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A new committee has been formed to develop junior tennis at the club. The chairman is Adrian Yates and the members include parents, junior players and coaches. An ambitious plan for expanding junior coaching provision is being finalised.
But please bear in mind: the junior section, more than any other, relies on parents to volunteer their help with the playing and coaching programmes, and with transporting teams to away matches. If you can be of assistance, please get in touch with Adrian Yates on 01942 879867.
The tennis season is fast approaching, so here are some important dates for you to note:
• Sunday, March 25th, at 12.30pm
A working party will tidy up the courts and surrounding area. Volunteers are needed: if there are enough of us it shouldn’t take too long – social tennis follows at 2 pm.
• Monday, April 2nd
Practice nights for team tennis start. Please sign up on the availability lists in the clubhouse and turn up for the practice sessions if you want to be considered for team selection. Most league tennis starts in the week beginning April 16th, but details are not yet fully available.
• Saturday, May 12th
This is a Tennis open day, when anyone who wants to try their hand at tennis is invited to join in. There’ll be special events and sessions run by the Leigh Tennis coaching team.
• Coming soon ... !
Some other introductions this season:
Ray Vaughan will be running social tennis sessions on Wednesday afternoons, starting soon, for "retired gentlefolk" and others with time to spare....
....and the coaches are planning some junior tennis summer camps – details to follow.
The inaugural Mini Tennis Tournament on September 3 was a great success, with 18 players taking part and featuring 3 closely fought events.
Mini Red (u-8)
Won by Lucas Donohue, runner-up Joe Norman.
Both are promising six year olds who started playing tennis under Steve Lillas two years ago and have continued to regularly attend Janet Talbot's Saturday morning coaching sessions. This section was very well contested with all players enjoying close matches.
Mini Orange (u-10)
Won by Oliver Donohue, runner-up Joe Westwell.
Another very closely contested event with the winner, runner-up and third-placed Annie Williams all difficult to separate. Joe and Oliver also played in the mini green event for experience and showed great potential.
Mini Green (u-13)
Won by Matthew Perry, runner-up Dominic Devlin.
Both players are new members, encouraged by local school links, and are coached twice weekly by both Janet Talbot and Nicky Butler. There were also excellent efforts from the improving Jessica Warburton who was the only girl in the mini green event.
The junior tennis programme is looking really good for the future!
2006 has been a pretty good season for team tennis: we’ve won some promotions and a trophy!
In the Leigh League our teams came top of both divisions – Gary Woodward, in his first season as 'A' team captain, led his side to the top place in Division 1; Nick Peake did the same with the 'C' team in Division 2 to win promotion for next season.
In the Walkden League, Pauline Bellis was captain of the 'A' team as they won Division 1 – a great achievement - and then went on to take the Ladies’ Cup in a thrilling final.
Congratulations to Mike Brereton, who has recently received his DCA (Development Coaching Award). This adds to his BA Honours degree in Sport & Leisure Management from Salford University in 2005, which makes him well qualified to take on whatever sporting challenges present themselves in his pursuit of a career in sport.
Mike joins Nicky Butler, Tom Johnson and Janet Talbot on the Leigh coaching team, led by Andy Johnson.
