From left – Tom Pope (runner-up), Mr. Glenn Collins (Tournament Director) and Paul Luke (winner, again)
The final of the 2021 men’s Open Championships was held last Sunday with Paul Luke winning in straight sets over Tom Pope (playing his first Club Champ’s final). It was a high quality match and Paul had to play at a very high level to prevail.
Lauren Gellert is our 2021 Ladies’ champion after a walkover in the final. Congratulations to Lauren who will receive our brand new trophy for the Ladies.
Glenn Collins will send out notices for nominating for the 2022 Club Championships this week.
The endless summer has been great for tennis participation. We have had a lot of people using the courts and participating in social tennis on Saturdays, Ladies tennis on Monday and Wednesday and the Tuesday men’s tennis.
February was our busiest month ever with the Tennis Australia promotion garnering a lot of bookings from non-members. It really helps a club like ours as we are tucked away and it is a terrific opportunity for people to see the quality of courts.
Welcome to our new members – Luke Harvey, Tina Bianchi, Paul Perry, Jeff Potter, Roch Dargan (our Junior number #1 draft pick) and Ulrika Lowe Zenou. We hope you enjoy playing tennis at Highmoor for many years to come.
Junior Tennis
Our 10 teams are all playing well and we are halfway through the season. Junior coaching participation is very busy with high numbers. Late last year, Damian ran a tennis program at Moorabbin Primary School for the kids in Prep. Moorabbin Primary also use our courts for their tennis program against other schools. We now have a sizeable cohort of Grade 1 kids in junior coaching and this will help maintain our high number of junior teams going forward.
This morning I saw the best smash ever in Juniors, when our superstar Marsha despatched a winning smash that bounced clear over the back net and sent her opponent, the dude with a blonde mullet, off scurrying to collect the ball. Well done, Marsha.
Team Shirts
Due to popular demand, Kylie Morgan has been investigating junior shirt options for our teams. We will go with a blue polo and will email junior parents this week to organise numbers. Our junior teams will look great in Highmoor shirts.
Senior Tennis
Summer season is completed and unfortunately none of our sides made the finals but the Mixed team was right in the race with results of the last match of the season coming into play to determine which team in the section got in.
For Winter this year we have entered 2 Men’s teams into TV Pennant and a Mixed team in to MRTA for Winter. Pennant starts last week of April and BRTA starts first week of May.
Last week could turn out to be our busiest tennis week of the whole year. We had the following tennis action:
Senior competition tennis resumed on 29th January and then our 10 Junior teams started their new season on February 5th
Damian’s coaching classes began for the new school year with a lot of new pupils
Basterfield Park TC hired two courts for their midweek Ladies team who need to use our courts intermittently this season
Social tennis was very popular mid-week plus we had possibly one of our largest turnouts for Saturday social tennis
Senior club tournament resumed on Sunday
Court bookings were busy on the back of the Australian Open finals including many external bookings.
A big thank you to Frank Fox for his efforts last week to fix a plumbing leak on the water bore. Without this we would have struggled to get our courts watered and it would have really impacted on all of the tennis we did have.
Sadly, an attendee at Saturday social tennis subsequently testing positive for Covid. We’ve followed the guidance and Darrin Hunt kindly bleached the club rooms. For those of you who are sentimental, the spider web encrusted Christmas lights were taken down from the verandah of the clubhouse. I think I deserve danger pay.
WATER – We are having some fantastic warm February weather. Please water the courts prior to play and before each set. This is critical to maintaining the quality of our courts.
GUEST FEES – Sarah Graham has finalised the membership lists for 2021/22. Members can bring guests to play on the courts, however, you will need to include them as a guest when booking the court for a $5 fee.
GIRL’S CHAMPIONSHIP – In December we concluded our girl’s championship. I’ve attached a photo are our four semi-finalists Lani Lithgow, Rosa Evans (champion), Tijana Kravic (runner-up) and Abi Bligh.
Please don’t forget to support our sponsors at Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham who provided us with our defibrillator.
Kellie from Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham presents a sponsorship to Highmoor
Kellie Saunders from Terry White Chemmart in Cheltenham presented me with a cheque for $1502 for our new defibrillator.
We are fortunate to have a wonderful sponsor in Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham. They have sponsored a new defibrillator for our clubhouse to replace the one they sponsored 5 years ago. Fortunately we have not had to use either yet.
Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham was formerly known as Cheltenham Friendly Society Dispensary Ltd.
I encourage all members to support Terry White Pharmacy Cheltenham as they have been very generous to our club. I have been using them myself and they are really are great value for money. They are also doing vaccine booster shots if you need to book in.
Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham are a not for profit and support the community. So let’s support them as a club.
“We’re more than just a pharmacy. As a not-for-profit organisation, run by the Cheltenham Friendly Society, we have been putting profits back into the community since 1918. Our primary objectives are to address community health needs with our products, services and educational programs, and deliver funding to school and community groups through our Community Grant program.”
Membership We are finalising memberships from last year. So if you are yet to renew then please do so by Wednesday January 26th. A reminder for all senior and junior competition players that you need to be a paid up member of the club to play. Please contact Sarah Graham by email. I’d like to thank Sarah for her efforts in coordinating the membership renewals. Guest fees If you are playing with a non-member, then please remember to book them in as a guest when you book the court. It is a $5 guest fee. Even better, encourage them to join the club. For parents of juniors, the guest fee will apply to the parent if only the junior is a member. So rather than pay guest fees, I encourage you to join up and get plenty of exercise. Competition tennis Senior competition resumes on January 29th and Junior competitions starts the new season on February 5th. For any aspiring senior competition players, please refer to Glenn Collins’ email on Friday 21st Jan. Nominations for the winter tennis season are due on February 13th. Watering the Courts It is critical for the courts to be watered prior to play and for each new set. The club spent over $10,000 on court maintenance last year and to keep the en-tout-cas in good order the courts must be watered regularly. The club has also purchased a new wet weather roller and is getting the other two rollers re-lined with foam. I don’t expect they’ll be required for a few days yet. Welcome to our new members We are delighted to have so many new members join the club over the last year. We hope you enjoy your tennis at Highmoor and look forward to seeing you on the courts. Regards, Bernie
On behalf of Highmoor’s management committee, I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2022 is a more fun than the last 2 years.
Holiday Clinics
Damian Graf is running tennis holiday clinics in January. The December clinics were booked out so please contact Damian to secure your spot.
The details are:
January 6th and 7th (Thursday and Friday) 9:30am to 12 noon
January 20th and 21st (Thursday and Friday) 9:30am to 12 noon
Costs are $40 for a single day or $70 for 2 days.
Bookings are essential, please contact Damian by email or phone 0412 295 658.
Damian is also running a Hot Shots clinic for 5-6 years olds on January 4th. So please contact him to book your child in.
Junior Championships
Damian did a terrific job organising the Highmoor junior championships after lockdown ended. We have had a lot of great feedback from parents who were glad to see the kids having some extra tennis. The tennis was very high quality and the club junior program is in great shape with another 8 Saturday junior teams and 2 Sunday teams.
Girls: Congratulations to Rosa Evans on becoming champion, Tijana Kravic on runner-up and the semi-finalists were Abi Bligh and Lani LIthgow.
Boys: Congratulations to the champion Nick Capel and the runner-up Ian Rachinsky, semi-finalists Josh Glassock and Leo McInerney. Well done to all the players who competed. The Senior championship will recommence in Feb and March next year.
Please remember to water the courts over summer before each set and even mid-set if the court gets really dry. We use bore water so you can water them thoroughly. Best wishes,
