15 September 2018 | Tennis ACT

Bruce Larkham and Thomas Charles Boag have been inducted into the Tennis ACT Walk of Fame on Saturday at the 2018 Tennis ACT Awards.

Established in 2016, the Tennis ACT Walk of Fame honours those whose exceptional contribution has brought recognition and esteem to them and to tennis in the Australian Capital Territory.

Larkham held an outstanding playing history, becoming the first Canberran to travel to Europe to play competitively.  Successful in tournaments in England, Holland, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Bruce also played in the Wimbledon qualifying singles and mixed doubles main draw.

In addition to his playing credentials Bruce had a highly successful coaching career for 32 years in Canberra.  He coached his two sons, Brent and Todd, along with Alun Jones and Amanda Grahame with all four having tennis careers reaching the world’s top 160.

Boag, who was better known as Charles or Charlie, established himself as one of the best players in the ACT during the 1930’s.

Boag played a pivotal role in the development of Reid Tennis Club, managing the refurbishment and maintenance along with establishing and upkeeping the gardens.  Charles was the Secretary for several years, becoming President for 12 years and being made a Life Member.

Charles also served as President and Vice-President of the ACT Lawn Tennis Association from 1952 – 1963 and was made an honorary life member.  As a senior player, he had a proud and successful history of representing the ACT.

The pair join previous inductees, Wally Masur, Keith Carnall, Ken Willis, Alison Ide, and Ros Balodis.

Proudly presented by ANZ, the Tennis ACT Awards celebrate the contribution and achievements of the tennis community in Canberra.  Fifteen awards were presented throughout the evening across club, coach, player and volunteer categories.

 North Woden Tennis Club took out the Most Outstanding Club award seeing a 25% growth in membership over the past 12 months, offering a variety of programs that encourage the community to play tennis.

Graham Hamilton from Kippax Tennis Club was awarded the Volunteer Achievement Award, receiving a trip to Australian Open 2019 courtesy of ANZ.  Hamilton has been involved in the clubs inception since the early 1980’s, a former president and a hard working committee member for decades.

In the player awards, Nick Kyrgios again won the ACT Player of the Year, while Annerly Poulos and Charlie Camus took out the Junior Athlete of the Year awards.  Ros Balodis was named the Most Outstanding 35+ Tennis Senior and Matthew Leggett won the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability.

Nelson Parker from Kaleen Tennis Club was awarded the Coaching Excellence – Club, while Todd Larkham and Nathan Price received coaching excellence for High Performance and Talent Development respectively.

Canberra High School was awarded the Most Outstanding School and as part of the award have won a player experience during the Apis Canberra International 2018.

A full list of award winners is below