The Avenue Tennis Club » Competitions

Somerset Over 45’s lose to Bedfordshire

Vinny — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:21:47 +0000

Bedfordshire over 45’s turned up at the Avenue Tennis Club nearly 2 hours late after getting caught up in the first day of the summer holiday traffic to the south west. The gruelling journey did not affect the very experienced Beds Team who went on to win the match by 4 rubbers to 1 with Somerset winning one of the doubles matches. The Somerset team comprised Glen Pigden and Richard Belfield both from the Avenue together with James Buckle (Nether Stowey) and Neil Driver (Millfield). Due to the delayed start Avenue’s Head Coach Vinny Duddy, captain of the Somerset Over 45’s had to step in to the final doubles match as one of the home team had a prior arrangement that they could not get out of. Vinny said that after a full day coaching at Wellington it was not what he had thought he would be doing however he was pleased that he held serve in both sets that he and James Buckle lost. The Somerset Over 45’s will be in action again this weekend at the Avenue where they will be hosting Devon on Sunday 1Aug with the match starting around 1:00pm; the bar will be open so please come down and support your county side.

The Junior Tennis Camp is running during the first two weeks of the School Summer Holidays from Monday 26^th Jul to Friday 6^th Aug; details and application forms are available on the website www.avenuetennis.com; parents are advised to book early to avoid any disappointment.

Entry forms are available from the club or the website for the two August Open Tennis Tournaments for adults (11^th Aug – 15^th Aug) and juniors (16^th – 21^st Aug). The bar will be open during the tournaments serving hot and cold food so why not pop down and watch some good live tennis at the Avenue Tennis Club during your lunch breaks or during the day.

Details of the events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com

Sam takes the Match Play trophy again

Vinny — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:33:25 +0000

Pictured above is Somerset’s Number 1, Avenue Tennis Coach, Craig Phillips with Friday Night Junior Match Play winner Sam Stead. Sam, a member of the Avenue’s Junior Academy has won the trophy several times and in recognition of this Craig also gave him a life size poster of their tennis hero Rafael Nadal. Friday night match play has been going nearly two years now and will now be run by the juniors themselves (Jess Griffiths and Sam Stead) now that Craig has completed his two year apprenticeship. The Junior Match Play evening is for juniors who are 11+ and are members of the tennis club. During the month of July the club has a special new membership offer on (9 months for the price of 6) and for new juniors joining this month the price is £22.50 for the rest of the year to March 2011.

The club will be running it’s Junior Tennis Camp during the first two weeks of the School Summer Holidays from Monday 26^th Jul to Friday 6^th Aug; details and application forms are available on the website www.avenuetennis.com; parents are advised to book early to avoid any disappointment.

The club will be hosting the Somerset Over 45’s match against Bedfordshire on Saturday 24^th July from 2:00pm and all are welcome to attend and support the county side. Entry forms are available from the club or the website for the two August Open Tennis Tournaments for adults (11^th Aug – 15^th Aug) and juniors (16^th – 21^st Aug). The bar will be open during the tournaments serving hot and cold food so why not pop down and watch some good live tennis at the Avenue Tennis Club during your lunch breaks or during the day.

Details of the events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com

Avenue Open Day July 2010

Vinny — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:20:05 +0000

Head Coach Vinny Duddy said that the Avenue Tennis Club’s annual Open Day on Sunday 4^th July was a fantastic success with lots of new potential members, adults and juniors, coming to the club and having some coaching and fun with the Avenue’s coaching team. Starting at 10:30 Barry Ramsden and Craig Phillips took nearly 30 youngsters on court with the mini red balls (Under 8’s) and went through a series of racket and coordination skills finishing off with some fun games. Jamie Allen took the older kids on 2 courts with Vinny taking 12 adults onto the other 2 astro courts. Vinny wanted to thank the ladies from the club Poo Jenkins, Pat Hunter, Elaine Amos and Sue Parsons who worked extremely hard to provide all the attendees with hot food and drinks and some excellent strawberry cream teas. Club Chairman, Gordon Hunter looked after the bar and made his infoamous Pimms drink which went down a treat.

At 12:30 all the coaching stopped so that the Somerset Closed Finalists could play their match to find out who would be Somerset’s Number 1. Matt Barnard, Somerset Men’s Captain pictured on the right above took on the Avenue’s Coach, Craig Phillips from Brean in a really super hard hitting fast match. Matt used all his experience to make the match difficult for Craig but in the end Craig’s hard and accurate ground strokes proved too much with Craig running out as winner in two sets (6 v 3, 6 v 4). Matt and Craig were very considerate to the on lookers finishing their match just in time to watch Rafa Nadal take on Thomas Berdych on the Avenue’s large screen. Vinny passed on thanks to Tony Pryce Sports who sponsored the prize monies for the tournament and to Prince Rackets demosntrator Peter Clarke for their attendance at the club’s Open day.

The club is running a Wimbledon new members deal during July where new members can join the club for the next 9 months for the price of 6. Effectively this means the cost per day for a new adult member is 36 pence (£100 per 9 months) with an under 10 being only 5 pence per day (£15 for 9 months).

Details of the events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com

England Win the World Cup at the Avenue

Vinny — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 08:17:55 +0000

Avenue Tennis Coach Craig Phillips and Avenue Junior Academy player Sam Stead pictured with club chairman Gordon Hunter won the Avenue’s World Cup Social Tennis Tournament on the day that England drew with the USA in their first group world cup match. Head coach Vinny Duddy organised the event and was really pleased that 26 players turned out for the event which was run as a mixed doubles with some of the junior Academy players mixing in.

The tournament started at 4 in the afternoon and was finished just before kick off so that the players, other members and friends of the club could sit down to watch the match on the club’s large screen. Avenue ladies Julie Cameron and Lynn O’Dell made some hot pork rolls and Poo Jenkins made the stuffing so that all watching the football were satisfied with the food if not with the English result.

All football fans are invited to come to the tennis club on Friday 18^th Jun to see if England can better the draw with the USA; hot pork rolls and food will be available; the club’s bar will be open.

The next major event at the Tennis Club will be the Open Day with FREE coaching and fun games organised by the club’s coaching team. The Somerset Men’s Closed final will be played at the club live from 12:30 and should be finished in time to watch the Wimbledon’s Men’s Final which will be shown on the large screen. The bar will be open serving Strawberries and Cream; club chairman Gordon Hunter will be providing his infamous Pimms cocktail to all who wish to partake.

Details of the events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com).

WORLD CUP SOCIAL TOURNAMENT – 12th JUNE – 4:00 pm

Vinny — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:39:51 +0000

We will be holding a World Cup Fun Social Tennis Tournament on Saturday 12th Jun which will start at 4:00pm and will definately finish in time to cheer on England (or the USA) in their first group match of the World Cup Finals. The match will be shown on the large screen, the bar will be open and their will be food served – all are welcome to attend.

Jo Gooden Tournament May 2010

Vinny — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:36:45 +0000

The annual Jo Gooden ladies doubles tournament was held recently at the Avenue Tennis Club with players from the Avenue, Wedmore, Woodlands and Cleve taking part. This tournament is played in memory of Jo Gooden (nee Champion) who was a very popular and prominent young player at the club and whose family have been loyal supporters of the club for many years. After Jo’s sad death in an accident at a very young age, her father Dick presented a beautiful cup in her memory which is played for annually and, since Dick’s own death a few years ago, he is also always remembered with great affection, especially on this tournament day. Dick also started the tradition of presenting the winner with engraved tumblers and this is kindly continued by one of Jo’s sisters, Jean (Booth) who every year supports the tournament and presents the prizes.

The tournament is run on a round robin basis and there is a draw for partners so everyone plays with someone from a different club. This ensures a very relaxed and social atmosphere with a lot of chat – not least at the lunch put on by Avenue members.

After an excellent day of tennis, despite some rather indifferent weather, the winners were Sue Parsons (Avenue) and Di Pearman (Wedmore) and the runners-up were Jane Sanders (Avenue) and Liz Yeo (Woodlands). The Club was delighted that two of our younger players, Heather Duddy and Jess Griffiths, joined in this year and played very well. They made a great contribution to the tournament, and we hope that more younger players will join us in the future. The photo shows Jean Booth presenting the cup to Sue Parsons and Di Pearman.

The next social event at the Tennis Club is on Saturday 15^th May from 7:30 and is a taste of Italy Adult Supper Evening, with a menu of Tomato and Mozzarella Salad, Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread, Tiramisu and Coffee all for £7.50; all are welcome to attend, please book your place by adding your name to the list in the club foyer together with numbers attending.

The next school holiday junior tennis camp will run from the 1^st Jun to 4^th Jun and will start at 9:00 and finish at 3:00pm daily; details and an apllication form can be obained from the club’s website.

Details of these events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com).

Avenue Tennis Club Social Tournament Easter 2010

Vinny — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:17:19 +0000

Head Coach, Vinny Duddy presents Oxanna Wallis with Prince Tennis Balls for winning the Avenue’s Easter Social Tournament, Oxanna was the ladies winner and Steve Perry not in the picture was the mens winner . Head coach Vinny said the tournament was not well supported with lots of members having other commitments on the day but the tennis and the weather on the day for those who participated was fantastic. A big birthday shout goes to Julie Fowler who celebrated an important birthday down at Wincanton Races on the same day from all her friends at the tennis club.

The next social event at the Tennis Club is an Italian Evening, which is for adults only, on Saturday 15^th May at 7:30 ish; all are welcome to attend.

Details of these events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com).

Heather wins March Junior Match Play Trophy

Vinny — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:05:53 +0000

Avenue Tennis Club Coach, Craig Phillips from Brean, presents Heather Duddy with the Friday Night Junior Match Play Trophy for the month of March. Heather won the trophy with 20 points, just 1 ahead of Stuart Kilmartin and 2 ahead of Josh Lutner from Weston. After two months she also leads the cumulative monthly points score; details of the results can be seen on the Avenue’s website – www.avenuetennis.com. Head coach, Vinny Duddy, said the Friday night match play event is for those junior members who are in school year 7 + and is run as a doubles event with Craig choosing players to compete against each other as and when matches finish so there is no waiting around and has proved to be a great success so far.

An Introduction to Digital Photography evening has been organised at the tennis club on 27^th April from 7:00 pm to 9:30pm at a cost of £20; details of the itinerary can be obtained from the website or you can book to attend the evening by ringing the office on 01278 782758. The evening is being run by former local boy Simon Plant who is an award winning photographer in his own right; his work has been published world wide and he was shortlisted in 2009 for Landscape Photographer of the Year.

The next social play tournament will be on Sunday 18^th April and starts at 11 with the next social evening event being an Italian Evening on Saturday 15^th May at 7:30 ish.

Details of these events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com

Avenue Aces Win at David Lloyd Bristol

Vinny — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:19:09 +0000

Avenue Tennis Club Trainee Coach Craig Phillips from Brean and James Kerry (Avenue first team player and club coach) played in the David Lloyd Masters Event at Bristol during the weekend of the 27^th and 28^thMar.

Craig played in the elite players A group draw and managed to win 3 matches on route to a final win with a 6-4, 6-1 scoreline over Linden Hardisty (rated 4.1, from Devon). The ranking points gained from this should see him rise closer to the top 50 in the UK from No 78. Craig is currently looking for another sponsor to help fund his efforts to break into the country’s top 10 by the end of 2012. Head Coach, Vinny Duddy believes that Craig has got all the right attributes and determination to reach this demanding goal and believes that with some further sponsorship could do even better than this. If you are interested in becoming involved as a sponsor for Craig please contact the office on 01278 782758. James won his very tight B Group final match with a score line that included a 3^rd set championship tie 4-6, 7-5, 10-0 and is determined to improve his rating.

The next school holiday junior tennis camp at the tennis club will be run from 12^th – 16^th April; application forms are on the web site or places can be booked through the club on 01278 782758.

The following schools have signed up for their FREE tennis taster day at their schools; Berrow, Brent Knoll, Burnham Infants, East Brent, Lympsham,St Andrew’s and St Joseph’s.

An Introduction to Digital Photography evening has been organised to be held a the tennis club on 27^th April from 7:00 pm to 9:30pm; details can be obtained from the website.

Details of these events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com

Craig climbs the rankings-Somerset’s Number 1

Vinny — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:25:42 +0000

CRAIG RISING IN THE RANKINGS

Avenue Tennis Coach Craig Phillips from Brean in Somerset has had a very good couple of months playing and winning lots of tennis ranking points going from 118 to 78 this month and making himself Somerset No 1.

Following an excellent showing in his recent triumph at the Masters at David Lloyd Bristol over the weekend of the 13^th and 14^th March, the points he won here should get him closer to the top 50 in the UK. Craig is currently looking for another sponsor to help fund his efforts to break into the country’s top 10 by the end of 2012. Head Coach, Vinny Duddy believes that Craig has got all the right attributes and determination to reach this demanding goal and believes that with some further sponsorship could do even better than this. If you are interested in becoming involved as a sponsor for Craig please contact the office on 01278 782758.

As part of the drive to encourage more families and new members down to the Avenue Tennis Club the Avenue juniors are going to participate in a Lazy Town Sport Relief sponsorship evening on Friday 19^th March, where they will be encouraging their mums, dads, uncles, aunties and any friends to come down to the club and have a “FREE” coaching session with the club’s coaching team. Friday nights is normally family night with Vinny’s Minis, Junior Matchplay, Adult Coaching and Adult Social play throughout the evening. The bar is also open for those who would prefer to stay in the warm and watch. Vinny also said that he had invited all the mothers from Sarah Coles Music with Mummy classes, which are held at the club on Tuesday and Wednesday, to come on down to club with either a friend or partner to have FREE tennis lessons on any of the Friday evenings in March between 6:30 and 8:00pm.

The Avenue Tennis Club is offering new members the opportunity to join the tennis club during March and pay the 2009 membership prices for a full year membership till Mar 2011, but this is subject to the new member completing a direct debit mandate that would start from the 1 April 2010.

The next junior tennis camp at the tennis club will be run from 12^th – 16^th April; application forms are on the web site soon or places can be booked through the club on 01278 782758.

The next social event at the Club will be a St Patricks Themed Evening with disco and a 3 course meal on Saturday 20^th Mar- Juniors £4 and Adults £8; all are welcome to attend but please book early by completing the list in the club foyer or ring the office.

Details of these events and tennis coaching courses held at the Avenue Tennis Club can be obtained from the office (01278 782758) or from the club website (www.avenuetennis.com