The 12 youngsters and their parents travelled up from Burnham by coach and then watched the game from the stands.  Duncan Keates – Manager of the Under 8′s said that they were treated really well and everyone had a great afternoon.  It all happended because we noticed on a website last year that young teams can apply to do this…….. what a day it lived up to all our expectations.

Jack and Owen train in the Mini Red Squad on a Friday evening and have both competed in Mini Red Competitions with Jack winning one.   Coaches, Craig and Vinny at the club both think they have great potential as tennis players and are certain that the hard training they put in on the tennis court is only going to help them become great footballers.

Head Coach, Vinny Duddy, said this is the second school we have had in for the morning at the tennis club and it is great fun.  It’s an adventure for the kids as they are coming out of their school environment and coming to our club where it is far easier to teach them.  We are hoping that by getting the kids to the tennis club we will encourage them to come back and get involved in the tennis squads which take place throughout the week.  I am really surprised that we have not had more local schools in Burnham who have all been invited to take up a morning of tennis coaching free of charge at the tennis club.

A NEW MEMBERSHIP offer is available to all new members joining during November – 5 MONTHS FOR THE PRICE OF 3 (so juniors under 10 will be charged £7.50 until the end of March, over 10’s £11.25, Adults £50, Families £90).

We will be having our Annual Xmas Lunch on Sunday 5^th Dec; all are welcome and should put their names up on the list in the clubhouse foyer.

The Avenue Tennis Club is a friendly, family oriented organisation whose members enjoy excellent facilities with 8 floodlit courts and a large clubhouse including bar facilities.  Friday nights is family night where members and non members are encouraged to come down to either the adult coaching or club doubles match play.  Junior members enjoy free organised fun tennis sessions for up to school year 3 from 6:30pm till 7:30pm, school year 4 and upwards from 7:30pm to 8:30pm.  School year 7+ members have organised match-play from 8:00pm.  If you want any details about membership or other coaching courses which run throughout the week then please contact Head Coach, Vinny Duddy on 01278 782758.

The Avenue Junior Tennis Academy players and some other promising junior tennis players at the club competed in the Xmas Academy Tournament 2009 which was held during the evenings of 14^th – 17^th Dec..  The winner of the event was Sam Stead, second was Will Jones with Tom Cashmore coming in third.  The event started with 14 players, all of whom were to play the best of three sets of seven games against each other which would have meant a potential total of  39 sets or 273 games.  Unfortunately a sickness bug and some last minute homework assignments meant 4 players were unable to complete the tournament. 

Head Coach, Vinny Duddy and Trainee Coach, Craig Phillips ran the event and were really pleased with the efforts made but were surprised with some of the results.  Both thought that the event gave the players a good insight into what qualities were needed to compete against other players in a tournament.  Both Duddy and Phillips were particularly grateful to the parents who brought their children to the club and thanked them for their support.

Pictured below are the players who competed in the event (Left to Right – Rob Horler, Will Jones, Tom Holder, Stu Kilmartin, Brad, Craig Phillips, Heather Duddy, Jessica Griffiths, Tom Cashmore, Billy May and Sam Stead in the forefront with his Babolat 12 racket bag that he won for winning the event).

Coaching at the Avenue will recommence in the New Year with Saturday Pay and Play from 9:00 in the morning, through the various ages groups until 2:30 in the afternoon.  Junior Academy and Squad Group Coaching will start on Monday 11^th January.  Adults intermediate and beginner classes will restart on Thursday 14^th Jan and Friday 15^th respectively. New Year is normally a time for sporting resolutions; so why not come the Tennis Club and give tennis a go; for those of you like a good work out but don’t particularly want to play a lot of tennis why not come down on a Thursday evening to the Cardio Sessions which will have you doing lots of hard work intermingled with hitting lots of tennis balls from 6:00 till 7:00pm.

The first social event of the New Year 2010 will be a Rabbie Burns night which will be held at the Tennis Club on Saturday 30^th January.  For those that do not like Haggis there will be a lovely Scottish Stew.  The three course Scottish meal will cost adults £7.50 and children £3.50; bookings can be made on the listing in the clubhouse foyer notice board.

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

The Xmas period was finished off at the Avenue Tennis Club on Boxing Day when 16 brave members made it to the courts to run off their Xmas Dinners.  The tournament was run with the lady/junior partners swapping after each player had served once, meaning that each player played 4 games with one partner and then another 4 with another, making it very sociable but also keeping quite a competitive spirit to the event.

The ladies winner was Sue Parson and mens winner was Head Coach Vinny Duddy.  After the tournament the players retired to the bar where Vice President Peter Alexander had volunteered to open up. The tournament and the afternoon was a complete success and Head Coach, Vinny Duddy said that he intended to organise the event next year and hoped to get even more players involved in the tournament as it was obvious that it was something that everyone who played had enjoyed.

Coaching at the Avenue will recommence in the New Year with Saturday Pay and Play from 9:00 in the morning, through the various ages groups until 2:30 in the afternoon.  Junior Academy and Squad Group Coaching will start on Monday 11^th January.  Adults intermediate and beginner classes will restart on Thursday 14^th Jan and Friday 15^th respectively. New Year is normally a time for sporting resolutions; so why not come the Tennis Club and give tennis a go; for those of you like a good work out but don’t particularly want to play a lot of tennis why not come down on a Thursday evening to the Cardio Sessions which will have you doing lots of Cardio training intermingled with hitting lots of tennis balls from 6:00 till 7:00pm.

The first social event of the New Year 2010 will be a Rabbie Burns night which will be held at the Tennis Club on Saturday 30^th January.  For those that do not like Haggis there will be a lovely Scottish Stew.  The three course Scottish meal will cost adults £7.50 and children £3.50; bookings can be made on the listing in the clubhouse foyer notice board.

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).

The Avenue Tennis Club October Junior Tennis Camp was a complete success with quite a few new juniors coming to the club and getting involved with the coaching.  The camps are run throughout the year during the school holiday and focus on taking the youngsters through a variety of tennis shots.

The camp was run by Vinny Duddy with Barry Ramsden, Emily Rossiter, Rhiannon Parson and Heather Duddy and was split into the various LTA recommended ball groups of Red (up to 8 year olds), Orange – (8 to 10 year olds) and Yellow – (plus 10 year olds).  Head Coach Vinny Duddy said that camp was great fun because the weather was fantastic and the kids were really focused on learning to play better and worked really hard.

The Avenue Tennis Club is fully committed to following the LTA guidelines with respect to Junior Tennis Development Programmes and runs a variety of classes throughout the week and on Saturdays specifically for juniors of varying abilities – course timetable available on the website www.avenuetennis.com or contact the office (01278 782758), alternatively you can arrange individual lessons with any of the club’s coaches.

Details of what type of ball, court sizes, ages, etc can be found on the LTA’s website at the following address – www.lta.org.uk/Players/Juniors/ or you can give Vinny or Craig a call at the Tennis Club to discuss (01278 782758).

The next Sunday social tournament at the Avenue, in memory of Jan Mackay, will be run on 22^nd November; all are welcome to attend with matches starting around 11:00am.

An Xmas Family Lunch will be held on Sunday 29^th November from 12:30 pm with adults costing £10 and under 10’s £7 – if you wish to come then please contact Poo Jenkins on 01278 783396 or put your name and numbers required on the list in the club foyer.  The junior member’s Xmas Disco has been organized for Friday 18^th Dec from 18:00 till 21:00 with fun games and prizes available.

Dave was there to watch the kids and to give some feedback on LTA expectations of where the players should be with regard to their movement around the court, rallying, service and also how much training and time they should be putting into their development as tennis players.

Head coach, Vinny Duddy said the kids were fantastic and really enjoyed the two hour session.  He would also like to thank their head teachers for releasing them from their schools, in the morning, to participate in the session (Brent Knoll, Berrow and Mark).

The Avenue Tennis Club is fully committed to following the LTA guidelines with respect to Junior Tennis Development Programmes and runs a variety of classes throughout the week and on Saturdays specifically for juniors of varying abilities – course timetable available on the website www.avenuetennis.com or contact the office (01278 782758)

Details of what type of ball, court sizes, ages, etc can be found on the LTA’s website at the following address – www.lta.org.uk/Players/Juniors/ or you can give Vinny or Craig a call at the Tennis Club to discuss (01278 782758).

The next Sunday social tournament at the Avenue, in memory of Jan Mackay, will be run on 22^nd November; all are welcome to attend with matches starting around 11:00am.

Welcome to the Junior Tennis Camp Summer 2009

The Junior Tennis Camp, at the Avenue Tennis Club,  kicked off on the first day of the school holidays on 23rd July.

Head coach Vinny Duddy took the Mini Reds and was more than impressed with some of the players and their positive attitude to training despite being so young.  Emily Rossiter and Rhiannon Parson took on the larger group of 8 to 11 year olds at Orange ball and had a great time.  Barry Ramsden took on the older kids with yellow balls and was more than suprised with the improvements in just two days of training.

26th of July, Monday, the first real day of the summer holiday saw some tired youngsters turn up at the Avenue Tennis Club to be met by Vinny, Barry, Emily, Rhiannon and Courtney who had obviously been partying too over the weekend……….so the warm up was a real eye opener with the yellow balls going straight on court with Barry.  Vinny and Emily took the Orange and Red group through their paces, playing several warm up games that were linked to movement.

Head Coach, Vinny was really pleased with the numbers as they far exceeded his expectataion but the most important thing that he banged on about was safety on court, which, was taken serious by all the participants. 

Tuesday 27th July, Day 4 of the camp and every turned up ready and raring to go.  According to all the coaches the progress being made is great and the common feedback to Vinny is that everyone is really concentrating and trying to do everything that they are being taught.

Wednesday 28th July, day 5 of the camp and everyone is here with their rackets but so are the rain clouds.  We managed to get an hours tennis in for the reds and orange with mad Baz and the older yellow ball kids braving the rain when it was reasonably sensible.  The coaches were just as bored as the players although they did make every effort to make the most of the day organising a Horse Race, Picture Pick Up, Crazy Golf, Blue Rollerball, Tennis Skittles and a really good quiz set up by Heather Duddy.

Day 6, thanks the heavens the weathers better.  We all got out on court and things went well.  The reds are really coming on with Emily and Rhiannon pushing them to keep trying; although the games at the end of the session seem to be the most popular part of the lesson.  Vinny has gone into mean tennis coach mode and had reduced the time for games and is carrying on with his “practice, practice, practice – repetition, repitition, repetition” quote.  Barry’s mob are doing fantastic but seem to be doing a bit of training around the court – must be something they’ve said or done.

Day 7, Friday – this is the last day for some of the players who are off to sunny climes next week or to Scotland (might not be as sunny there!!!).  The week or 7 days for many of the players has gone really well and Vinny, Barry, Emily, Rhiannon, Courtney and Heather have all tried really hard during the sessions to make them fun and interesting – the players have tried even harder and seem to have got some benefit from the coaching.  Thanks to the seven players who joined up as members… see you at the club.

 Day 7, was also Oliver Cashmore’s birthday and his mum very generously brought in some cake to celebrate – thanks to mum and Happy Birthday to Ollie.

Day 8, it’s the first day of the week, Monday and there’s only a few people from last week still on the camp – the die hards or the ones who were not going on their summer holidays this week????  The groups quite a lot younger this week with the oldest being nearly 12 and the youngest nearly 6!!!  Once again Emily is taking the Reds but this week she is being helped by Kerry Matthews as Rhiannon is away playing a tournament.  Vinny is on the orange and Barry is doing green balls this week, although that might change as Barry does bring his players on quickly.

Avenue Tennis Club Coach, Barry Ramsden successfully ran another Save the Children’s Fund Tennis Competition at the Avenue Tennis Club on Sunday 19^th July.

The competition was for Womens doubles, Mixed doubles and a Junior Boys doubles.  Although the entries were low the participants all worked hard to produce some good tennis in difficult conditions with the wind and rain causing some delays.

Boy’s winners were Callum Haines and Simon Peto who will go through to the Regional Finals in Exmouth later this year with a visit to LTA Headquarters Roehampton should they win through at Exmouth.  The Ladies doubles winner were club coach, Emily Rossiter and Rhiannon Parsons with the mixed double winners being Sally Clarke and Head Coach Vinny Duddy.  Pictured above are some of the competitors who braved the elements for the competition and raised money for this worthwhile charity event.

The next event at the tennis club is the School Summer Holiday Junior Tennis Camp which will run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm during weekdays 23^rd July – 7^th Aug.  If you would like any further information please contact Vinny on 01278 782758 or visit the website www.avenuetennis.com.

The tennis club is celebrating its Centenary Year and will be organizing a Centenary Open Day on Saturday 19^th Sep and an Open Tournament on Sunday 20^th Sep.  The following weekend, 26^th September, is the Centenary Ball; the black tie event will have dancing to a DJ and local band Riverbrew in a Marquee set up at the tennis club.  Tickets can be obtained at the club and are priced at £40 and will include a meal and a complimentary drink.

We are currently looking for an officer to take on the role of treasurer - please contact any of the committee to lodge an interest.

Committee Members

Co-Opted

 Ex Chairman – Gordon Hunter – We are always keen to have “more hands on deck” to help with the running of the club and welcome other Members’ applications to join the committee.

If you wish something to be raised at a committee meeting, we hold them around every 6 weeks and you can either discuss your issue with any of us or else contact us .

More than 80 people attended the Avenue Tennis Club’s St Patrick’s party last week and helped to raise £200 for future celebrations.

Youngsters and adults enjoyed a lively Irish jig hosted by salsa dancer Theresa Plant. There was a traditional Irish stew, prepared by Julie Cameron, Poo Jenkins, Jane Sanders and Lynn O’Dell.

Dave Vennall was kept busy serving pint after pint of Guinness.

Meanwhile, Sally Christison decked the club out in elaborate Emerald Isle decorations.

Head coach Vinny Duddy said: “The evening was absolutely fantastic. It was particularly entertaining as some children did nothing but dance all night.

“The event was fitting for our centenary, and the money raised is great. It will go towards our main centenary ball on September 19. A massive thanks goes to everyone who helped to organise the night.”

The next centenary event will be a trip to the Lawn Tennis Association’s new Roehampton headquarters for a guided tour, a presentation and a chance to play on the courts, on Saturday, April 25.

The day is expected to cost £10 and those wishing to go should meet at the club for the coach at 8am.