The Referee and club committee are very pleased with the success of the Albany/Equiom Junior Open tournament played earlier this month. Well done to all the players – a total of 43 competitors, with some playing their age group and above. Nine girls played – not enough to have girls singles but this is an improvement on all previous tournaments and an encouraging sign for the future. Over the past few years there has been a drop in entries – junior and senior – for all competitions.

Now we are looking for senior players to match this or better it!. The Albany Chrystals Senior Open tournament will be held at the Ballaughton Meadows club from 1 – 9 August. Entries close at 6pm on Monday 27 July and entry forms have been e-mailed to members and all Island clubs, plus forms have also been posted to all who played last year as well as there being forms in the club house. You can enter by e-mail – ianwatsonpts@manx.net, post them in the club’s white post box or post to Ian Watson c/o Ballabreck, South Cape, Laxey, IM4 7BY. The events are Men’s/Women’s singles and Men’s, Women’s and Mixed doubles. The event will be run on a ratings system, so that players will play in groups according to their rating through to a final but also finalists (and semi-finalists if the entry is big enough) will progress to the group above. There will be good cash prizes (o vouchers if juniors win) – yes it is open to all yellow ball players. I am organising a raffle and if any member will donate a prize please let me know.

On Saturday 8 August Albany will be playing against Castletown and Ramsey in the annual team event for the Todmorden Shield. This year it will be played at Castletown and the team would appreciate club members being there to support them – play starts at 1pm. It’s a long running competition with an interesting format where every game (not sets) won counts. I look forward to seeing you there.

Juniors – don’t forget to enrol with Ian for the summer camps and also remember if you are a member you can play on the courts during the day if not used by seniors ie Friday Morning Ladies but you must be over 12 or supervised by a parent or senior. However there will be a gap for availability probably from 10 August when the courts are being re-painted. Notice will be sent out to all members when we have a firm date.