE HERE FOR ALL CAPTAIN’S CONTACT DETAILS.  

MATCH PRACTICE SESSIONS take place for LADIES ON MONDAYS (from 7pm-8.30pm)  and MEN ON WEDNESDAYS (7pm-8.30pm) .  If you’re a full adult member of the Club (or Student member, or Junior-with-passport)  and are interested in playing in matches, then you’re very welcome. Simply turn up to the Men’s Wednesday Session;  for the ladies please phone the relevant captain first. 

MENS/LADIES OLTA MIDWEEK LEAGUE

Interested in a bit of competitive tennis during the week? Matches are usually on a Wednesday, starting 10am - home and away.  There are matches approximately every three weeks. The format is similar to the normal summer/winter leagues - with two pairs competing against each other.  DO contact the relevant captain below if you’re interested!

• Ladies Midweek Captain:     Anne Sawyer   01367-870285 asawyer-buckland@waitrose.com
• Mens Midweek Captain :      Steve Perry     07585-602436  steveperry414@gmail.com    

Coaching at Faringdon Tennis Club

We’re very fortunate to have a very active coaching programme at the Club. Licensed LTA Coaches:

• Matt Williams  - (level 3)  HEAD COACH (07749-249555)
• Susanna Hunt   (level 3)  (01367) 241452
• Alan Elbourn     (level 3)  (07774) 037862
• Guy Mobey       (level 3)  (07507-377858)
• Paul Miller        (level 2)   (07939-463230

• All sessions take place up at Folly Sports Park unless otherwise specified.
• Alan’s contact details for mid week squads are: alanelb42501@outlook.com   Tel: 07774-037862
• For details of Susanna’s sessions please email suehunt.tennis@gmail.com  or tel: 01367 241 452
• Susanna’s sessions run during term time only and details of course dates and costs will be forwarded each term. 
• Guy’s Saturday sessions are pay and play sessions which run all year, including school holidays.  
• In general all group coaching sessions work out approximately £6 per hour
• All children who wish to attend coaching need to become members of the club (£20 for the year) and fill out an Emergency Contact Form
• Any adults who wish to attend only the coaching sessions and are not yet club members need to pay £20 for the year to cover insurance.  They then automatically become “coaching only” members. See Membership page.

THE FARINGDON CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019!

Over the course of the summer we will again be running Adult tournaments for Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles – culminating in a Glorious Finals Day on Saturday 14th September to rival the SW19 event!

SIGN UP AT THE NEW SEASON SOCIAL EVENT ON THE 27th APRIL

Faringdon Tennis Club also has a page on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/tennis4all ) - but it’s not used much! It’s completely open. Anyone can post to it. If you’re into FB - why not LIKE it; post photos, match results, anything else worth sharing?  (And if you’re into twitter:  Follow @10is4all  hashtag  #10is4all )

p.s.   please don’t worry in the slightest if you’re NOT into facebook or twitter or snapchat or instagram or ...  you can also survive very happily without - as long as you’ve got your tennis!

FOLLY CYCLE PARK

Coming to a Sports Park near you....   It’s BIG ( the size of a tennis court) and it’s going to be at the far end of the rugby pitches.

The diggers go in on Monday 8th April, and the Tennis Club is helping by allowing the construction company to use our car park for their container. They’ll also have access to our outside loo.  Construction is scheduled to take approx 8-10 weeks.

Yet another Folly Sports Park asset that we can all be proud of!

TENNIS BALLS:

Are provided during official Club sessions. Tubes of high quality branded balls can also be purchased at the Club house from Alan Elbourn  .

CLUBHOUSE WIFI

Yet another little benefit of being a Member of the Club!

 UN = PLUSNET-FTC ,  PW = tennis4all    

Remember: To get into the Members’ Area of the website (you’re in the Members’ Area at the moment!) go to the homepage ( www.faringdontennis.org.uk )  - or any other page for that matter - and click on the cloud just to the right of the Folly Tower (top left of page) .