Club Life - February 2024

AGM 2024

Many thanks to ALL members who attended our AGM, we were delighted to see so many of you for our second AGM 'Question Time'. The committee enjoyed discussing many club topics with the members who attended, as well as answering several pre-sent questions.

The AGM minutes will be sent out in due course, so even if you didn't manage to attend you will be able to see all the outcomes and updates.

On February 8th, all members were emailed the following:

2024 AGM Presentation Slides
2022-23 Copy of Accounts
2023 AGM Minutes

If you didn't receive these for any reason and would like a copy, please email Jack on tennismanager@wltc.co.uk

The committee have reviewed the winter indoor court fees and we can confirm the rate has been reduced on Saturday evenings - 6pm-11pm, with immediate effect.

The current rate was £16ph (peak) - for adults and juniors.

The new rate is £12ph - for adults and juniors.

Indoor Court External Access - Reminders

If you have a booking which starts/finishes outside of the clubhouse opening hours - please call the bar to receive the new code. The code will be given to the lead booker. The recently updated and extended Club Opening Hours are attached below - please use this to check if you'll need the Pin Code for your booking. If in doubt, call the bar (01753 830820) to check.

The new access door has been open since early December and we are very pleased to see lots of members making good use of the extra court time available. We've recieved some excellent feedback so far. Weekend evening availability has now greatly increased, please see MYCOURTS if you'd like to book courts at these times.

Please see a few points and reminders below - we have been monitoring closely to help make improvements and will continue to do so.

If you have a booking which starts outside of the clubhouse opening hours - Please make sure you plan ahead and call the bar to recieve the pin code We have had a few instances where members have turned up for their booking without knowledge of the code and left dissapointed.
Please do not expect or rely on other members playing to stop and open the door for you. For security reasons we encourage members not to open the door for anyone knocking on the door. Members with a booking outside of the clubhouse hours should know the code in advance.

When you arrive for your booking and enter the code - please be aware there could be members playing on court 1. Please do not wedge the door open for any reason.
Reminder - In the event of an emergency - contact details are displayed on the inside of the new door. A first aid kit is available and located inside, next to the new door.

For any questions on the above, please email Jack on tennismanager@wltc.co.uk.

*Saturday evenings are now open until 11pm (indoor courts). This may change should an event be taking place in the clubhouse

30 Minute Bookings Update:

In March, we will be trialling 30 minute booking slots - booked in advance up to 48 hours only. Priority booking slots will still remain 60 & 90 minutes but our aim is offer extra 30 minute slots to avoid the slots being wasted where possible. We will confirm when this is live, and you will then be able to book as per normal on MYCOURTS.

Where possible, please avoid leaving 30 minute gaps especially either side of your booking as it reduces the time available for other members. Thank you.

Court Bookings - Reminders:

If you book an outside court and do not intend to use it, please cancel the court reservation as early as possible to enable other members to book it. The club will be closely monitoring members cancelling courts (for reasons other than weather) and will be noting those who do this frequently.

Indoor courts are in heavy demand, especially at peak times. Please be mindful when you are booking indoor courts – there is currently no cap on the number of bookings you can make but the committee will be closely monitoring usage, especially at peak times.

This is a reminder there is just over 3 weeks to get all your matches played.

Please let us know if there are any issues, and whether you’d like to be removed from the next round starting mid March.

Please be aware this round there are prizes for Box League winners – you must have played at least 75% of your matches.

Any questions or issues please contact Matt Welsh – matt_welsh1018@hotmail.com

A full pallet of clay has been added to the 4 clay courts mid February. We will continue to monitor the clay over the next few months heading into the summer season!

Our 3 Poraflex courts will be professionally deep cleaned in March. The date scheduled is March 8th, weather depending.

We are very excited to announce that the draws for the WLTC Club Championships are now available to view online, using the following link:

https://competitions.lta.org.uk/sport/draws.aspx?id=59af5973-553e-4de1-9159-048cf48a7623

You will need to sign in to your LTA account to view the draws. If you have trouble accessing the tournament via the link, please do the following:

visit https://www.lta.org.uk
sign in
click ‘compete’ and then ‘find a competition’
at the top of the page there is a long white search bar, please type in ‘BER-24-0137’ and press enter
this should redirect you to the WLTC club closed tournament, where you can view all the draws*. These will be updated throughout the tournament so you can easily find who you will be playing next.

*Please note the all the U12 & U14 boys and girls singles categories have been put into two round robins, with the winners of each group going through to the final which will be played on Finals Day (Sunday 23rd June).

If you require contact details of your opponents, please check the member’s directory tab on your ‘mycourts’ account (the club booking system).

Please remember that the dates below are the latest possible days to get your matches played. There will be no extensions given to any player(s) for any reason, regardless of weather, availability, holidays etc. so be sure to get them booked in and played well before the deadline date to avoid a coin toss.

FIRST ROUND PLAY BY DATES:

(Categories highlighted in BOLD mean that the first round MUST be completed on or before this date, no exceptions)

Mens Singles - 24th March

Women’s Singles - 12th May

Mens Doubles - 21st April

Women’s Doubles - 2nd June

Mixed Doubles - 12th May

12&U Boys Singles - ROUND ROBIN**

12&U Girls Singles - ROUND ROBIN**

14&U Boys Singles - ROUND ROBIN**

14&U Girls Singles - ROUND ROBIN**

18&U Boys Singles - 12th May

Mens Singles 40+ - 24th March

Women’s Singles 40+ - 2nd June

Mens Doubles 40+ - 21st April

Women’s Doubles 40+ - 12th May

Mixed Doubles 40+ - 12th May

Mens Doubles 55+ - 12th May

Women’s Doubles 55+ - 2nd June

Mixed Doubles 55+ - 2nd June

**all matches for the round robin MUST be completed by Sunday 16th June

Any matches not completed by the above play by date will be subject to an investigation by the tournament organisers. Where an agreement on who should go through can not be reached, a coin toss will be done to determine who goes through to the next round. Any investigations will require evidence of communications between players, and whoever is deemed to provide the least amount availability, will forfeit their match.

Match Format:

> 2 tiebreak sets + match tiebreak (to 10 points, with 2 points clear) to decide the third set should it be needed.

If you have any problems or questions throughout the duration of the tournament, please contact Beci on competitions@active-tennis.co.uk

Once you have completed your match, could you please write your score up on the sheet in the club house, or email Beci on competitions@active-tennis.co.uk This will help us keep an updated draw, so that hopefully everyone will have enough time to get their matches played.

We would like to wish you all the best of luck in this years competition, and we hope you have a great time! Don’t forget, anyone who makes it through to the final MUST ensure they are free to play on finals day, which is SUNDAY 23rd June.

Kind regards

WLTC Competition Organisers

Active Tennis - Easter Tennis Camps

Booking will open soon

Tues 2nd - Fri 12th April

4 - 15 years of age

(4 yr olds can only book morning or afternoon sessions)

We are Ofsted registered and accept childcare vouchers and tax fee childcare payments. Details can be found during booking process.

Pick any half day/day or days from the weeks below

Early Bird

20% Discount!

Book before 15th March!

(4 - 8 yr olds)

£27 half day (9am - 12pm)

£27 half day (12pm - 3pm)

£44 full day (9am - 3pm)?

(9 - 15yrolds)

£27 half day (9am - 12pm)

£27 half day (12pm - 3pm)

£44 full day (9am - 3pm)

Team Updates:

Mixed 1st Team have won Division 1 with a game to spare

All Things Tennis - Shop

Check out the new layout in ATT Shop, based in WLTC.

Contact Ross & Molly on info@allthingstennis.co.uk or visit www.allthingstennis.co.uk

Do you feel pressure in your joints? Would you like to learn a way to improve mobility and reduce pain?

There are natural methods available that can help. As a teacher of the Alexander Technique I can show you how to:

Relieve the pressure on your joints
Improve mobility
Reduce pain

The Alexander Technique helps you to learn to deal with all these issues and more, on and off the court.

For details call Will Shephard on 0770 321 9182

E: alexanderwithwilliam@gmail.com

W: alexandertechniquelondon.org

Update on our Tennis Ball Recycling Scheme:

4000 Balls were recycled in 2023 which was teh highest recorded for the club! Thank you to all our members who continue to recycle their used tannis balls, it's all for a good cause. Please see below for a reminder of our ball recycling scheme.

Recycaball
Company - Recycaball™ work closely with hundreds of clubs, coaches and players across the UK, offering the chance to recycle used tennis balls.

So many tennis balls end up in landfill once they've been used in competitions, and yet for most there's a perfectly good application for them in other areas once the match is won.

We collect hundreds of used tennis balls every week, and arrange for their redistribution into other industries and applications.

Clubs don't have to worry about disposal, and we pay for the collection, courier service and the actual balls themselves.

How it works..

Clubs, players & coaches contact us and request a recycling sack.

Once the club has collected enough used balls to fill a sack, we arrange courier collection from your preferred address.

We receive the balls, which are hand processed, graded, repackaged and redistributed.

Assuming the used balls meet our published standards, the club get paid for the balls that you've sent.

Charitable donations..

From some of the proceeds of the balls recycaball collect, they make regular donations to a wide variety of charities and good causes all across the UK.

These beneficiaries are chosen in main by the clubs, our network of suppliers, clubs & coaches.

Clubs can also elect to donate your ball proceeds directly to a charity, which we happily do on their behalf.

In addition, they donate some balls directly to local animal shelters, kennels and dog groups.

We post regular updates on our website, detailing the latest beneficiaries and any other news.