14 July 2017 | Tennis Queensland

Women in sport should always be celebrated, and for Northside Ladies, 35 years in tennis – and thriving in tennis – is certainly something to hero.

In 1982, Janice Adams and her husband owned what was the club’s first venue in Boondall, where teams of ladies would compete every day of the week at venues across the city.

“We played social on a Monday and Friday nights with our husbands, Greater Brisbane Tennis Fixtures on a Wednesday, and we also played intra-club fixtures,” remembers Adams.

But for women balancing tennis and home life, the commitment of daily travel across Brisbane became too much. So, like many great ideas, a few drinks with friends around the kitchen table saw the rise of a sound solution – a competition on the north side of town.

“With friends around my kitchen table having a drink after tennis at Boondall we started talking about forming a Northside Tennis Fixture Club, that way we would able to fit in tennis with our children and still have competition and friendship,” said Adams, the club’s Founding President.

The women nominated themselves into President, Treasurer, Secretary and committee, and Northside Ladies was born. At first, it was a six team competition, with two teams from Boondall (the Granites and Swifts), two from Burpengary, and four from Petrie. At its peak, the competition had 38 teams playing at six centres.

35 years on, Kae Ruprecht is now President of Northside Ladies and steering the ship of what’s become an innovative, forward thinking and highly popular club.

“We are a collaborative club, with all members engaging on a level playing field in the planning and decision making process… adhering to the old adage of “one person does not a committee make”‘, said Ruprecht.

“We focus on maximising participation, make sure all members have a strong sense of inclusion and provide a continual flow of positive and negative feedback delivered in a constructive manner,” she added.

Today, Northside Ladies has more than 100 members and is constantly creating new leagues and pathways for players to compete.

Just last year, the Northside committee initiated a social day with clubs from the Sunshine Coast.

“The first one was held at Caloundra with 24 pairs of ladies representing each club. The day was a huge success among both clubs and it was our pleasure to return the hospitality at Redcliffe on the 28^th June [2017],” said Ruprecht.

There are now plans to expand the social day to involve a wider footprint of clubs, and hold them more often.

The new competition is just one of the impressive ways the club embraces the spirit of the sport. It’s also learned to harness the power of the internet – taking on systems like My Tennis and social media – despite being one of the oldest clubs in the state.

“We realise that we must move forward with the times, we have experienced some opposition in the past to changes that need to be made,” said Ruprecht.

“Tuition was provided to many of our players, who were not computer savvy to enable them to access My Tennis, our webpage, email and Facebook.  I think it would be fair to say that our members now accept the technology age.”

Last week, to celebrate the club’s 35^th anniversary, its five founding members –  Janice Adams, Ailsa Garvey, Barbara Kennedy, Leslie Sarow and Eilleen Dickfos – were invited to a special luncheon to celebrate the milestone and the lasting success of their legacy.

“The ladies had a wonderful day, renewing old friendships and meeting new friends. We realise the strong debt we owe these women, without whose vision and commitment, Northside Ladies would not exist,” said Ruprecht.

“The 35th Luncheon was absolutely wonderful, these ladies have achieved so much. We caught up with ladies we had not seen in years,” said Adams.

To this day, many still find the time to get on court.

“Tennis is a game where age is no barrier,” she said.