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.

This is the President's Report and as such I will briefly highlight some of the sections of the club an its performance over the past 12months.

The Club has had a very successful year, certainly the most successful year since I have been involved. We had 29 Junior teams, up 1 from 28 last year and a 19 team increase from when my girls first started playing at Blackwood in 1990. We also had 9 Senior teams in Southern Districts Tennis Association. For the past 3 years at least, I have said that this is the most teams this club has ever fielded and we continue to grow. 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.

I know I will probably be stealing some of Kaye Lewis’ highlights of the Junior Tennis at Blackwood, but I would like to officially acknowledge the wonderful results of the Junior teams this year. Of the 29 Junior teams that play for Blackwood, 22 teams made the finals, of which 20 teams were still “alive” going into the Preliminary Finals.

Thirteen teams made it through to the Grand Final, with our two teams in Boys Div 3 & 9 to play each other. Of the possible 11 Premierships, we were fortunate to win 8 and I believe that to be an Association record. Kaye Lewis, the Junior Co-ordinator, will provide more details of later.

The Senior teams had a disappointing year with a number of players showing a distinct lack of commitment. As a result, most weeks, many players found themselves playing one or two grades higher than the club originally envisaged. Obviously they struggled and this is reflected in the fact that only one team made the finals. Congratulations to the Division 6 Men only team, who finished second for the season, by 9 games. Many thanks to all players, particularly those who played every week and to the many players who filled in each week.

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 12 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. This year we have offered to assist the netball club in resurfacing the courts and painting them as tennis courts, but double lined for netball. As the netball club uses the courts for training only, the committee is hopeful of receiving a favourable response in the near future.

The Woods Panthers Netball Club is staying at Hewett Reserve and you may have seen a newspaper report about the proposed additional fourth court. Obviously, the Blackwood Tennis Club supports this proposal, as we will be able to have more teams play home each week.

As a result of that decision, the tennis club has advised the Department of Recreation and Sport that the long standing to grant that the Department had provided, can not be used to convert the netball courts to tennis courts. However we have been able to use a portion of the monies to up grade the lighting on the courts. We now have 6 high standard lit courts available for night tennis.

LEASE

I am please to advise that after 7 years of discussions, delays and more delays, the Club has signed a 5 year lease agreement with three rights of renewal for a further 5 years each time. In effect we have a 20 year lease, with very favourable terms, such as a very small annual payment, no payment for electricity without separate meters, nominal insurance costs and no water costs.

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 improvement around the club without the need to borrow funds. 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 conducted coaching sessions on Wednesday nights.

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.

Malcolm has advised the Club that due to changed family circumstances, he will not be able to coach next year and the Club is currently looking at employing another coach. We have two coaches who have expressed interest in the position and we will be discussing the position with them at our next General Committee meeting. I would like to say thank you to Malcolm for his efforts over the past 7 years. Without his involvement at the club, it is fair to say we would not be where we are today. Many thanks Malcolm for a job well done.

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 the club 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;

Ian Furness & John Collett- our alternating Minute Secretaries;

Graham Cahill, Val Davey, Mick Guerin – general comitteee members;

Kaye Lewis and Peter Broughton for the overseeing the operation of our 29 Junior teams;

Eric Lundborg – coordinator of the Junior Girls teams

Rob Hayes - coordinator of the Junior Boys teams, ably assisted by Paul Nicholas and Ian Furness 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 Kaye Lewis, Rob Hayes, Eric Lundborg, Paul Nicholas and Peter Broughton; and

Ian Furness (our representative on SDTA Senior Recording Committee and Permit Committee).

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 9 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 will to continue to be an exciting time with the expansion of Blackwood Park and the rejuvenation of the Blackwood area. In closing I would again like to pose the following question for the members present and the incoming committee, “Can we, the Club, become too big”. I believe we need to really consider this issue.

THANK YOU

Garry Dolman

President

Blackwood Tennis Club Inc

30^th March 2005

Website: www.blackwoodtennis.org.au