After a busy tennis year, on Friday night we celebrate tennis in Western Australia and recognise the outstanding achievements of our state’s junior and senior players, clubs, coaches, schools, volunteers, officials and administrators of our sport.
Here are all the 2023/24 Tennis West Awards Finalists for each category:
HALL OF CHAMPION INDUCTEE
Casey Dellacqua
Casey Dellacqua will become the 12th inductee to the Tennis West Hall of Champions.
Casey grew up in Woodvale and began playing tennis at Kingsley Tennis Club. Casey turned pro in 2002 and had great success in singles, including semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham Classic, as well as quarterfinal finishes at the 2014 Indian Wells Open and the 2008 and 2014 Australian Opens. Casey was the winner of 22 ITF singles titles, including six in a row in Australia in 2011 but her true career highlights came in doubles.
Casey has amassed an impressive record in doubles, winning seven WTA Tour doubles titles, 23 ITF doubles titles, and clinching one Grand Slam mixed-doubles title at the 2011 French Open. She reached the finals of all four major events in women’s doubles, appearing in seven finals from 2008 to 2017, although she fell short of winning a title.
Casey’s most significant women’s doubles victory came at the Premier Mandatory 2015 Madrid Open, where she partnered with Yaroslava Shvedova.
Casey achieved her highest singles ranking of world No. 26 and reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 3 in 2016. Today, Casey is a busy mum to three, works in tennis and is a tennis commentator.
ARTHUR MARSHALL COACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD
Eddy Kong (Perth Performance Tennis Academy)
Eddy has expanded his coaching programs to Claremont and Nollamara Tennis Clubs and saw increased participation at Parkwood Tennis club where tennis coaching was previously unavailable. Eddy is very active in the school coaching space and has a collaborative approve with 12 new schools that offer both school funded programs and regular before school coaching lessons. Eddy’s coaching program experienced a 75% increase in new enrolments across all locations.
Mike Gill (Tennis Academy Perth)
Mike who operates Tennis Academy Perth who operates at both Kardinya and Manning Tennis Club’s are committed to providing comprehensive and engaging tennis programs across multiple locations, fostering a love for the sport among children and players of all ages and skill levels. Mike recognises the importance of quality within his coaching team as demonstrated by the introduction of the Coaching Pro Pathway initiative designed to support the professional development of his coaching team. Mike is very active in schools with 12 primary schools, including a unique initiative where they travel to Rottenest Island every Thursday to coach nine dedicated players.
PERTH AUDIO VISUAL COACHING EXCELLENCE – DEVELOPMENT
James Connelly (Make Your Mark Tennis Perth)
James is an extremely passionate about not only Hensman Park Tennis but WA Tennis as a whole, as well as guiding athletes to be athletes that parents, coaches and the wider community can be proud of. James believes it is of the utmost importance that WA Athletes are give as many opportunities as possible to travel and compete. Therefore, consistently travels and provides these opportunities through coaching work. James has coached two players who have won the December Showdown in the last two year. Sara Nikolic in 2022 as a 14U Girls Single Champion and Aidan Chan in 2023 as a 12U Boys Singles Champion.
Philipp Lamprecht (Europe Tennis Academy)
Phil is undoubtedly a very dedicated and passionate professional. It is clear to see how well prepared he is for every lesson and clearly sets out objectives of the lesson, as well as being nimble and flexible to make adjustments as required to help his students progress and achieve their many goals. He provides feedback and reports, which include videos and pictures to identify areas to work on and where sees improvement opportunity, as well as outlining how he thinks the objectives can be achieved.
PERTH AUDIO VISUAL COACHING EXCELLENCE – PERFORMANCE
Rhys McDougall (Play Tennis)
Rhys is the owner of Play Tennis that operates at the Mount Lawley Tennis Club. Rhys always delivers with excellence and professionalism. He continues to have growth in participation and team tennis at the club. Rhys is an inspiring coach with a lifetime of experience. Rhys is the current coach of young star Jake Dembo. Jake is currently competing on the ITF World Junior Boys Tennis Tour and has a ranking of 233 and is 13th highest in the world amongst 2008 born players.
Brad Dyer (Next Step Tennis Academy)
Brad is part of the Next Step Tennis Academy in Greenwood, a business he developed with his brother Ash. Through his dedication to the development of high-performance athletes, he has coached Taylah Preston at all four junior grand slams in 2022 and at the 2023 Australian Open main draw. Brad has also coached Taylah to four ITF titles in 2023. Taylah is a member of the Australian Billy Jean King Cup team and competes on the WTA Tour and has a current rank of 134 in the world.
KC AUSTRALIA VOLUNTEER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Greg Rogers (Allen Park Tennis Club)
Greg has been an integral part of the club for the past 8 years as an avid player but more importantly a wonderful ambassador for the club and an outstanding volunteer. When Greg joined the Club, he was quickly identified as a valuable all-rounder. When approached, he readily agreed to serve on the Committee as Treasurer. Although it was not his preferred direction, it was a role that was not easy for the Club to fill, and Greg stepped up to the mark. In the 2018/19 season, he moved on to his current role as Maintenance Manager, a position for which he was a complete natural; he has been stepping up to the mark ever since.
Greg willingly organises and carries out the major maintenance required for the Club. Greg is responsible for the pristine condition of our benches and shelter. His work ethic and “can do” attitude with a minimum of fuss has created a positive environment, developing, and maintaining strong relationships with club members, sponsors, community partners, and other stakeholders all contributing to the club’s success and growth.
Steve Burdett (East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club)
After retiring from his successful career as a Professional Structural Engineer, Steve was determined to find ways to apply his considerable energies and skills to give back to the community.
Two stints as President meant Steve knew the significant challenges ahead for the East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club, which included delivering on a well-considered Capital Works Strategic Plan that spanned 5 years and over $1M dollars of potential projects.
It was to the delivery of that Strategic Plan that Steve decided to direct his energies, to the great benefit of not just EFLTC, but to all who visit and use our Club facilities, now and for many years to come. Steve has given more than 1,000 hours of his time to the club projects and endured the considerable stresses that go with such endeavours. The impact of Steve’s contribution to the East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club is unprecedented. The successful delivery of key project, despite massive challenges has been pivotal to the significant turnaround to turn the club into a thriving tennis club, with strong members and an exciting future. Steve’s contribution to the sport of tennis will echo down the years.
Julianne Hill (Brunswick Tennis Club)
Julianne is always looking at ways to raise funds to grow the Brunswick Tennis Club. Julianne has also helped to pay for a qualified coach for our junior members. This has seen their skills improve which has made such a positive difference to their tennis and improved their love for the game. Julianne also voluntarily puts in her own time to coach the kids and gives them lots of encouragement to keep them motivated. She organises busy bees at the start of each season, gets the committee together and gives us all jobs to do to keep our clubrooms looking immaculate.
Julianne spends many hours of her time organising our end of year club tournament, putting the teams together in a way that is fair for all the kids which encourages them to participate regardless of skill level. She arranges our end of season windup and the players and all extended families receive a free sausage sizzle. Julianne gives everything to the club and provides an amazing vibe that makes the kids excited and happy to be there. She is an asset to the town and the club wouldn’t be what it is today without her inspiration energy and vision.
SPORTROPHY OUTSTANDING CLUB – LARGE
Hensman Park Tennis Club
Hensman Park Tennis Club has developed a full suite of tennis activities to suit varying age groups and ability levels as well as expanding into pickleball to create a fuller community offering. This has enabled the club to increase its membership by 32% in the past 12 months. The club provides extensive mix of social tennis on a number of days and fielded 16 senior teams and 19 junior teams in the 2023/24 Tennis West Leagues Competition. The club also runs four pickleball sessions and four Cardio Tennis sessions throughout the week. Hensman Park runs one of the largest junior tournaments in WA with over 220 entries.
UWA Tennis Club
UWA Tennis Club has experience exceptional growth over the last 18 months and doubling in size over the last three years with membership growing a massive 78% over that time. The club fielding 20 teams across the 2023/24 summer season. UWA Tennis Club is more than just a place to play tennis but is a welcoming hub of activity that has something for everyone. UWA has a strong set of core values that are critical to chasing excellence and passion for tennis trough hard work, dealing with failure embracing challenges, discipline to stay committed. The club has two Junior Boys State League teams that feed into the Men’s State League program. The club does extensive work with UWA Sport to promote tennis and host UWA Friday afternoon social hits for students at their Crawley Campus courts with good attendance at every session.
The club has hosted numerous tournaments, including Clay Court nationals, UWA Western Series, Junior Challenger Series, and has held regular weekly UTR series. The also club hosts a number of social events throughout the year, with the culmination being club awards + quiz night with over 80 attendees. UWA Tennis Club has a very active committee which works closely with the Coaching provider who all put in substantial effort to ensure the club can grow and keep alignment with its core values around tennis performance. UWA is committed to growing the marketability of State League matches with the addition of Friday Night matches which saw hundreds of tennis fans experience the club.
East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club
East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club has an energetic, friendly and welcoming Club culture that encourages members and non-members alike to join in organised tennis activities and to enjoy the wonderful Club’s facilities. East Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club promotes a club culture founded in respect and acceptance of different personalities, and that allows everyone to enjoy their tennis in a way that suits them. They cater for and support players of all abilities, from beginner to elite.
SPORTROPHY OUTSTANDING CLUB – SMALL
Lesmurdie Tennis Club
Over the last 18 months Lesmurdie Tennis Club has seen a steady increase in junior participation with 4 junior pennant teams including 2 orange Ball teams that boasts well for the future of the club. Together with Shaun Moore and Moore Tennis Coaching the number of junior players has increased with club membership increasing across every level. Club Social numbers have increased as well as our Thursday night intra club competition using all courts in a Thursday night plus Wednesday morning social and Friday nights. A growth in community and people keen to keep playing tennis and improve not only themselves but the tennis community. Lesmurdie is the place in the Perth Hills for people to not only give tennis a go but have fun at the same time.
Condingup Tennis Club
The success of the newly formed Condingup Tennis Club has purely been driven by passionate volunteers within the club. In the small rural town of Condingup (approx 680 people) they pursued government and the local community for funding to build 3 beautiful laykold courts at the local community centre. This has enabled a huge participation growth from zero to 44 members.
The Condingup Tennis Club has been able to access a number of different user groups and delivered a number of social opportunities and events to the local community. The club has introduced Women’s Tennis every Tuesday, Men’s Tennis every Wednesday, Social tennis every Friday night as well as being able to offer the Hot Shots Program to the local primary school children by using Community Play. Due to the club pushing for the build of these new courts, the local primary school (Condingup Primary School) is now able to incorporate tennis into its school sports program which is introducing tennis to kids who would normally not get any exposure to the sport.
Due to Tennis West’s amazing community play program, we have been able to provide the Hot Shots program. The local school has 52 students in total and on our first year of hot shots we had 15 children participate. Due to the success of this program this year we about half the primary school attending hotshots this year. We have 25 children participating (9 children in red stage 5-8, 16 in green stage) This program and the help Tennis West has been in helping set this up has been amazing. It has provided our club with the tools and knowledge to be able to coach and teach tennis to the local kids – who would normally not have any exposure to the sport.
Tom Price Tennis Club
Tom Price Tennis Club is a small remote club that has achieved amazing results. Children participation has increased, and programs are run every term even through winter due to the demand. Each term there is 120 children that participate and each term with a waitlist in place for the Hot Shots program. The club has had a steady increase in adult participation and memberships.
Fun fitness tennis was introduced by head coach due to low involvement by adults. This has brought a steady flow of adults who have never played the sport before, which has now brought them into social tennis. The club allows the local high school to run their tennis programs at the facility and connects the community back to the club. The club is always looking at ways to be inclusive, making it a fun family friendly environment.
Beverley Lawn Tennis Club
The Beverley Lawn Tennis Club is run by a small committee of eight people. They pride themselves on their welcoming environment for families in the country. They aim to offer members opportunities to participate in all levels of tennis and encourage them to seek opportunities such as zone coaching for juniors or cardio tennis with Tennis Australia coaches. The club also encourages social engagement within the community as a core value to belonging to the Beverley Lawn Tennis Club.
Beverley Lawn Tennis Club believe being able to sustain numbers above 200 players at their Easter events are a testament to their capacity to hold a wonderful tournament. The tournament is the pride of both the club and the town with families returning year after year to spend their Easter playing tennis in Beverley.This year the event grew to 290 participants and it is great welcoming new people to Beverley all who are coming to play tennis!
EXCELLENCE IN OFFICIATING
Natalie Dellamarta
Natalie is a valued member of Tennis Australia officiating based in Western Australia. She is an ITF White badged Referee, Court Supervisor, Educator for Refereeing , court supervising and linesperson. Natalie upholds great officiating values and is an asset to our local and National Events. Natalie was also sent to Samoa, Fiji on occasions to help the education of Referees, Court Supervisor during their Pacific Events and help with their tournament. She is a talented Official who works tirelessly and travels throughout Australia to help other officials in their dedicated fields, also worked on the National Referee Program taking seminars for up and coming officials, most of the work was done as a volunteer and has given many hours to improving officials in Australia. Her dedication to Officiating is shown with her working nationally then coming back to WA and doing our local events helping with coaching of Court Monitors, Court supervisors and Referees, she has high values and skills which she passes on to all her students as she wants to pass on her knowledge so officials can achieve their best on and off court. Natalie is a role model for all officials nationally and locally as she travels on a regular basis and has achieved so much over the past 3 years. Natalie has done a number of ITF and major Australian events over the last 18 months.
Alireza Chitgar
Alireza has done 220 matches as a chair umpire including Grand Slams, Tour events, ATP Challengers and Pro Tour events in Australia and around the world. In 2023 he attended Roland Garros as a line and chair umpire and officiated the Men’s Semi Final match between Djokovic and Alcaraz as a line umpire. He also line umpired the qualifying and main draw matches of Wimbledon as a line umpire. Throughout the Australian Summer Alireza chair umpired the highest number of matches (32) across qualifying, main draw, junior and wheelchair.
Rosario Corvaia
Rosario has a passion for officiating that is evident to all who work with him and is always willing to help others. Rosario shows commitment and is an official that is extremely reliable. Rosario’s officiating over this period has taken another leap forward, this is demonstrated by the level of tournaments he has been selected for. Over the last 18 months he chaired 30 ITF Finals and 3 ATP Challenger Doubles Finals. He was a chair umpires for the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open in both qualifying and main draw. Has done Davis Cup World Group Ties and has line umpired at Wimbledon and was select to chair at the Arena Showdown match ahead of AO 2023 featuring Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena.
DAWN HAY MEDAL – OFFICIATING
Parirokh Ahmadi
Pari has worked, with success, at numerous Tennis Events In Perth and Busselton over the last 18 months. She is always the first to apply for positions, is reliable and can be called on. She is punctual and diligent despite the lack of opportunities in WA to improve her Chair Umpire skills and qualifications.
Pari is always Welcoming, inclusive and a tremendous and supportive Team Member at Tennis Events. Pari has excellent knowledge of rules and procedures, and model’s Tennis Australia‘s values is a positive role model.
Ken McIntosh
Ken has been a tennis official for 15 years, concentrating on WA tournaments, especially Junior events and State League. He has extensive knowedgle of the rules, conscientious and easy to approach, attracting widespread respect. Ken commands respect from players and spectators, due to his seniority, his knowledge of the laws of tennis and his conscientious approach. He has no personal vested interest in any outcomes on the court and so is very considerate of all concerns expressed by players and spectators. He is prompt in responding to concerns, moving around the courts quickly and resolving conflicts on and off the court.
Ken has been a Court Supervisor up to 2019, a Venue Supervisor in 2020 and he is a Referee Level B since 2023. In these roles he has offered easy and accessible leadership to more junior officials, which is tied as it should be to congenial fellowship toward all other officials, players and spectators.
Consistently contributing to welcome, support & inclusiveness while the average standard of officiating at TW events is high. He is widely respected, irrespective of the issues arising. Ken is very open and accessible personal and he is a very good listener. He absorbs disagreement well and seriously considers its implications for future change and adaptation.
HEALTHWAY OUTSTANDING COMPETITIVE PLAY EVENT
2024 City of Joondalup Sorrento Open & Junior Event
The 2024 City of Joondalup Sorrento Open was held January 8 to 11 at the Sorrento Tennis Club. The event director was Daniel Triantopoulos. The event boasted over 200 players. The event had great support from the City of Joondalup and linked well with the local community.
2023 O3K J125 WA State Open Grass & Junior Hardcourt
The 2023 O3K J125 WA State Open Grass & Junior Hardcourt was held December 27-31 at the Mount Lawley Tennis Club. The event director was Rhys McDougall and had 271 entries into the event. The event had a good coverage through their social media channels and produced engaging daily content that allowed anyone not at the event to follow along.
MOST OUTSTANDING SCHOOL
Applecross Senior High School
Applecross SHS tennis program is a high-level program that works with students both on and off the court. It is a team-environment, where sportsmanship and respect are at the core. The players compete in both state and nationals competitions, doing well in both.
Year 10s complete their Foundation to Coaching course with Tennis Australia. As a unit in our year 10’s “sports science” course, we do motor learning and coaching. Students learn about all the fundamentals of what makes a good leader, as well as how people learn. To assist with this, we have Tennis Australia come out to our school to deliver the Foundation to Coaching course to them across an entire day. Students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to then create their own set of tennis lessons as part of their assignment, in preparation to deliver these lessons to Ardross Primary School students. We then invite the year 6’s at Ardross Primary, to the school courts to participate in tennis lesson delivered by year 10 students. It is a fantastic way to give back to the community, as well as promote tennis to the younger generations.
Applecross has a partnership with Study and Play USA. A number of students have gone onto use the service and continue their study and tennis journey through the program.
Applecross SHS has a number of students that represent WA in the Pizzey and Bruce Cup teams, State Teams and the school has competed in the All-Australian Schools Nationals after receiving direct entry from winning both the girls and boys Slazenger Cup events. The school has also won the boy and girls Herbert Edwards Cup and well as the boys and girls Slazenger Cup events.
Wesley College
As a summer sport tennis is chosen by over 200 students from Years 5 to 12 and is driven and directed by both Andrijano Jareb (Break Point Tennis Director) and Senior School Teacher, Strahinja Bobusic who are both Tennis Australia Club Professional Qualified Coaches.
Wesley College has set up a partnership between Break Point Tennis, South Perth Tennis Club and Wesley College that allows qualified coaches to develop students from kindergarten to Year 12 and gives opportunities for Break Point Tennis and Tennis Australia to run professional development workshops to tennis coaches and teachers. Students are also encouraged to participate in micro-credentials which are available to assist students in acquiring a wider range of skills and be more familiar with how to up skill themselves. One of the micro-credentials on offer at Wesley include junior tennis coaching and a pathway towards the Tennis Australia Leve 1 Development course.
Wesley College through Strahinja Bobusic is the US college recruitment process that is available to elite tennis players. The process involves preparing students to be presented to USA university coaches in a professional and impactful way. These services provides the students the ability to continue their tennis and academic studies while also assuring parents they will not have to pay for any additional fees for any recruitment agencies
In the past 18 months the school has gone onto win the 2023 Herbert Edwards Cup, have come 2nd place at the 2024 Herbert Edwards Cup and were quarter finalist at the 2023 Academy Plate.
Overall, the Wesley College tennis program stands out for its commitment to developing not only talented tennis players but also principled leaders, resilient competitors, and engaged members of the community. By prioritizing holistic player development and values-based coaching, Wesley College creates an environment where students can excel both on and off the court.
OUTSTANDING INCLUSION INITIATIVE
Edmund Rice Centre WA
Edmund Rice Centre WA has partnered with Tennis West and local clubs (Ellenbrook) to deliver tennis activities to youth from CaLD backgrounds by running tennis at our existing program locations in Ellenbrook and Koondoola. The programs are accessed primarily by those from CaLD backgrounds. We have promoted Tennis to CaLD families and have successfully transitioned participants into the local Ellenbrook club following participation at our pop-up tennis program at Coolamon oval. ERCWA have sent staff running our sports programs (most of which are also from CaLD backgrounds) to receiving coaching training, upskilling them so they can engage young people in tennis at a grassroots level. By offering tennis at already existing programs this has reduced costs associated with hiring a venue and promotion. It has also meant that young people from CaLD backgrounds are introduced to tennis at locations they already feel comfortable and safe. This is extremely important as many families ERCWA works with have arrived here on humanitarian grounds.
Tennis 4 All South Mandurah Tennis Club
The Tennis 4 All program at South Mandurah Tennis Club shows commitment to the interest of club members and the general community, specifically for those with disability. It allows a support mechanism for all participants to communicate with like-minded other participants and to facilitate the participants to join other low impact and suitable activities as the program is about their abilities and how the sport of tennis can help with their mobility, cogitative and social concerns.
The Tennis 4 All program delivers tennis for Blind and Low Vision, Intellectual Impairment, Wheelchair, Cognitive Impairment and Hard of Hearing and Deaf for all ages from juniors to and including seniors. Several participants have multiple health concerns, and these are always considered during delivery of the tennis sessions. Each participant is an individual and their tennis activities are developed to assist them to enjoy low impact exercise to improve their overall wellbeing.
Starting the program from scratch three years ago, they have transformed the South Mandurah Tennis Club into a club that allows anyone an opportunity to play tennis. Along with changing member’s mindsets around inclusion we have built and maintained a tennis club that has a positive presentation for all in the area and have contributed to a sustainable program and club that will continue to thrive.
Femme Fridays
Femme Fridays has breathed new life into the Loton Park Tennis Club. The initiative has significantly increased female membership at Loton Park Tennis Club and the resulting atmosphere is once again diverse. Not only has the club increased the numbers of female players, It’s also created a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for non-binary, masculine, butch, trans, assigned female at birth and more to join together and have some fun playing tennis. The club prides themselves on diversity and once again, they’re seeing representation outside of the male variety.
Through the efforts of Femme Fridays, running since October 2023, the club has increased their female club membership from 3% to over 20%. The first event saw 12 women attend, the second doubled to over 20 women, and the third to 37. The club now welcomes an average of over 20 monthly Femme Friday attendees.
All of this effort, has made the club a more inclusive venue, and more financially sustainable for the future.
MOST OUTSTANDING 30+ TENNIS SENIOR
Aldis Purins
A true gentleman of tennis Aldis is always the first person to say hello and welcome to everyone. He is encouraging and inclusive to all Tennis Seniors players. Aldis has been on the Tennis Seniors committee for a number of years and is instrumental in the Tennis Seniors operation. Alids also has number of tennis accolades such as an Australian gold medalist in over 60’s men’s team, a world ranking of 133 in singles, 40 in doubles and 11 in the world ofr mixed doubles for 60’s. He is the current WA Seniors Open 60’s title holder.
Marlene Howes
During the past 18 months, Marlene has been instrumental in raising the profile of Seniors tennis amongst players in the South-West. In particular, Marlene coordinated and supported a number of teams and players from the Dunsborough and Busselton area to enter the National Teams Carnival in Hobart in January 2024. For many regional players, this was their first time participating in such an event. Marlene provided a personal service, helping many players with queries and accessing the appropriate uniforms for the tournament. In December 2023, Marlene was awarded the TSWA Association’s Senior of the Year Award for 2023.
CURRENT ELECTRICAL SERVICE TO TENNIS
Colin Lorrimar (Blue Gum Park Tennis Club)
The body of work completed by Colin in his three years of presidency and one year as vice president of Blue Gum Park is quite literally staggering. The time stamp of his numerous emails, often originating after midnight, attest to the many hours committed to the club over several years. Not only does he have a passion for all levels of tennis, but his communication and networking skills along with a strong sense of empathy, make him an incredible asset to any organisation. This was evidenced in his leadership during the initial community turmoil of covid. His belief that current day members should be able to benefit from the solid financial management of the club over many years has been manifested in outlays for many substantial improvements. Colin has been an advocate for junior tennis for a number of years and has been involved in the coordination of Senior and Junior Leagues competitions.
Colin was instrumental in establishing the Men’s State League team at the club. Colin was the leader of the State League review focus group that progressed to see the changes to the State League model and to revamp the State League competition to make the product a marketable product. On numerous occasions Colin was a leader of the clubs to provide suggestions to make the competition better.
Colin has not only served his club in an exceptional manner but also the game of tennis throughout WA.
Kellie Ryan (Tom Price Tennis Club)
Kellie is always trying to expand and focuses on what works with in the club and builds on this. As well as bringing new ideas and programs to the children as well the adults and families with the town. Kellie works closely with the community to bring fun and passion to the sport that she has loved her whole life. Donating a lot of time to improve children engagement in tennis. Has started her own new programs fun fitness tennis, which for children and adults. Great for all tennis abilities as well as being inclusive. Kellie is always about improving and making the club family friendly and wants the best interest of community and tennis.
Kellie has designed and implementing a new program – Fun Fitness Tennis. Which is delivered to children who didn’t like the structure of hotshots. The program supports all level abilities but very inclusive for children with additional needs. This is also run for adults and teenagers. Which has brought in new players and families to the club bringing in memberships and allowing the club to be family friendly orientated .
Kellie ran Tom Prices first tennis tournament, red ball, orange ball and green ball.She introduced fun adult nights that vary from pickle ball, red ball adult comps, green ball adult coaching. Beginning coaching. Social tennis. Various fun nights. Kellie has also aattended the national community play forum in Melbourne as a guest speaker on community play and how it impacts their local community. Kellie coaches a hotshots program to 120 children per term. Kellie was instrumental to facilitate the first Pride Night. Which was major success for the club and the local community.
PRO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matt Ebden
In career best form, Matt has achieved on of his best seasons. Matt has reached number 1 in the world doubles ranking with a number of standout performances through out the last 18 months.
In 2023 Matt won his maiden Master title winning the 2023 Indian Wells and went onto reach the finals of two other Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris Masters events. In 2024 Matt won his first Australian Open Doubles title which propelled him to world number 1.
Storm Hunter
Storm ended the 2023 as the World Number 1 in doubles and career best singles ranking of 114 in the world. In 2023 Storm reached back-to-back quarterfinals at the Australian Open in doubles. She won her second WTA 1000 title partnering with Elise Mertens. Storm has a wonderful singles run qualifying for the main draw at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and making the third round at the 2024 Australian Open.
Storm won her second of the year and back to back WTA 1000 title at the 2023 Guadalajara Open Akron. At the 2023 WTA Finals Storm reached the semifinals which propelled her to World Number 1 in Doubles.
Other awards to be presented on the night include the Karen Bucens, Kent Yamazaki and the KC Australia Junior Male and Female Tennis Star’s.
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