Our number of Junior Teams at Blackwood increased again this year with the girls going from 6 teams last year to 8 teams this year and the boys being able to field 15 teams again the same as last year. This certainly makes the future of the Blackwood Tennis Club very promising. Our boys teams consisted of two division 1 teams who did finish low on the premiership table out of 12 teams, however both where very even teams and where never disgraced and improved considerably as the season progressed. I think we can gain a lot of experience from having the two Div 1’s and be far more competitive next year. I would also like to say a special thank you to Simon Rechner who had not intended to play Junior’s this year but filled in for one of our Div 1 teams for most of the season and then also played Senior’s in the afternoon, his commitment to this was certainly appreciated. We were also fortunate to have two Div 2 teams who finished the minor round in the top two positions, unfortunately we where not able to secure a premiership in this Div but can be justly proud of the performance of both of the teams. We then had a team in every other Division in boys and this helped in being able to place the players at a level which best suited their ability, I think the result of having Div 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 13 make the finals is proof of this, and we were successful in gaining premierships in both Division 6 and 13 and runner-up in Division 7 and 10. Great effort boys and you have all done yourselves and your Club proud.
The girls also had a great season with 7 out of the 8 teams making the finals and the one team that missed out was only by a mere 2 points, this is a tremendous result and again shows that the teams where placed in Division’s that best suited their ability. The Division 6 and 9 teams were both successful in gaining premierships and the Division 3 girls were runner-ups. This is a great result and again these girls have done themselves and the Club proud Well done!!!!!!
A successful season like this would not be possible without the tireless efforts of quite a few people and two people that deserve special mention are Graham Cahill Boys Co-Coordinator and Eric Lundborg Girls Co-Coordinator who put in numerous hours selecting and co-coordinating the teams, this is not an easy task but I believe our results prove what an excellent job they have done. Also Ian Furness who has helped to make sure the second session of boy’s gets going smoothly and Peter Broughton who is at the Club every Saturday morning and helping in any way possible and has also been our Representative at Southern Districts Junior meetings “Thanks guys”. Also to all the parents who have supervised, transported and just generally been around to support our Junior’s thank you very much, as we would not be able to run the number of Junior Teams we did without your commitment and support each week.
I can only say that the success we have had this season certainly makes the future of the Blackwood Tennis Club look very bright and we wish all the players who are too old for Junior’s next year the best of luck with their Tennis and look forward to seeing them on Saturday afternoons playing Senior Tennis for the Blackwood Tennis Club. To all the other Junior’s and their parents we hope that you will be back again next year representing your Club in the fine manner that you have this year and that we may have another successful and enjoyable season in 2003/2004.
Kaye Lewis