The IOMLTA Veteran Closed Championships, sponsored by PokerStars, starts on Saturday with finals on Saturday 14 May.
Unfortunately the entry is low and not all age groups will be contested. Play starts at 10am with Men’s O35 singles Craig Blackwell v Karl Moore, Yannis Xirotiris v James Clarke and Tim Davies v Nerijus Gricevicius. Play continues through the weekend. Competitors will be advised of their 1st match time by e-mail. Any queries contact the Referee Ian Watson on 496293 or e-mail ianwatsonpts@manx.net.
Last Saturday, Albany tennis club hosted a team visiting the Isle of Man from Lansdowne LTC in Dublin. Luckily the weather played ball and some glorious sunshine was enjoyed as the players enjoyed three hours of top quality tennis with all games closely run. Tim Davies, David Bufton, Kath Kermode and Kirsten Hall lined up for Albany against John Byrne, Thomas Allen, Ruth Mullally and Tauna O’Connell from Lansdowne. In the end, after 4 sets of mixed doubles and 2 sets of mens/ladies doubles, the Isle of Man triumphed 4 sets to 2. The players then retired to the clubhouse for some well earned cakes, strawberries and sparkling wine, with talk of invites back to Dublin for an opportunity of revenge!
Almost all memberships have now been renewed for the 2016/2017 season and we have also welcomed several new members. The Auxesia sponsored Mini Tennis programme continues to attract new players and at the last count we have 72 players aged between 5 – 10yrs. Their membership covers Saturday 1 hour coaching sessions plus Mini Tennis Club Night on Tuesdays.
Saturday sessions start at 12noon and as players standard improves they move to later groups and also start to enter competitions.
This Saturday we will be raising money for the Friends of the Children of Chernobyl. It is 30 years since that dreadful disaster and the area is still contaminated. Each year a group of children visit the Isle of Man for a month, staying with families, having health checks and enjoying various aspects of island life. For about 10 years Albany has hosted the group for tennis coaching and play, plus lunch. The cost of their travel is funded by The Friends and this year 17 children will be arriving in July. The costs continue to rise and we are trying to raise separate collections of ?30 (marking 30 years) and I would like to see our Mini players all donate ?1 – equal to 2 x ?30 or more if we all feel generous. Our Friday Morning Ladies Group are doing a similar project and I’m hoping that other groups will get together and raise a similar amount. I will all accept individual donations on behalf of The Friends.
