The second tournament of the North East Veterans was held in Cobram on Sunday.
Yarrawonga was very well represented and continues to be the biggest supporter of this tournament series.
As usual Cobram’s courts were in fantastic condition ensuring a high standard of tennis.
Making a return to the circuit Sandra Banks was in great form to win her card. Yarrawonga Tennis Club’s President Daryl Bennett played extremely well to win his card narrowly from Aidan Humphry. Whilst not greeting the judges on the day Amy Lairson, Jenelle Bennett, Bev Munro, Coral Barnard, Mick Ibbott and Mike Lairson all played well.
The next tournament in the series is at Tatura this Sunday. All players over the age of 30 years are encouraged to play.
Saturday morning juniors
Unfortunately, Saturday juniors was washed out on the weekend. 36mm of rain on Friday meant the grass courts were too wet to use. This Saturday the 205 players will be back on court enjoying a sport that can be played for life.
The Hot Shots program is designed for novice players aged between 5 and 7. The kids learn the fundamentals of tennis on small courts with low compression tennis balls.
Minor games and skills are combined in the 40-minute sessions designed to keep the kids entertained whilst learning new skills.
The assistance of parents for this program is essential and it was great to see everyone getting involved.
The coaching program is the next step on the Saturday morning coaching journey and is aimed at players between the ages of 7 and 11.
Club coach Greg Duns oversees this area, and he has had to be very creative with around 25 players in each group. As usual Greg will design programs that are both entertaining and appropriate for player development.
The number of players participating in matches has reached an unprecedented level.
As a result of this it is even more essential that all players register at the tournament box prior to 8.50am.
It will take quite a while to write out the groups for the round robin this week and any latecomers will not be able to be entered. If you are going to be late, please text Jason before 8.50am.
There are still positions available in the 10.20am Hot Shots group and anyone interested is encouraged to contact Greg Duns, Lisa Linehan or Jason Bassett as soon as possible to join the fun.
A junior squad program will soon commence on a Wednesday afternoon. Squad is overseen by experienced club coach Greg Duns. Greg provides a range of drills to ensure stroke and tactical development.
Greg and his coaching team also provide junior group coaching sessions on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. These sessions are great fun and to improve at tennis it is recommended that a weekday practice session coupled with Saturday morning match play is a perfect combination.
For younger players the more tennis sessions the kids do the better they become.
Wilby tennis competition
Round two of the Wilby and District Tennis Association was severely impacted by the rain on Friday. All matches scheduled for the Friday night had to be cancelled leaving the players disappointed.
The only match to go ahead was the clash between Wilby and Savernake on Saturday.
Wilby’s skipper, Helen White conducted a pitch inspection and deemed the clay at Royal Wilby resembled a muddy mess. As a result, the match was moved to Yarrawonga’s grass courts. In windy conditions there were plenty of friendly banter between the teams.
The mens sets were relatively even before Wilby snuck ahead 4 sets to 2 with Russell Whinray best on court winning all of his sets.
Wilby’s strong ladies combination proved too strong winning all 6 sets with Amy Lairson, Helen White, Kayla Whinray and Leesa Ellis all in great form.
Wilby made it a clean sweep in the mixed to win all 4 sets. Overall Wilby up by 48 games to claim the 8 points.
After round 2 the ladder is Wilby 14, Telford 12, Tungamah Green 10, Mulwala Gold 9, Mulwala Maroon 7, Tungamah Gold 6, Burramine 6, Savernake 0.
This week Savernake host Tungamah Gold, Burramine will take on Wilby, Mulwala Gold will welcome Telford and Mulwala Maroon will make the trek to Tungamah Green.
Goulburn Murray tennis
The Goulburn Murray Tennis Association played round 2 on Saturday. Local clubs Numurkah and Cobram have been very generous in the support of Yarrawonga players keen to play at a higher standard.
In Division 1 Numurkah played Shepparton. In challenging conditions, the standard of tennis was high.
At the end of the rubber, the sets were split 5 each but Shepparton won the day by 8 games. For Numurkah Lucy Bassett was in great form winning all three of her sets whilst Jack Bassett has a strong singles win.
Thursday Ladies competition
The Thursday Ladies teams competition will commence this week. Organisers Gert Brunner and Narelle Bassett have been inundated with players and are pleased to have 11 teams.
This is the most number of teams in this competition for a very long time. Teams have been created and everyone is asked to arrive just before 6.00 to commence the season. If you have missed the chance to play fill-ins are regularly needed and names can be added to this list at any stage.
Tuesday Mens tennis
The Tuesday Mens competition will begin on Tuesday, November 8. Organiser Ash Wheaton has commenced taking names and is keen to hear from any new players that might be interested in playing.
Entries are made individually with evenly matched teams created. The season runs until early March and is always great fun.
Rock up and play sessions
The YLTC holds social aggregate style tennis at four different times during the week. Each of these events provide the opportunity for new players to come and trial tennis prior to committing to becoming a member.
The main aggregate night is Friday night and this night will commence after the Melbourne Cup weekend.
Other times where anyone can simply sign-in on the day are Saturday at 1.00p.m. for all players, Tuesday morning commencing at 9.30 for ladies and Wednesday at 1.00p.m. for mens social hit. There is no compulsion to attend each of these on a weekly basis although once you have tried it once it will be hard to not keep going back.