This weekend saw the Highworth Tennis Clubs final Great British Tennis Weekend of the summer… The Highworth Tennis Club continues to fly the flag for grassroots British Tennis with a visit by Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson.
Justin Tomlinson was extremely impressed with the clubs efforts to build the club and its junior coaching programme. Tomlinson said “It was brilliant to meet the dedicated team of volunteers who keep Highworth Tennis Club running. Both the clubhouse and courts provide an excellent location to play tennis and there is a real community feel which makes everybody – of all ages and abilities – feel very welcome. This is really important when it comes to getting more people active. It was also great to see that the club has had a boost in the number of young members since they took on new coach Simon Hennell who has taught the skills of the sport in an enjoyable way.”
The beginning of 2017 has seen great success from the small town club with its Club Coach Simon Hennell winning Wiltshire LTA Coach of the Year for 2016 and junior Thomas Atkinson winning Wiltshire LTA Young Volunteer of the Year for 2016, both are now waiting to see if they will win the South West Region Coach and Volunteer of the year.
In 2014 when Simon took over as the clubs coach, there was only 8 junior members, Simon has been awarded his coach of the year award for his hard work in boosting the clubs junior membership which now boast 150 juniors who have all taken part in the Highworth Tennis Clubs Coaching Programme.
The Highworth Tennis Club is going from strength to strength exceeding its goal of new members from its open day events over the summer and is also doing well with its fundraising targets. The club have big plans ahead, firstly furthering its goal to be a fully wheelchair accessible club by putting in a ramp to the club house, resurfacing all of its five all weather courts and finally the clubs most ambitious plan in years, to raise enough money to put a roof over some of its tennis courts.
This year the club saw four teams in the Swindon and District League get promoted as well as two division champions in Aegon Team Tennis. I am very proud of all our competitors, both junior and senior.
The results the club have made are due in no small part to the enthusiasm and dedication of the committee, Head Coach Simon Hennell and Volunteer Junior Coaching Assistant Thomas Atkinson.
Interested in playing tennis? Doesn’t matter if you have never played, old, young, experienced player or someone that hasn’t picked up a racket in years, the Highworth Tennis Club is always looking for new members, just check out the clubs Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/
The clubs next event is the Dawn Till Dusk Tennis Marathon, where club members are aiming to keep at least one court continuously for 15hrs from 7am till 10pm, where all players will be fundraising for their marathon efforts.
The club is actively looking for local corporate sponsors, so if there is any local business looking to support a grassroots club with big plans for the future, then you should get in touch via their Facebook page:https://m.facebook.com/
By Mike Buss
