25th June 2017
I’m always quite relieved when June draws to a close, as it’s such a busy month in our tennis calendar. Not only that, it also marks the start of the summer holidays so time for a bit of a break and putting the feet up to watch Wimbledon. So what have we been up to in June?
I’m always quite relieved when June draws to a close, as it’s such a busy month in our tennis calendar. Not only that, it also marks the start of the summer holidays so time for a bit of a break and putting the feet up to watch Wimbledon. So what have we been up to in June?
On Friday 16th June we hosted an evening friendly match against Dalgety Bay. The weather was cool and cloudy, good conditions for playing tennis, and Kinghorn got off to a flying start and being well ahead after the initial 10 games. But a bit like the Scotland football team we couldn’t hang on to the lead and a strong finish by Dalgety Bay resulted in a win for them by 55 games to our 54. It was the closest match we’ve had with them, but how we grasped defeat from the jaws of victory I’m not quite sure. But thankfully winning wasn’t our priority – having fun, creating new and maintaining old friendships, and playing in a spirit of fairness and sportsmanship were much more important – all of which I think we excelled at. We finished the evening off with supper and refreshments in the clubhouse, which was a great way to end a great evening.
 | On Saturday 17th June it was the juniors turn to compete, when we held our Junior Singles tournament. Seven juniors played in scorching hot conditions, watched by many more parents and members. As the thermometer went over 25 degrees we got the BBQ going and handed out iced lollies to keep everyone cool. There were lots of hard-hitting rallies in the round robin stage, with Louis Crickmar playing Ian McWhinnie, and Oliver Paton playing Connor Thow in the semi-finals. Louis and Connor won through and played a close final, with Louis running out 3-2 winner and taking the Junior Singles Champion’s title for 2017.  |
On Saturday 24th June we participated in the Great British Tennis Weekend, an LTA initiative to introduce more people to playing tennis, and followed that up with our 90th birthday / family fun day celebrations. I’d be guessing at how many people we had attending over the course of the afternoon, but it was certainly the biggest crowd I think we’ve ever had at Kinghorn Tennis Club. There are too many people to thank in terms of supporting the event, but congratulations to Elliot Bennett for guessing the number of sweets in the jar (312 by the way!) and well done Julia Bennett for sharing the jar’s contents with everyone there. Congratulations also to Cameron Ives for winning the Tennis Wordsearch and to Alan and Calum Donaldson for winning the afternoon’s mini-red tournament.
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Also on the 24th, four of our younger junior members represented the Club at an inter-club mini-red tournament being held at Kirkcaldy Tennis Club – so congratulations and very well done to Harry Mason, Jack Small, Sarah Purcell and Ava Mooney for taking up the challenge and proudly representing Kinghorn Tennis Club. Club Coach Nicol managed to get to Kirkcaldy in time to see the prize-giving and saw how much the kids enjoyed the experience, so hopefully it will give them and others the confidence to go on and participate in more competitions in the future
And on Sunday 25th June we held the last of the coaching sessions before the summer break. The standard of play, from the youngest to the oldest, continues to improve week on week, as evidenced by the hard-hitting rallies in the Junior Singles competition and the steady improvement we have seen from the new adult members who only joined the club last year.
Perhaps after reading this you will realise why I’m quite glad to have got through June – a very busy month indeed. But as the saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked, as now our thoughts turn to the ESLTA Vets Leagues, which start at the beginning of August – “c’mon the ‘horn!” as the saying goes!
John Brennan - Club President
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