LOWER HUTT TENNIS CLUB CROSS COURT DECEMBER/JANUARY 2002

......FROM THE EDITOR

To all our members & their friends & family
A very merry Christmas & a happy New Year.
Have a safe holiday & lets hope for plenty of fine 
weather.

EDITOR

PO BOX 45020, LOWER HUTT
FAX 566 8041

EMAIL: LowerHutt@tennismail.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS
Pre Christmas Post Christmas
SENIOR $160 $95
VETERAN $135 $85
MIDWEEK $135 $85
INTERMEDIATE $ 90 $60
JUNIOR $ 90 $60
COUPLE $280 $170

FAMILY $410

 $260
A reduction will apply to those new persons joining after Christmas.

CONTACTS
PRESIDENT BARBARA BRIDGER 566 0750
CHAIRMAN JOHN DONAGHY 566 9051
SECRETARY GRAHAM NELSON 569 2914
TREASURER RAY JONES 569 9340
CLUB CAPTAIN Vacant
MIDWEEK ROS REID 938 1951
INTERMEDIATE GENE 479 0456
JUNIOR CHESTER 938 1606
WED LEAGUE STEWART 938 9746
MON LEAGUE ORA 495 4762

INTERMEDIATES
Please enter the Club Championships which will be held at the beginning of February. If you want more tennis then come down to the Club on a Saturday afternoon at 1.30 pm or put your name down for the Saturday League. No one has sent an email telling the Club what you want. Your suggestions will be kept anonymous.

NEW MEMBERS

After Christmas there is frequently a fall off in those wanting to play tennis. This then is a good time to bring along a visitor to see if they would like to joint he club.

If you know of suggest they visit The Club to see for themselves how we enjoy ourselves. Alternately they can telephone one of the Club Contacts for more information

REGIONAL
Results for the pre-Christmas draw
Womens
1 3rd
2 1st
3 2nd=
Mens
2 1st
3 6th
In the New year those teams in the top 4 will move up and play with the bottom 4 from the higher grade. Our mens regional 3 team is the only team which faces relegation.

The pre Christmas results are the best for the club for quite a while. Both the Mens & Womens regional 2 teams have finished top of their grade with the Womens team having gained 51 out of the possible 56 points for the 7 rounds of the competition. The Womens Regional 1 finished in third place and the Womens Regional 3 in 2nd place. After Christmas the Regional 1Women will play off against the other top 4 teams in a Premier grade &the other teams finishing in the top four will play in a promotion/relegation grade of 8 teams. This is really a promotion grade for our teams as they will be playing against the bottom 4 teams of the higher grade - so there are plenty of new challenges there. The first round is currently planned for the 12th January , which is earlier than usual so team captains should check with their players now about availability for this date. The Premier grade starts at a later date.
Ora organised an 'end of competition' night out for the Womens teams & this was a lot of fun with members from the opposition teams joining in as well.

COURT HIRE
Several tertiary students were approached at the Club several weeks ago by a member who was told they were just trying out the courts to see if they should join. The following week they were seen “trying out the courts” again. They did not realise they had been recognised.
They were asked to pay court hire - they decided to leave instead.
I am sure they were not your children.

JUNIORS
Thiem Nguyen was selected by NZ Tennis to represent New Zealand in the under 14's teams event to be held in Brisbane early January. 
You may have read about this in the newspapers. Despite what they said Thiem is predominantly coached by our Gene Ridgway & not Onny Parun. Thiem plays in the senior mens Regional 2 team for the Club. His brother Tu helps Gene coaching juniors at the Club.
We wish him great success in his trip.

Other Juniors representing Hutt Valley Tennis
Hutt Valley 10's Team in the November Quadrangular
Michael Volkov, Peter Vrecic, Prenyth Dantanarajana, Rachel Baxter

ANNA KOURNIKOVA
If you cannot go to Auckland to see her play then we have placed a link on the Club Web site to 50 of the most fabulous & many never before seen photos of this celebrity. Just go to the Club Web site & click on Links.
http://homepages.paradise. net.nz/~lhtc/

INTERCLUB
So many games remain unplayed because of the weather so we cannot bring you the up to date results for the pre Christmas draw. If you have games still to complete try to get them finished soon. The post Christmas draw cannot be made until your results are to hand.

TOURNAMENTS
Many of our Juniors are playing in tournaments a around the country. 
I don't think we have ever had so many playing at a National level & at all ages.

If you older players think you are 
being left out then the 
OVER THE HILL TOURNAMENT 
is for you. 
5/6 January at Martinborough on grass. 
Doubles on Saturday & Mixed on Sunday
You only need to play one day
The catering is superb.

You do not have to be an A grade player to enjoy this tournament. 
If you play in our Wednesday Night League then you will get good tennis. Telephone John 566 9051 for details.

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lists are up at the Club for entries to these Championships. There will be singles, doubles & mixed doubles in each of 3 levels - Open, B Grade & Veterans.
Regional players cannot play B grade and Veterans must be over 40 for men & 35 for women.

They will be held the first weekend in February 2nd & 3rd with unfinished matches played on Waitangi Day the 6th.

In the 4 years since we have held these over one weekend it has been a fantastic tournament like atmosphere which you must not miss. 
Good tennis to watch & good tennis to play. Intermediates can enter all the A Grade events. Juniors must be of a good standard to qualify.

WEDDING
It is often said that if you want to meet someone of the opposite sex, join a tennis club. Well, two of the Wednesday night league players recently tied the knoT (the fact they didn't actually meet at tennis is of little consequence)
Pat Spencer and Jim Murtha have now between them eleven children and eleven grandchildren. Pat is only responsible for one grandchild, so, it is easy to see who is the irresponsible one in this marriage.
We all wish them every happiness in their future & remind them that we don't need any more little Murthas.
P.S. Carol told me men are like floor tiles. If you lay them right the first time you can walk all over them for years.

MIDWEEK MEMO
Quite the wettest spring in years has meant disruption to both the midweek club and interclub mornings. Spring league almost became summer league but finally the winner was Team 3 - Janet Freebairn, Lee Manning, Elizabeth Cullinane and Elaine Barnett. Another league will be run in 2002, after the club champs. 
Interim interclub results show that Grades 1, 2 and one of the Grade 5 teams are close to the top. The new format means promotion/relegation for the post-Christmas competition so we look forward to the final results. 
Midweek tennis will windup for 2001 on 11 December with a fun tournament at 9.30am and "Hot Ham and Bubbly" lunch afterwards ( 11.30am if wet). The cost will be $10. We start again on 29th January, 2002

TIT BITS

Keeping the ball in the court had a new meaning one Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago when an unmentionable player on Court 1 missed the line, missed the fence, missed the clubhouse, the ball came flying at full force straight into the kitchen and just missed John by inches 
(& other valuables). Fortunately John is very forgiving & still had a smile on his face. 
I REMEMBER IT WAS QUITE FUNNY AT THE TIME BECAUSE IT MADE SUCH A LOUD NOISE. (From Rose)

Pres 2 Lower Hutt "A" Team
Out of the 4 games played so far the only team to beat us is our
valiant opponents in Lower Hutt "B" (Kathy Brabin's team) but with some able assistance from their substitute players (Bruce King), & without 2 of our key players (Peter Howse & I, no disrespect to Albie's
versatile playing). With one game to go, I suspect the "B" team will
remain unbeaten. All teams however, have been beaten by the weather this year, with catch up games results still coming in.    Gerald

TENNIS ETIQUETTE
I was shocked last month by a display I witnessed on a tennis court out of town. 
A tennis player collected the balls from the back of the court and hit one back to the server over the net & very hard.
Unfortunately he misjudged the direction & hit the opposition female net player on the side of the head. She did not see it coming & was lucky not to lose an eye.

How many times has it been said in this Newsletter……….hit the ball back to the server under the net.

The same applies to a first serve. If it is a fault don't hit it back. If you want to practice your return of serve do so on the practice court.

LEAGUES
The Wednesday night league has been going well despite the wet weather. 2 rounds have had to be cancelled. The last round was played on the 12th December along with Christmas drinks and nibbles. Thanks to Ros with helping to organise especially when the weather has been looking doubtful. 
After 8 rounds the Competition is close, with the top 2 teams on the same number of point.
Team placings are:- 
1st John Donaghy, Jill Willcock, Rose Douglas, Mark Hardy 
2nd Simon Bird, Stewart Bush, Mark Domican, Donna Steel 
3rd Bruce Ridley, Kathy Maguren, Jean Pugh, Odete do Couto 

The next Wednesday Night League will start on 30th January 2002. Put names on list in clubhouse by 17th January 2002.or contact Stewart Bush, ph 9389746 , 
Email stewartbush@paradise.net.nz 
or Ros Read, ph 9381951,
Email rands.read@clear.net.nz. 

Merry Christmas & happy new year to everyone Stewart Bush.

MONDAY NIGHT
We can use more players in the Monday Night League so if you are interested get your names to Ora 495 4762 or John 566 9051 before the end of the year.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON
There were 4 teams prior to Christmas
But we hope to have more players in the New Year.
Please put your name on the list in the Clubhouse or ring Kathy Brabin 569 6629 if you are interested

RESIGNATIONS

Our Constitution requires ALL resignations to be in writing. 
If any of you have unpaid subscriptions or interclub fees please pay these immediately. We can now only accept your resignation for the 2002/2003 season

UNPAID SUBSCRIPTIONS
A list of those members who have yet to pay their subscription or outstanding interclub fees has been considered by the Committee.
Any member with outstanding dues will NOT be eligible to play in our Club Championships or future interclub matches until these have been brought up to date.
A list of these defaulters will be published on the Notice Board in the new year

ATOMIC TENNIS

Well what celebrities it seems we have at our club these days. What with Jovana ducking the tennis ball for the evening post, and Thiem hitting a classic volley and posing for a classic picture with the NZ 14's team, our players certainly are getting their five minutes. It is great. 
So far so good for the interclub, the mens & womens regional 2 teams are into the promotion relegation stages for Regional One, and the womens regional one team is in the top four ...I think. So well done. For me, regional tennis has been a bit rusty, and sometimes a bit dodgy with one 7/6 in the third set victory, but all the time has been enjoyable. Thanks to my team mates for their effort thus far. 
Coaching this season has been rather frantic & busy. The tiny tennis programme for the 4 - 6 year old players has proved very successful. We have 44, 4 - 6 yr old players coming down each Monday afternoon for their tennis session, that is 44 potential Lower Hutt tennis club representatives!!!! Thanks to the club members for their flexibility and understanding of the court usage on the weekdays. 
The club tennis is still going well with consistent numbers of around forty to fifty junior players turning up on Sunday mornings, and 50 + interclub players turning up every Friday evening, it is great to see such support for the club programmes, and we will continue after Christmas again. 
Holiday camps are running again these holidays, enrolment forms are on the notice board down at the club, or give me a call for any more information. They are running week one on the 12th - 14th and week two on the 19 - 21 of December 2001. More Holiday camps are running after new years on the 14 - 18th and the 21 - 25th of January 2002. 
Junior Coaching for 2002 is starting again on the 4th of February 2002. I am setting up more programmes for more people next year! Tiny tennis will be continuing on Mondays from 4.30 - 5.30 and another tiny tennis will be starting (for new players) on Tuesdays from 4.30 - 5.00 or 5.00 - 5.30, so if you have been wanting to get your 4 - 6 yr old into the tiny tennis programme then here is your chance! 
In the new year we have the Deuce Squad for 14+ yr old beginner / intermediate players, the Advantage Squad for 14 + competitive/ interclub players, the Ace squad for 10 - 14 yr old competitive players, as well as Total Tennis for the 7 - 14 yr old beginner / intermediate players. Each of the programmes are structured to cater for the different levels and ages of players, and run on different days and times. Check the notice board for flyers and enrolment forms, or check my Web page www.atomictennis.com 
for more information, or give me a call for any enquiries. 
It has been a great year, I think the profile of our club has grown, and we are by far the best club in the Hutt Valley and the greater Wellington area. Here's to keep
ing on growing and improving through the new year! 
Thanks for your support 
Merry Christmas & a happy new year 

Gene

TENNIS IS A GAME OF LIFE
A tennis match is a violent psychological struggle. Both antagonists are fighting for their own egos, seeking ways to strengthen their sense of power & enhance their self-images.
Does this sound a little overblown? After all, a tennis match is just a game. But what is a game other than a contest of sorts, played to obtain strictly psychological currency? 
Certainly, it is to be distinguished from "real" contests where more vital interests are at stake, such as food, shelter, security & other things necessary for the preservation of life.
In tennis, as in all games, there is a social facade based on rules & etiquette that attempts to shield both the viewer and the competitor from the harsher elements of the combat. The need to win in a nice gentlemanly fashion is instilled into us very early. But beneath that clean, white veneer, a tennis match has all the potential required to become nasty, threatening & rough. 
This is true because, deep down, we all want to win no matter how reluctant we are to admit it to ourselves or to others. 
And if it is necessary to become nasty on court in order to win, many people will get nasty.
No matter what kind of genteel attitude your opponent may display, you don't really know what he is like until it gets down to the crunch. He may want to win very badly. Don't allow yourself to get so caught up in the game that you forget about the etiquette.

 
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