Dear members,
Just because winter is on its way it doesn’t mean that the tennis has stopped at Riccall Tennis Club!  From Halloween family events to cardio tennis, the fun continues!  Check out some of the events planned as well as some club developments and coaching opportunities coming your way soon.
Court and clubhouse developments:
You’ll see a lot of work taking place in early December at the club.  We’ve got raised beds being installed, block paving to surround the stoned bench area, a new set of steps (that are much safer) with a handrail as well as a new paved area around the side of the clubhouse ready to install some storage for a permanent bbq, kit storage and gardening equipment.  We’ve got some of the old floodlight posts being removed as well as re-spraying the floodlight electric box.  We’ve also just installed a new visitor entrance sign which makes the visitor entrance a little clearer to pay and play visitors and Marilyn has trimmed back the conifers and lavender bushes. Hopefully it’ll have the club looking even more impressive going into the spring.
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Junior coaching:
Junior coaching with Sasha and Andrew has continued with some new juniors joining over the Autumn term.  Junior classes are as follows:
- Mondays 4:45 – 5:30 mini orange and green ball
- Mondays 5:30 – 6:30 yellow full ball/teen coaching
- Wednesdays 4:30 – 5:15 mini orange and green ball
- Wednesdays 5:15 – 6pm mini green and yellow full ball
- Saturdays 9:30 – 10:15 tots tennis (2-4yrs)
- Saturdays 10:15 -11 mini orange and green ball
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Adult coaching:
Sasha and Andrew continue to offer adult coaching as well as the extremely popular cardio tennis session on a Friday night!  It’s a great workout if anyone’s fancies joining in!  Days and times are as follows:
- Fridays 6:30 – 7:30 beginner coaching
- Fridays 7:30 – 8:30 intermediate and advanced drills
- Fridays 8:30 – 9:15 Cardio tennis (juniors welcome as well).
- Disability tennis (new) starting on Thursdays 6:30 – 8pm (from Thursday 5th December
- Walking tennis (new) starting on Mondays 10-11am
Coming soon…daytime cardio tennis, ladies only coaching (announcement on this shortly).
Halloween Tennis Party:
Our Halloween get together on Friday 1st November was a huge success!  We enjoyed lots of tennis inspired games with prizes for the best dressed family being awarded!  We even had free sausage sandwiches on offer as well as some other Halloween treats!  This followed a great night at The Hare and Hounds pub where we ran their yearly haunted house event selling Halloween snacks, Halloween tattoos and Halloween inspired bracelets making a grand total of £115 for club funds.
Christmas get together:
A number of members are going along and we’d love to see more of you there if you’re free!
We’re also hoping to run a Christmas jumper tennis tournament as well as a Christmas family event (announcement on these in the December newsletter).
Pickleball:
A few members recently enjoyed a pickleball taster session at the Regen Centre which proved to be extremely popular.  We’re hoping to establish this within the club more and more and are currently looking at possible venues to hold coaching sessions.  Long term, there is the possibility of entering a team into the York league if all goes to plan.  More news on this over the winter period.
Funding:
We currently have an application of a grant being considered by Network Rail (thanks to Steve D) as well as a possible funding stream through Drax Power Station so hopefully some much needed funds will be coming our way soon.
Quiz teams!
Sasha is currently considering holding a late afternoon/early evening Sunday online tennis quiz with a small entrance fee to help raise some club funds.  Greg has also looked into entering a team or two into the pub quiz on Thursday nights at The Greyhound Pub.  Keep an eye on the WhatsApp group for information on both these events.
Junior success!
Recently, one of our juniors came runner up in a grade 3 tournament in Ashby De-La-Zouch playing up a year and also had success in an under 12’s grade 4 at David Lloyd’s Teeside winning the tournament.  Some county training is planned for December as well as some big tournaments at John Charles Centre for Sport.  As ever, if any juniors are keen on entering any LTA tournaments get in touch and I can show you how to enter, competitions start from under 8’s but anyone from the age of 5 or 6 can enter indoor sponge ball tournaments, the earlier they start the better!
That’s all for now, keep an eye on our website and social media for lots of coaching updates and club developments.  Don’t forget club night is on a Wednesday evening from 7pm, we’d love to see more members down there.  Don’t worry about your level of tennis, we can easily match ability levels from total beginners to seasoned match players!
Kind regards,
Steven Capewell
(Membership secretary and Safe Guarding Officer)
