Nominations For Committee Of Management

DONCASTER TENNIS CLUB INC. ANNUAL REPORT 2019

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

• 4 Club members have achieved highly. Read all about them in the “Hall of Fame” articles within this Annual Report. Congratulations to each of them.
• Membership has again shown strong growth – see how much we grew.
• The Trivia Night was a great success both in raising funds for the Club and as a social night for members.
• Our Treasurer, John Shaw, has instigated a change in our Accounting package to Xero. A large project which will benefit the Club in the longer term.
• The Club finally obtained a BYO Liquor license thanks to Committee person, James Manger.

1. Resurfacing of Courts 6 & 12 which were due to be completed 2 years ago. Council is eager to have the large tree next to Court 12 retained and have had 3 tries to obtain a reasonable tender for the project. The first drew a cost wildly in excess of what they are prepared to pay. They did have a budget of $90,000 and the cost came in more than 3 times that amount. The second tender was withdrawn – not sure why. The third tender is in progress and hopefully we will have a positive outcome soon. The delay in this project has caused the Club to defer some of its own projects as we are unsure how much will be asked of the Club.
2. Car Parking issues have been discussed with Council for well over a year now. A further suggestion from Council was recently received and is under negotiation. However, it will require Club members to have a Permit on their cars and also need Day Permits for Visitors etc. Members will be kept informed regarding this issue.
3. Committee has approved the implementation of Tennis Victoria/Australia’s Book a Court system. However, delays have been encountered due to withdrawal of a $6,000 grant scheme from Tennis Australia. Once again, we hope to be able to have this system in place in the next 12 months and Members will be kept informed.

TREASURER’S REPORT

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

HALL OF FAME – Shirley Whitaker
 

Shirley rose to number 1 in the world in her age group (85 + years) in August of this year. She achieved this ranking by first of all, defeating the French woman Sabine Leflaive who was number 1 in this age group at the Austrian Senior Championships. Shirley then went on to the European Senior Championships where she defeated Anne Williams, a British player. She is also ranked number 3 in Mixed Doubles! Shirley is a finalist in the Most Outstanding 35+ Tennis Senior category at the forthcoming Tennis Victoria Champions Dinner on 18 October.

CLUB CAPTAIN'S REPORT

• 4 Saturday teams (3 x ERT teams: SD3, OS7 and OS10; 1 x WDTA team: Mixed Rubbers B Special 2)
  and
• 1 Sunday team (1 x ERT: OSD2).

Matt, Ozan, David & Philip

James, Renee, Gail, David

Event			Winner(s)				Runner(s) up
Audi Doncaster Mens Open Singles			David Lo				Felix Fung
Bendigo Bank Doncaster East Ladies Open Singles			Mandy Gebert				Ayesha Dang
Men’s Graded Singles			Sahil Dang				Billy Karakassis
Men’s Doubles			David Lo & Matt Louey				Felix Fung & WeeLee Chen
Ladies Doubles			Renee Paterson & Nina Socratous				Sera Karakassis & Jennifer Lok
Family Doubles			Kris & Tristan Sais				Peter & Sera Karakassis

PENNANT

• Finished 3rd out of 8 teams within the Section.
• The Grade 5 team had a great season, qualifying for the Sectional Finals against Devon Meadows Tennis Club. Although it didn’t end with the result they were looking for, it was still a very high level of tennis being played on the day.

• Finished 5th out of 8 teams within the Section.
• The Grade 6 team had a number of good wins throughout the season. It was a close contest all the way to the final rounds for qualification into the Sectional Finals. Despite the result, it was once again a sold season for the team.

• Finished 6th out of 8 teams within the Section.
• The grade 9 team completed the season with a fantastic result. They qualified for the Sectional Finals against St Mary’s Tennis Club (Greensborough) however were unfortunately defeated in a close contest. Transitioning from Junior competition, this was the first time for all players within the team competing in the Pennant Season. It was great to see the team enjoying the new format.

NIGHT TENNIS

	2018 Spring – S2 The Slice Girls Dale Steel, Andrea Sorrenti, Simone Bermingham, Laura Cardemone (Lisa Richardson, Jody Simpson)		2018 Spring – S7 Kiss My Ace Brad Gilbertson, Jimmy Kefaloukas, Vas Socratous, Paul Lee, Adam Richardson (Enlai Chan)
	2019 Autumn – S1 The Slice Girls Nina Socratous, Laura Cardamone, Jody Simpson, Mandy Gebert, Simone Bermingham (Andrea Sorrenti, Lisa Richardson)		2019 Autumn – S12 The Who Vas Socratous, Stephanie Tkalcevic, Brandon Currigan, Peter Karakassis (Tim Gilbert, Thomas Galle)

HALL OF FAME – Jill Morrison
 

Jill was presented with a Tennis Victoria Highly Commended Service Award at the Junior Christmas Break-up in December 2018. Tennis Victoria presents just 10 of these each year so the recipients need to have contributed to tennis in VERY special ways. Jill has been an active member of our club since 1963 both as a player and Committee member, where she has been Club Captain, Social Convenor and in recent times, Junior Convenor. Under her guidance, the number of junior teams has risen dramatically with a corresponding rise in the number of successes in competition. She also organises the annual Junior Club Championships and annual Christmas Break-Up, with record numbers of entries in both events. In a typical week, Jill will volunteer 15-20 hours of her time to Doncaster Tennis Club and over the years, she has actively contributed to the

JUNIOR REPORT

HALL OF FAME – Nina Socratous
 

Nina was presented with a Tennis Victoria Service Award at the Tennis Seniors event at Doncaster TC in April 2019. Nina joined our club in 1985. She became a general Committee member In 1996 and held the positions of Vice President and House & Grounds Co-ordinator for 2 years. In 2005 she joined the Committee as Mid Week Ladies President and in 2006 she again took on the role of House & Grounds Co-ordinator. In2010 she took a well-earned break from both of these positions. In 2014 she was again elected Mid Week Ladies President and again joined the Committee of Management and took on the role of – you guessed it – House & Grounds Co-ordinator! She continues to hold both of these positions and fulfils them both extremely capably. In addition to her various administrative roles, Nina has been an active player in all the various competitions that the club offers – mid week, Pennant, Saturday afternoon and night time. She has organised a Tennis Seniors tournament at DTC since 2013 and has had a record number of people attend in the last 2 events. She has co-ordinated and/or supported a variety of social events and has been instrumental in encouraging people from all walks of life to give tennis a go – and join our club! In 2016 Nina was awarded a Life Membership at Doncaster TC in recognition of her immense contribution to our club. Her powers of persuasion are legendary throughout the club and her ability to ‘get things done’ is an inspiration to us all. Nina is a worthy recipient of this award – well done, Nina!

MIDWEEK LADIES REPORT

• Jan Freestone (Secretary),
• Denise Gibbs (Vice President),
• Heather Smith (Treasurer),
• Jenny Mitchell (who keeps up the kitchen supplies for the club and does an amazing job),
• Judy Ramanauskas, Renee Paterson, Chris Hogan and Jenny Thompson who work around the Club,
  as well as
• all the Mid-Week ladies who take home tea-towels and clean up the kitchen etc, and
• Margaret Dreher (who distributes all the balls to the competition teams and social play on Mondays – great job)

Shirley Whitaker, James Manger, Jenny Mooney and Jenny Mitchell.

At the conclusion of the 2018 Spring Season, our Section 2 team in the Wednesday competition (EDWTA) was victorious. Congratulations to Margaret Dreher (C), Shirley Whitaker, Jenny Mitchell, Judy Ramanauskas, Bronwyn Dreher and Renee Paterson.

Our Tuesday Section 4 team in MEMRLTA for the Summer 2018-19 season were runners-up. Players were Marie Mansour, Ange Ramfos (C), Jenny Thompson, Nina Socratous and Heather Smith.

At the conclusion of the Wednesday 2019 Autumn Season, our Section 1 team in EDWTA were runners-up. Players were Dale Steel, Andrea Sorrenti, Jody Simpson, Nina Socratous, Lisa Richardson and Laura Cardamone.

At the conclusion of the Thursday HDTA 2019 Winter season, our Section 1 team were victorious. Congratulations to Ozzie Kaya, Kelli Hugo, Renee Paterson, Nina Socratous & Chelynne Sotto.

Congratulations to our Tuesday 2019 Winter MEMRLTA Section 4 team on their victory. Players on the day were Jenny Thompson, Heather Smith, Renee Paterson and Nina Socratous. Thanks to Ange Ramfos and Marie Mansour for their contribution through the season.

HOUSE AND GROUNDS

We try to keep the courts fully operational with our maintenance guy always taking care of the them. We have continued to make sure that the synthetic courts have sufficient sand on them whilst the en tout cas courts are always topped up, with the lines on courts 7 & 8 being replaced. On 12 April we were extremely fortunate to have the team of Michelle, Debbie, Sue-Anne & Jo from Bunnings Nunawading, Box Hill & Croydon do a fantastic job at our club. They chopped, sawed and pruned much of the overgrown greenery at the back of courts 9, 10, 11 and 12 and along the pathway near court 6. To carry out this work took a mammoth 5 hours of hard work. We are extremely grateful to this hardworking team. We ask every member to please look after the courts, bag when necessary and also keep the clubhouse neat and tidy. As you can see, we have placed black bins on courts 2, 3 & 9 for players to put their rubbish in them, including the metal lids from the ball cans. These are very dangerous, especially to young children and should be placed in the bins. Please consider everyone and place chairs back around the tables in the clubhouse and leave it tidy.

HALL OF FAME – Vicky Lee
 

The Tennis Victoria Awards were held in October 2018 and Vicky was awarded the Coaching Excellence Club or Centre award.

Vicky won the 2019 Coach of the Year at the Victorian Disability Sport and Recreation awards night. This award is presented to someone that over the past 12 months has: made a significant impact to their club, local community, organisation or school, achieved success in their chosen sport or recreation, had a positive and encouraging attitude that has inspired others, and shown commitment to providing the highest standard of coaching to their team players or individuals. Vicky was recognised for her ability in developing participation pathways and platforms for everyone including those from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, those with disabilities, and those who have unavoidable participation barriers.

Vicky has also won the Coach of the Year as nominated and voted by her peers at the Tennis Coaches Australia – Victoria (TCAV). She is pictured here with Julie Fidler, President of TCAV. Vicky is a finalist in 2 categories at the forthcoming Tennis Victoria Champions Dinner on 18 October: Coaching Excellence, and Most Outstanding Inclusion Initiative – Advantage Autism.

COACHING

1. A new website to receive more detailed and inclusive enquiries.
2. New book-a-free-trial lesson avenues online.
3. Ability to communicate instantly online via messenger services.
4. Commencement of additional social media platforms.
5. Coach schedule and student attendance records via smart devices.

1. Tennis Victoria Coaching Excellence Club or Centre Award for 2018.
2. Disability Sport Victoria Coach of the year 2019
3. Tennis Coaches Australia – Victoria (TCAV) 2019 Coach of the year.

• Coaching Excellence Club or Centre
• Most Outstanding Inclusion Initiative – “Advantage Autism – The Au-Tastic Tennis Program.”

SOCIAL

TRIVIA NIGHT

And oh, what a night it was! We had almost 80 people of all ages attend our fun-filled Night hosted by the King of Trivia, Michael Pratt. Much laughter and groans were the order of the night as we all found out how much trivia we did NOT know!! Table names were very creative, ranging from ‘Seahorses’ to ‘Wouldn’t Have a Clue’. And the winners were: Top Table, pictured here – Alan & Marilyn Sontag, Mike & Mardi Hindson and Maria Barbayannis. A huge thank you to the many members, family and friends who supported this event. See you all in 2 years time!!