24 February 2023 | Tennis Victoria

Congratulations to Ian Henderson from South Camberwell Tennis Club who has been awarded with a Tennis Victoria Service Award for 40 years service at the club.

Ian was awarded his Tennis Service Award on February 11th in the South Camberwell Tennis Club rooms by Tennis Victoria’s Metro Inner East Club Development Officer, Kyle McMullan.

Ian joined the South Camberwell Tennis Club in 1984 and made an immediate impact in and around the Club, initially as a skillful player on the courts, and not long afterwards by applying his skills and experience in financial services to the benefit of the Club by becoming Club Treasurer in 1987-88.  Ian held this position for four years.

In 1992 Ian was elected Club President and he held this position for 17 years until 2009, thereby becoming the Club’s longest serving President (with Howard Dawson the next longest at nine years).  Ian’s time as Club President is characterised by his combination of wonderful social skills, his superb organisational capacity and his natural leadership style.

On stepping down as President, Ian continued to serve the Club in a formal capacity, assuming the role of Vice President until he retired from the Committee in 2019.  As an “elder statesman”, Ian’s ongoing support and sage advice has been of ongoing benefit to the Committee.  So, for example when it came time to update the old en tou cas (crushed brick) playing surface to a modern artificial surface, he embraced this change immediately and encouraged the broad membership base to support the very expensive upgrade.

South Camberwell Tennis Club has implemented the Ian Henderson Encouragement Award that supports one young junior player each year to further their interest in tennis.

The scholarship allows for one young junior player (preferably aged 8-14) to receive free family membership to South Camberwell Tennis Club for one year, along with lessons with a SCTC Club coach at the Club courts, equipment and other items e.g. shoes and clothing, as appropriate, up to a total value of $792.

The applicant should have had an introduction to tennis (for example is able to serve and return the ball) and will have shown keen interest to further their skills in a supportive, non-competitive environment.  As a contrast, this is not a high performance coaching program.

Interested applicants should apply by email by 30 November 2023 to the Secretary, South Camberwell Tennis Club, at [email protected] providing some details about the applicant (e.g. name, age, gender, school and year level, etc.), summarising their tennis journey to date and explaining why they think they would be a worthy recipient.

Congratulations to Ian Henderson on your incredible contribution to the tennis community.