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Newsletter

December 2009

To all Edgemead Tennis Club Members

We are near the end of another year and it has been quite a busy one at Edgemead Tennis Club. Just take a look at the photo gallery and you will see that there have been quite a few social events, as well as a little bit of tennis!

Our club has grown in membership in the last few months and this is very promising, as tennis is a sport that one can play to a ripe old age. Families keep tennis clubs alive and it has been wonderful to have a few families joining in recent months.

Our end of year fancy-dress party was a great success and those did not attend, missed the event of the year. We had best-dressed prizes and these went to the winners, Salete Blaylock (a Saloon Lady) and Roland Matzke (a Rock Chick) and runners-up Anne Flannigan (a parrot) and Lance Swingburn (a skeleton.) Ocean Basket, Edgemead, gave us some vouchers as prizes and there were many other small prizes as lucky draws. Karl Arends kindly provided the music, without which there would not have been such a party atmosphere. Next year we will have a party during the year again and we hope to see more faces.

Young and old enjoyed Sunday morning tennis in the annual Generation Gap tournament at the beginning of this month.

There will be social tennis on Saturday afternoons from 2pm, however the club will be closed on Saturday, 26 December and Saturday, 2 January. We would like to see many of you down again on the second Saturday of January to start the new year in force!

League tennis will be starting on the first Saturday in February and league practice will begin again on Thursday, 14 January. Those of you who don’t quite feel up to league level, but would like some extra tennis in the week, please come down on a Tuesday evening and you will be included in some organised games.

During the holiday period, many of you may go down to play on your own. Please ensure that you lock the gates after you have finished. The courts are costly to maintain and when the courts are left open, there are often uncaring people who go onto the courts with bikes and shoes that mark the courts badly.

I wish everyone a blessed and safe holiday. Please return to us next year, full of energy and enthusiasm. Let’s make 2010 another fantastic year at ETC.

Yours in Tennis
Tracy Scholtz

August 2009

To all Edgemead Tennis Club Members

As summer approaches, our club is getting busier and busier. It has been wonderful to see the faces of members who have been lying dormant during winter, as well as many new faces. It is encouraging to see so many new members at the club and getting involved in the various activities that are on offer.

The sense of summer approaching seems to give us a lift and pushes us to get out there onto the court and have some fun. FUN is what it has to be about, no matter how serious a player you may be. The tennis club community is just that, a community where you can make friends, share stories and chill out a little, if that is all you want to do.

We held our "Wimbledon Day" in June and it was a great success. We were blessed with a perfectly clear warm winter afternoon. There were at least 6 courts of doubles on at any given time during the course of the afternoon. There was much laughter and comraderie as members sipped some Pimms on ice and ate strawberries and cream.

On Friday, 24 July, we had a social evening and our prize giving at Ferrymans Tavern in the V&A Waterfront. We were treated to some fantastic food, as well as wine-tasting from Durbanville Hills Wine Estate. View pictures of the evening in our photo gallery.

The first Saturday of August saw the courts full again with our pre-season league event. League practice has been running every Tuesday and Thursday evening and will continue till the end of league. Saturday, 5 September, is the first mixed league match of the season.

There will always be organized social tennis for those who are not playing league on Saturdays. So, come down from 2.30pm and have a game. If you would like to arrange your own game on a Saturday, it would be best to come after 5pm while the league season is in progress.

Maintenance work continues and little by little there are minor changes being made. We continue to request the completion of the fencing around the clubhouse, but there have been no promises from the Municipality as to when this will be done. We will be working on the clubhouse roof soon to mend all leaks and then fixing up the interior of the "braairoom" as it is looking a little worse for wear. If you can assist in any way with waterproofing, painting equipment and/or ceiling repair work, please contact Peter Zuidema, our maintenance coordinator.

The junior championships are currently underway and will hopefully be completed in a couple of weeks' time. The Junior squad will be going to Robertson on the first weekend in September to play some tennis against the local youngsters. We wish them well.

Wednesday, 9 September, is the start of the ladies' morning league. There is only one team playing as there are not sufficient numbers to make two teams and have reserves. However, if you are interested in joining these ladies in future, let Helga Pinto know and perhaps Edgemead could enter two teams next year. Let's give it a go!

So there are some busy weeks ahead and I hope to see you all down at the club sometime or another. Bring some meat and salads and join us for our club braai on the evening of 5 September when our resident pyromaniac, Lance, will light up a fire. Everyone is welcome!

Yours in tennis
Tracy Scholtz

June 2009

To all Edgemead Tennis Club Members

As this is my first newsletter as Chairperson of ETC, there is so much to write about, however, I have tried to keep to the points of interest that would possibly affect each of you.

It is said that "new brooms sweep clean," but I would like to say that Lynda, our former Chairperson, did a sterling job and there is no need to do much sweeping! However, we all have our personal visions and I hope, with the support of the committee, to bring a different approach to growing the ETC and its role in the greater Edgemead community. I am blessed with a strong committee of eight members. It's a pleasure to head a group of individuals who are voluntarily offering their skills for the love of tennis and the club and who are happy to support each other in fulfilling their responsibilities.

I am excited about the year ahead and hope that this will rub off on each of you. Each member plays an important role at the Club, whether you are a social, league, junior or senior player and we want to make your playing and social experience with us, as enjoyable as possible.

There is plenty of work to do on the maintenance side, but as always we depend on funds to help maintain our premises in the best condition possible. We are well aware of broken fences and other things that need repairing and it is all on our long to-do list. The municipality has promised us paint and painting equipment so that we can paint the exterior of the clubhouse, but we are at their mercy and have to just wait till they deliver! You may have noticed some fencing going up around the clubhouse. This will hopefully be completed in the very near future. The idea is to provide a more protected environment for members, especially juniors, who are down there on their own. Once it is completed, we will notify members regarding future access to the courts.

We are holding a Wimbledon Day at the tennis club on 27 June for all members and any non-members who would like to take part. This is an event that promises plenty of fun and tennis, as well getting to meet other tennis players. You would have all received an email regarding this event. Please ensure that you book a spot before Saturday.

On Friday, 24 July, we will be holding a mid-year social event which will include our prize giving ceremony, at Ferrymans Tavern in the Waterfront. More details will be sent out soon and tickets will be on sale by the end of the month.

August will be a busy month with Junior championships taking place, as well as the start of league practice which begins at the beginning of August. There will be a pre-season senior tennis day on 1 August, but there will be notification of this closer to the time. We would like all league players to participate in future league practices and hope to arrange some practices with other clubs to provide some different opposition.

On Wednesday mornings, during the summer months, there is a "housewives" league. At the moment, weather permitting, the ladies meet on Wednesday mornings at 9am for social tennis. If there are any ladies out there who would like to join in, please just arrive and introduce yourself to Helga who oversees this group.

I would appreciate your input on matters concerning the club, so please send your emails to the relevant email addresses on this website. If you have services that you can offer our club, no matter how small it may be, please come forward and let us know. This is YOUR tennis club and we want it to be a place that you can feel proud about and where you feel welcome.

Thank you
Tracy Scholtz