Mairangi Bay Tennis Club
Newsletter February 2008
“CLUB OF THE YEAR 2006-2007”
Prezzy on the Prowl
Wow! Time sure flies when you’re having fun! Xmas is a long distant memory!
Anyway, a few mentions about all the great interclub results rolling in. Juniors are
having a fantastic season with plenty of wins. There are also plenty of wins happening
with Senior and Midweek.
Club Champs are coming up soon, so put your name down when the draw comes out
and YOU could have your name in GOLD on the honours board!
The committees are doing a fantastic job with the general running of the club, but
remember YOU are part of this wonderful club!! So please put your rubbish in the
bins provided and don’t walk past rubbish that is littering the club.
Smokers please put your butts in the rubbish (preferably when they have been put
out) not in the pot plants!
If we ALL do our part in helping to look after the club then it won’t be left for others,
every time. A big thank-you to Garry Pike, Peter Simpson and Jason Barry who have
helped with running repairs and cleaning.
Keep up the GOOD WORK
Jane Geldard (President)
Briar Preston Kiwi Juniors Shine at World IC Tournament
The New Zealand IC Team has successfully defended the
IC World Junior Challenge title by beating South Africa
4-2. The final between the top teams at the tournament
was held at the ASB Tennis Centre on Thursday 21
February. The New Zealand team played superbly, with
girls doubles combination Briar Preston (above) and
Leela Beattie (below) winning all their games. Ben and
Riki McLahlan (above right) played fine power tennis to
win crucial games.
Other competing nations were Great Britain (placed 3rd) ,
Italy (4th), Japan, Mexico and Uzbekistan. Eight nations were to compete in the
tournament, but the team from Argentina had the misfortune to miss their flight due to
a pilots' strike in their country. In the end a second New Zealand team made up the
eight - Dan and Mikaela Davies, Trent O'Keefe and Imogen Golder put up a
strong showing too.
Also, local player Aroha Hiriweni was asked to fill in for The Uzbekistan team, due
to one of their girl's being ill.
(Reference - website www.tennisnh.net.nz)
Juniors
Junior tennis is off to a great start again for the new year with lots of new folk joining
up for Saturday coaching and taking advantage of the great weather.
Our junior interclub teams are doing well, with the following teams currently in 1st
place: Boys 15/17 Prem1, 14B
Girls 15/17 Prem, 14 Prem, 14A, 12A 1st= and 10B 1st=
Sam Matheson did us proud in the Sovereign Superstars Tournament before
the ASB Classic - well done, Sam! A highlight for Sam was a session with David
Ferrer and the other Sovereign Superstars.
We had some very impressive results at the National Hardcourt tournament in the
holidays as follows: 12's Alex Klintcharov Quarterfinalist in singles and semifinalist in doubles
14's Carli Davis winner in doubles
16's Marco Comuzzo Quartefinalist singles
16's Matt Brady winner doubles
16's Ari Davis runnerup Dbls
Congrats to all of you! The junior committee have put together a fabulous programme
for the term so make sure these dates are in your diaries: Fri 22 Feb - Junior Club Night
Fri 29 Feb - Sun 2 Mar - North Harbour Closed Tournament (check TNH website) no interclub
Fri 7 Mar - Junior Club Night
Fri 21 Mar - Good Friday - no club night - Easter Open Tournament begins (check
TNH website)
Fri April 4 - Fun Skill Night at the club to finish the season
Currently we are putting together the draws for junior club champs - keep an eye on
the junior notice board and make sure you put your names up, all juniors! This year
we are having an open competition as well as the age-group comps, so that we can
celebrate the overall boy and girl junior champs, so get ready for the challenge!
Courts will be available for junior club champs games from 3-6 week nights and on
certain courts on Sundays and other times, so you just need to phone Sheila to book
once you know who you have to play.
We are looking for a new committee members for next year so now would be a good
time to put your hands up to learn the ropes - not an arduous task if we have enough
helpers. I am also having to stand down as the junior convenor as my family and my
business need all of my spare time at the mo, so please let us know if you are willing
to do this job or want more info. I have really enjoyed working with the committee
and coaches to keep it all together, and have loved getting to know so many of you
and your awesome kids these last couple of years.
Bye for now
Jill Rice
476 5057(jill@get-outside.co.nz)
Midweek
Welcome to the 2008 season. The weather for our first two interclub games hasn't
been too sizzling with a little cloud cover and some breeze - hope your tennis is hot!
Our team results are all looking really good so keep up the concentration and feisty
play.
We are up and running for the new year with a tournament on Leap Day - Friday 29th
Feb. Everybody is welcome to play and start time is 9.30am, no plate required. This
will be a good morning's tennis with great prizes. The theme is summer picnic. Entry
$10 which includes new balls and delectable food.
Really enjoyed coming down to the Club on Sunday and watching the Head Chelsea
Cup team play. It's fabulous tennis and worth making some time to see.
See you on the court.
Jan Hall
Interclub Update
We are now down to the business end of the season for the interclub teams. Most
teams have 4 or 5 matches left to play. Some of the grades have now been broken
into new sections, with placement based on results from matches played before
Christmas. Teams in new sections will need to check the Tennis North Harbour
website for new draws and match dates, and to request a new Top Dog password to
record results.
The newly sponsored Head Premier Singles interclub has commenced – updates from
the Head Chelsea Cup Team Managers as follows:
The Men’s Head Chelsea Cup team is unbeaten after 5 rounds of competition and are
leading the competition by 7 points with two rounds to play. We have a very strong
team in (Wes Whitehouse, Teo Susjnak, Justin Megraw and Martin Colanbrander )
although we have used a number of our up and coming Junior players in various
matches - Marco Comuzzo, Ari Davis and Sam Matheson all of whom have played
very well. We will continue to try and promote the juniors when possible.
The big match for us will be against Northcote which will be played at Northcote on
the 9th March. We need to get as many people down there as possible as they will
certainly have a large crowd to support their team, who will be tough.
Regards
Mike Barry
The Women’s Chelsea Cup campaign has been a somewhat disjointed one. Our first
match saw us down to 2 players with Tara LaGrange and Danielle Feneridis filling
in. Lucky for us Northcote also had a similar scenario and we came away with a 5-1
win – a managers’ dream start! With 3 of 5 team members (Briar, Katharina and
Aroha) away playing the NZ ITF Circuit the next two matches were differed making it
4 weeks from the 1st match to the 2nd! Our home game against Becroft saw us win by 1
set – well done to Carli Davis wining her match in 2 sets! Our tie against Takapuna
saw us leaving the Indoor centre at 12.45am with long close matches unfortunately
leaving us 4 -2 down at the end. We also had to play Campbells Bay the same
weekend and went down 4 -2.
Jennie Morgan our team captain has had some convincing wins and her vast
experience is proving invaluable with the young players.
Many thanks to our supporters – Trens, Trishy, Coxie, Ross, Anton, Spud, and Jase –
you are the ‘ever presents’ and we are hugely grateful to you and all other club
members that make it to support our girls.
Our next match is this Friday night at the Indoor Centre where we take on Milford –
love to see you all there!!
Cheers
Jenny
Several of our other teams are leading or contesting winning their grade at present.
Others are mid-table and have won 2 or 3 ties in a row to improve their position.
Good luck to all teams playing for top of grade, and also to those few that are now
fighting to stay in their grade. And to all interclub players, remember to have fun,
enjoy yourselves and show good sportsmanship at all times.
Tournament Update
There were 2 events held this month.
Firstly a ‘Davis Cup’ teams double event took place on Sunday 3rd Feb. 24 players
were drawn into 6 teams that played each other in a round robin format, which proved
very popular. At the end of the competition the ‘France’ team of Gary Pike, Alex
Jaffrey, Bruce Lee and Rosemary Granberg won narrowly from the Switzerland team
led by Murray Addis and the South Korea team led by Paul Jung came a close 3rd.
On Friday 8th February club members took part in a lawn bowls fun evening at our
neighbours, Mairangi Bay Bowling Club. Again, 6 teams made up of tennis players
competed against members of the bowling club. While the result was a resounding
beating (not unexpected!) the fine weather, beer, and sausage sizzle supper put on by
our hosts made the event very pleasant. Rather not surprisingly, they have declined
an offer for a repeat evening on the tennis courts. We look forward to visiting them
again next season.
Club Championships
Don’t forget the Club Championships take place commencing Sunday 30th March,
with semifinals on Saturday 12th and finals on Sunday 13th April. Now is the time to
sort out your partners if you intend playing in any of the doubles events. Entry lists
for the tournaments will be put up in the clubhouse 15th March.
Sponsors of the Club
Thank you to our sponsors for their continued support of our club –
Zavitos
Scarbro
Little Motors.
A big welcome to our new sponsor – Bush Road Panelbeaters whose signs will be
displayed shortly.