CLUBS OF THE MONTH
Warradale Park Tennis Club is a family-oriented club, established in 1956 in the Southwestern Suburbs of Adelaide. They value and promote tennis participation and enjoyment by all ages, contributing to a strong community spirit.
The club’s coaching program was significantly strengthened by Sebastian Swierk, a former Australia champion and top 200 professional player appointed as head coach. He has done wonders for their players, especially developing the younger players.
The club has a strong volunteering ethos, led by the active Club Committee. They are running a variety of projects and initiatives in partnership with Tennis SA, including initiatives like Thriving Tennis Communities, ClubSpark, Good Sports, Book-A-Court and Star Club.
These initiatives have helped the club to work through the various aspects of being a well-run club, and working towards of mission of being a friendly, welcoming, inclusive club and a great place to play tennis by providing excellent tennis facilities and a range of opportunities for members of all ages and abilities to participate in the club.
In alignment with their 5-year plan using the Tennis SA template, Warradale Park Tennis Club have developed a proposal to upgrade their clubhouse with support from a local architect and cost estimator, and is excited to have put in a development proposal to the City of Marion and Federal Government to raise funds for this ambitious project. Watch this space for future announcements.
Congratulations Warradale Park Tennis Club!
The Back Valley Tennis Club continues to make significant strides with venue upgrades as the club heads into the festive season.
It’s committed army of volunteers has acquired several significant grants over the past 4 years to upgrade its facilities to a Tennis Australia standard beginning with a resurface in 2019. Since this time, the club has been vigorously fundraising to support continued upgrades and earlier this year received $19,000 from the State Government for an important project to extend the backstay of its final court!
During this time, the club has also extended its clubhouse decking and is preparing to extend the verandah viewing area.
“It’s really all starting to come together,” said Club President Julie Curran.
With more than 100 members, the club is one of few regionally to run a social program all year round. Julie says that while some people have never heard of Back Valley, she believes it to be the natural setting and social atmosphere that keeps people coming back.
“I think we have a really great location as it’s such a pretty place to play tennis. It’s a friendly place and we love to welcome new people!” she said.
“We provide a range of playing options and while the competition has been good for such a long time, the social aspect is a big part of our club. Our junior program is also going really well at the moment and we are really excited to see our orange ball team enter the competition after Christmas!”
Congratulations Back Valley Tennis Club!
VOLUNTEERS OF THE MONTH
Julie Curran is a local legend in the Back Valley community on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is most well known for her tireless work volunteering at the Back Valley Tennis Club.
Julie is a Life Member of the Club after serving as an office bearer since 1971, including as President of the Club since 1999.
Although no longer playing competitively, Julie continues to organise and play social tennis at the club on Tuesday and Friday mornings year-round, being one of the only clubs to regionally to play across all seasons.
Julie and her husband Kevin were both award Life Membership of the Club in 2003, a huge achievement for the couple.
“It was such a special moment for the both of us together,” Julie said.
“When you volunteer for a club it really is a labour of love. We still love it out there just as much now as when we first started.”
“We’ve both held a number of office positions over the years, and I’d encourage anyone thinking about volunteering to just do it! It is so rewarding and there is so much to be gained from volunteering,” Julie said.
“All of our three kids played tennis at Back Valley and so have our grandchildren. It’s been a long family affair and tennis has always been a big and important part of our lives.”
Congratulations Julie!
Residing as the treasurer of Hackham Tennis Club for the last 21 years, Lloyd Stevens recalls becoming involved with the club. Conveniently, he lived down the road and the club was failing at the time – however after a couple of years volunteering and speaking to the odd auditor, Lloyd got to see the most efficient way of doing things and quickly brought the club back to a reputable standard.
Lloyd’s wife Maria has been with the club for 37 years, even passing on the racquet to their kids and grandkids. He and wife Maria were presented with an Australian Government Volunteer Award 2021 in November 2021 as a thank you for their commitment and dedication over many years.
Driving passion into the club, his hard work paid off when the clubroom finally received a much-needed upgrade after lobbying with the Council within the last 10 years.
Lloyd loves providing service to the community by volunteering at Hackham Tennis Club and would recommend the job to anyone.
“Often the work you do goes unnoticed too as you really do it for the love of it too,” he said.
“Have a reason to get involved and make the commitment mean something; not necessarily pushing your own agenda – that’s not what it’s about at all!”.
Congratulations Llyod!
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