WELCOME

I would like to again welcome everyone here tonight and thank you for giving up an hour of your time to attend this meeting.

I hope that everyone here tonight will consider giving a few hours each month and nominate for a Management Committee position. We are not asking for 50 years continuous service. The Club needs everyone’s support to survive for the benefit of our children and ourselves as players. We have excellent courts, good surroundings, clubrooms, 6 lit courts and plans for the future, so lets make it happen at Blackwood Tennis Club.

This is the President's Report and in the past I have included detailed comments on the highlights from all sections of the club, including Senior, Junior and Social Tennis. Our Secretary, Penny Thornton, has found that there is nothing left to say when it comes to her report, which has been most distressing for Penny. So like last year I have decided to make a few comments, rather than specific comments on the various sections of the club.

I believe that the Club has had a very successful year, certainly the most successful year since I have been involved. We had 28 (up from 23 last year) Junior teams and 8 Senior teams in Southern Districts Tennis Association. Last year I said that this is the most teams this club has ever fielded, well we have increased our numbers by a further 7 teams. To me that says the hard working volunteers at this club who form the Management Committee and the Junior Committee are doing something right – in fact a lot of things right. On behalf of the players and parents, THANK YOU, It has involved a lot of work and the Club has been very pleased to have a great group of people helping, particularly with the Juniors.

Of the 28 Junior teams, we have 22 teams likely to make the finals and it is a whole new game once finals start. I wish all the players every success. I am sure everyone will agree that it has been a successful year for the Juniors. Kaye Lewis, the Junior Co-ordinator, will provide more details of later.

The Senior teams have one more minor round to play and the Club has 2 possibly 3 teams of a possible 8 teams will be in the finals. Again, best wishes to all those players playing. We hope that other sections of the club will come and support the all the teams in their quest for Premierships.

Monday night tennis has again been coordinated by Dean Lorraine and there has been a hard core of people playing each week. Depending on the weather, numbers have reached 10 players on a night. With 3 courts to use (the coach has the other one), there is room for more players. The cost is $5.00 a night for up to 3 hours of tennis. Not bad value.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

The club continues to maintain the courts and the surrounds. The Club has now resurfaced all of its 6 courts in the past 3 years to give us arguably the best courts in the Association, particularly when you consider the playing area around the courts.

The club has also shared the use of 2 netball courts again this year. This has enabled us to have more Junior teams playing at home and with increased in Senior teams, they have been able to play all Home matches at Blackwood.

At the current time we are not sure what the netball club are doing, but we believe they are now here to stay and they may now look to build an additional court at the end of the existing courts and share our courts 3 & 4. The Club is seeking to arrange a time with the Mitcham Council to discuss the position. If the netball club stays they will be expected to contribute to the recent up grade of the lighting.

LEASE

As mentioned in the President's Reports for the previous seven years, the Club's lease is overdue for renegotiation. I am pleased to report that this year we have been able to negotiate a new lease for 20 years. The Council has to approve the extended term and then we will be in a position to sign and secure our future. The club was on a peppercorn lease and under the new lease we will be asked to pay for electricity, but only when seperate meters have been installed. There will be no annual rental and this is an extremely good result. We look forward to finalising the lease in the near future.

FINANCES

As Kaye Lewis, our Treasurer will tell us later, the Club is financially sound and last year we were able to operate at a profit. This is good as we are able to put money aside to resurface the courts when the time comes. We will be able to complete other improvement around the club, such as installing a water cooler in the club for the players, buying additional sweepers and possibly paving under the pergola. We will hear more from Kaye on the finances later.

COACHING

Again this year the Club contracted Malcolm Cameron and Peter Broughton to coach at our Club. Malcolm conducted club coaching sessions on Tuesday nights in Terms 4 & 1. Peter is conducting sessions on Wednesday nights in Term 1, whilst Malcolm’s brother took the sessions in Term 4 last year on a Wednesday night.

Again this year the coaches have shared the courts and the different styles of each coach has certainly benefited the club. Our players obviously enjoyed the option to choose different coaching styles, to the extent that during the summer season both coaches were fully booked. I even heard one coach turn down immediate work last Saturday, because he is so busy.

As I have said many times over the years, I believe that the more players that are coached, the better the match results and the more improvement players see in their game. In turn this increases the enjoyment from the game and surely enjoyment of the sport is why we all are involved.

I would like to thank a number of people who have helped me this year and made my year as Chairman that bit easier. Many thanks to;

Penny Thornton - our Secretary;
Ruth Baldwin - our Vice President and Canteen Manageress;
Kaye Lewis - our Treasurer;
Virginia Furness - our Minute Secretary;
David Gardner (our representative on SDTA Senior Recording Committee), Eric Lundborg, Graham Cahill, Rob Hayes and John Collett - committee members;
Kaye Lewis and Peter Broughton for the overseeing the operation of our 28 Junior teams;
Eric Lundborg – coordinator of the Junior Girls teams
Graham Cahill - coordinator of the Junior Boys teams, ably assisted by Rob Hayes in the 2^nd session each week;
Kaye Lewis and Peter Broughton for attending many meetings of the SDTA Junior Committee; and
the Junior Committee consisting of Graham Cahill, Eric Lundborg, Kaye Lewis, Rob Hayes and Peter Broughton.
A special thank you this year goes to Graham Cahill, who is retiring from organising the Junior Boys after 4 years. Thank you Graham for all your time and effort over the last 4 years, since I tapped you on the shoulder as you say. I hope you have enjoyed your time as much as we have appreciated your efforts.

Once again, thank you to all these people. If I have omitted to name any one, I apologise and say "thank you" to you too. I must also thank their respective families, who have allowed them to put the time and effort into the club for the benefit of all players.

Again, I must thank you to my wife, Sue and daughters Fleur and Breanna for their support during the past 8 years, whilst I have been President of the Club. It has not always been easy, never being able to use the phone uninterrupted on a Friday night, because I am trying to find players or having to take numerous messages, because I was out at various tennis and netball meetings.

Finally I would like to encourage players and parents to become involved with the management of the Club. In order to survive we need your help. Please think about how you can help the Club, especially when we ask for volunteers for the General Management Committee or the Social Committee. The future promises to be an exciting time with the continued growth of Blackwood Park. In closing I would like to pose the following question for the members present and the incoming committee, “Can we, the Club, become too big”. It is worth thinking about.

THANK YOU

Garry Dolman

President

Blackwood Tennis Club Inc

2^nd March 2004