2023 Margaret Winnett Trophy - enter NOW! plus join us to watch the Wimbledon Mens Finals

In memory of our much loved Chairman and Inspiration

 Sunday 16th July - Start time 10am

Tournament rules

• Open to Secondary School age junior members and their parent or adult relative/ family friend.

•  A sliding handicap will operate in all matches.

• Adults are only allowed one serve.

•  An initial round robin format will produce semi- finalists.

• Seven games will be played in each match of the Round robins. Contestants will be ranked according to wins and then games. If equal, the winner of their match will go through.

• The semi- finals and Final will be one full set with a tie break if needed.

• Entry fee £8 per pair including drinks and snacks, payable via card machine on the day please.

• Please enter via email to ALTC Chairman and tournament organiser, Trevor Blake. trevorblake.tb@gmail.com  - under the heading “The Margaret Winnett Trophy”

•  In the afternoon, starting at 2pm come and join other tennis lovers to watch the Wimbledon Men's Final, perhaps taking a break to have a game yourself. Enjoy a cream tea at the same time. 

  We look forward to seeing you at one or other or both events for a Summer celebration of tennis, 

2023 ‘Adult’ Club Championships

The draws for the Adult Championships have taken place - see below.

• Each category has a mentor:

o  Mens Singles - George Beare

o   Mixed Doubles - Martyn Isherwood

o   Seniors Mens Singles - Trevor Blake

o   Ladies Doubles - Claire Reid

o   Ladies Singles - Linda Penn

o   Mens Doubles - Adrian Shapter

• Each mentor has a member’s contact list in case you need any opponent’s contact details.

• The draws are also displayed in the clubhouse.

•  If you have any queries, please contact the ‘category’ mentors.

We hope you enjoy taking part in the Championships and remember to pop in your diary - Finals Day – Sunday 10th September.

 Good luck

·        

Perfect weather for the Tennis Club’s Wingfield Trophy

The Wingfield participants

The sun shone for the club’s first adult tournament of the year. The flowers bloomed and, surrounded by the trees, the competition got underway.

It is named after Major Walter Clopton Wingfield who introduced the first commercial version of Tennis in 1874. It was designed for both men and women to play on their croquet lawns and was initially played on an hour- glass shaped court. That soon changed and within a few years the new “Lawn Tennis” had spread all over the world.  

Luckily we don’t need to own croquet lawns to play now .The club is open to all and has excellent facilities with outdoor and indoor courts.

The pairs were drawn and two groups played a round robin format to find the finalists.

This Tournament is always played with a sliding handicap system. If you win the first game, you start the next at minus 15 and the handicap grows if you win more games in a row. The result is that most contests are extremely close.

In the first group, Christine Pickford and Michael Cooke  and Flavia Zamfir and her partner Peter Evans were the most consistent. Flavia and Peter went through to the final as a result of winning their match with Chris and Michael.

2023 Wingfield winners - Peter and Flavia

In the second group, the top two pairs were Clare Thain and Harvey Stuart and Louise Martin and Martyn Isherwood. Once again a narrow win in the match between them put Louise and Martyn through to the Final.

Louise and Martyn put up a good fight aiming to take control of the net but greater consistency overall with powerful accuracy from Flavia meant that the trophy went to her and Peter.

In beautiful weather and with close matches as well as a cream tea, the afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by participants and spectators alike.

2023 Junior Club Championships - Entries now being received

The ALTC Junior Club Championships for 2023 are now open to entries!

ENTER HERE

We had a great event last year and we are hoping this year will see the draws as full as they have ever been! 

The events are open to players of ALL abilities and we encourage everyone to do a singles and team up with a friend to play some doubles.

Players must be ALTC members to play.

How will the draws work

U8s & U9s will play their draws on one day - Saturday 15th July TBC

All other draws will be arranged by a play-by date to be completed before the Summer Holidays.

Finals Day

Sunday 10th September

The junior and adult finals day promises to be a fantastic club event. We encourage all juniors and parents to come and watch!

If you have any questions about the event please speak to Joe at the Club or email via joe@jrtennis.co.uk. 

Good luck!

Senior Ladies Team make a good start to the Season

Jenny Mears, Sophie Annett (Captain), Jennie Pope and Ros Hursell at Portswood.

 Captain Sophie Annett’s team started the Hampshire and Isle of Wight League season with a home match against a team from the coast. Alverstoke are one of the older established Tennis Clubs in the country, having been in existence since the 1880s.

Andover’s first pair, Claire Reid and Ros Hursell are both playing for Hampshire this year. They began the evening well with a speedy  6-0, 6-1 win over the visitor’s first pair.

Sophie Annett and Christine Pickford also did well against the visitor’s second pair, winning 6-3, 6-2. The second round saw Reid and Hursell continue as they started, dismissing the Alverstoke pair without losing a game, 6-0, 6-0.

 Annett and Pickford put up a good fight against the Alverstoke firsts but were just pipped in a tie break first set to lose 6-7, 3-6. The Andover team had achieved a win by three rounds to one.

 For their second match the team travelled to Portswood , a club set in a garden square surrounded by large Edwardian houses in Southampton.

 Jennie Pope and Ros Hursell got off to a poor start, losing the first four games but showed their determination and experience to fight back and came out on top 6-4, 6-3 after two hours against the Portswood first pair. This was backed up by Jenny Mears and Sophie Annett who got through 7-5, 6-2, versus the Second pair after a similarly long match.

Pope and Hursell then made swift work of their second match winning 6-0, 6-0.

Mears and Annett found the first pair too strong and lost 1-6, 0-6 but the Andover team won the match by three rounds to one again. 

Two matches with two wins is the perfect start as the team look for promotion to the top division.

Schools Roadshow - Saturday 29th April 2023 - 'FREE' one hour tennis activities for 3 - 10 year olds

Please use the following links to reserve a place on one of the sessions:

Isaac receives LTA Tennis Awards 'Regional' award

Isaac with Bash Kara, his award nominator.

Following Isaac being awarded the County ‘Rising Star’ for the annual LTA Tennis Awards, it has just been announced he has been awarded the Regional round. The presentation will take place on Centre Court on 20th June at the Cinch Championships at the Queen’s Club in London.

 Further details about the LTA Awards can be viewed on the LTA website.

Isaac will now represent the South and South West region at the National Awards. We will obviously keep you updated when the winners are announced in July.

Well done Isaac – this is so well deserved for everything you do at ALTC - the club is so proud of you.

Isaac awarded 2023 Hampshire & IOW Rising Star Award

14 year old tennis player Isaac Robinson from Andover Tennis Club has been awarded the Hampshire & IoW Rising Star Award.

Isaac completed the Tennis Leader Course in 2021 and then fulfilled the required voluntary hours to be awarded his Certificate.

Nominator, Bash Kara with Isaac

Since then Isaac has been helping with the Andover Tennis Club coaching program, Isaac

• always arrives 30 min before the start of the coaching session every Saturday morning and greets coaches and Adult volunteers with a positive attitude and big smile.

• helps prepare and set up the equipment for mini tennis – mini nets, throw down lines, mini rackets and balls etc. When the other leaders arrive they look to him for help and/or instructions to complete the set ups before the first session.

• helps Coaches to run the sessions with great enthusiasm.

• is always keen to learn from coaches and take the lead. His main coaching aims are to help young players of all abilities and from all backgrounds improve and, above all, enjoy tennis.

• has a natural, empathetic coaching style especially with younger children, assisting in their personal development through tennis.

• has assisted with the LTA Youth Start courses at Andover LTC and his effort and enthusiasm has helped achieve high retention of the young beginners.                      

• regularly helps with buddy-hitting and makes himself available for the advanced coaching sessions to assist in demonstration or doubles drills/exercises. 

• is an accomplished junior player having won numerous club competitions and selected to play for the club junior team. He won the club Play Your Way To Wimbledon and played in the County play-off.

• volunteers his help and has umpired at the club championships.

Isaac, above all shows a passion for tennis in his actions around the tennis club. He is a positive 14 year old young person with a 'can do' attitude going the extra mile for the benefit of learners, peers and promotion of Tennis. He is an inspiring young person and role model to young players and encourages them to take up tennis.

He won the Most Outstanding Club Junior of the year 2022 at the Andover LTC and is a credit to the club and town. The sport of tennis is in good hands with young volunteers like Isaac. 

Well done Isaac - the Club is so proud of you.

Andover LTC Head Coach Joe Revelle writes:

Isaac attends multiple sessions through the week and consistently sets the standard high both with performance and attitude, a fantastic example for all other junior players. In his role as a tennis leader he always goes above & beyond what is expected of him and never ceases to impress me with his professionalism.

Club Member's News - February 2023

Membership renewals/fees – Since 2nd January 2023 the Club has moved to a rolling membership year. Those members who have joined from this date, can continue to enjoy the full benefits of the Club for a whole year before their renewal takes place.  

However, for the vast majority of members, membership renewal is due on 1st April.  This year there are a number of changes to fees, full details of which will be sent during March.

If you have any queries regarding your membership, please contact me via membership@altc.net .

Diary dates for 2023 – We are busy planning events/club activities for the year - dates will be published soon. If you have any ideas or would like to run an event, please speak to any General Committee member.

Adult member's social sessions - The current weekly sessions can be viewed via www.altc.net/membership .

The Coaching programme resumes from w/c 20th February for both adult and junior sessions. The full programme and enrolment can be viewed via www.jrtennis.co.uk or speak to Joe (Head Coach) or one of the coaching team whilst you are at the club.

If you are interested in ‘freshening up some of your tennis technics’, why not join one of the Adult group coaching sessions – Monday mornings, Tuesday evenings and Friday mornings? There is also a beginner’s class on Thursday evenings. For a fitness session, why not join the Cardio session on Thursday evening – it is great fun. For further details and enrolment, please view www.jrtennis.co.uk

If you have any queries, please email me via info@altc.net or speak to one of the General Committee.

Adult Club 'Winter' Club Sessions - January to March 2023 (inclusive) (updated 18/2/23)

As communicated in September 2022, we have been trialling additional days for Adult Club sessions during the first half of the Winter season. Following a review, we now plan to offer the following sessions over the next 3 months starting on Friday 6th January 2023 to Friday 31st March 2023. Information for the summer season will be communicated prior to the first session in April.

Monday - first session for 2023 - 9th January 2023

• From 9am to 11am using the indoor courts

• This session will cost £2 per member irrespective of the amount of time spent at the session. This is a contribution towards lighting costs. 

Wednesday - first session for 2023 - 22nd February 2023

• From 7pm to 9pm using two outdoor courts

• This session will cost £2 per member irrespective of the amount of time spent at the session. This is a contribution towards lighting costs. 

Friday - first session for 2023 - 6th January 2023

• From 6pm to 9pm both indoor courts will be available. From 7pm to 9pm - all three outdoor courts are available.

• This session will cost £2 per member irrespective of the amount of time spent at the session. This is a contribution towards lighting costs. 

Remember, for Day members, as your membership category includes court play up to 4pm, you are welcome to come along to the Monday morning session.

Please try out the new sessions and let us know your thoughts by emailing info@altc.net .