Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Greenways Press Wednesday Night Finals

Finals for the Wednesday night comp were held this week after 10 weeks of great tennis. The new format of, Ladies doubles, Mens doubles and 2 sets of mixed worked really well. We had some very strong teams with team ‘Michella’, (Shella, Sarlu, Kevin & Rossco) leading the pack with 49 points. Debbie’s team (Deb, Jo K, Sam & Zach) coming 2nd with 36 points and Gaelene’s (Gae, Anna, James & Roger) running 3rd with 34 points.

Singles have also been played on Wednesday, with most games being able to be played before the doubles. Some fantastic tennis in the singles comp with some very cunning players on court. Not much between these three winners in Pool A – 1st James Elliott with 56 points, 2nd Brett Bergagnin with 54 points and 3rd Sam Taylor with 53 points. Pool B – Michella Quintal 59 points, 2nd Karen Menadue 54 points and 3rd Gaelene Christian 48 points.
Greenways Press have been great supporters and Sponsors of tennis over the years and we would like to thank Jo and Jonno for their Sponsorship of ‘Greenways Press’ Wednesday night singles and doubles tennis comps. Jo and Jonno supply fantastic prizes and put on a sausage sizzle for the final night. With thanks also to Rustys Quality Meats for supplying the very yummy sausages.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Hardys Wine Monday Night Tennis Competition Winners

The finals for the Hardys Wines Sponsored competition finished on Monday night followed by a sausage sizzle and presentation. The clear winners were T.G.B. (Trev Gow Building) with 45 points. These 4 young guns, Jay Sanders, Clayton O’Connor, Shane Evans and Luke Steven, have been back on the tennis courts for about 6 months and it’s been great to see them show off their talents and style along with the sense of humour. Congratulations yorlye.

Our other teams have enjoyed the competition as well and will all be re-entering their teams for the next comp starting this Monday.

We would like to thank Hardys Wine for their sponsorship and continued support of Tennis on Norfolk.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Presentation Night

Saturday night the club was filled with Champions, friends and invited guests. Unfortunately our President was unable to be there, but our very capable Vice President, Julie South along with Mrs President, Karenne Gatehouse, stepped in and did a wonderful job of presenting awards and trophies to all of the winners.

Cheryl Tennis Club once again thanks NI GAS, Chris and Karenne Gatehouse for their continued and much appreciated sponsorship of the Club Championships. Thanks also to Greg Quintal Snr for his continued support of our Tennis Youth and his award. And to Tom Lloyd and the ‘Over the Hedges’ award. Toms been watching thru the hedge for many years now and has always been a great supporter of the club – thaenks f’ me Tom.

Presentation was held at the club this year and we would like to thank John Christian for his ‘swiit wetls’. The food was fantastic and the waiting service awesome – thanks to Chris Ciantar. And thanks to our sexy barlady, Binky, for keeping everyone watered.

Combined with our Club Championship Awards was the TechSpecific and Expressions NI Mixed Doubles Tournament prizes that was postponed from the actual tournament date. Andre and Kim Nobbs were invited to come and present these prizes to the winners and we thank them for taking up the sponsorship of this tournament and for presenting on the night.

Cheryl Tennis Club Championships:

A Grade Ladies singles: Amanda Cribb, Runner up Karen Menadue. Ladies Doubles: Karen Quintal & Gaelene Christian, R/up Meg Meers & Tanya Randall.

A1 Grade Mens singles: Danny Nobbs, R/up Brett Bergagnin. Mens Doubles: Sam Taylor & Danny Nobbs, R/up James Elliott & Kevin Randall. Mixed Doubles: Kevin Randall & Karen Quintal, R/up James Elliott & Tanya Randall.

A2 Grade Mens singles: Sam Taylor, R/up Brett Bergagnin. Mens Doubles: James Elliott & Sam Taylor, R/up Brett Bergagnin & Trevor Menadue. Mixed Doubles: James Elliott & Tanya Randall, R/up Brett Bergagnin & Amanda Cribb.

B Grade Ladies singles: Anna Elliott, R/up Jo Snell. Mens singles: Dylan Billman, R/up Zach Sanders. Ladies doubles: Jo Snell & Emily Ryves, R/up Coral Rowston & Gloria Gervasoni. Mens doubles: Dylan Billman & Blake O’Hara, R/up Bob Little & Hubert Finney. Mixed doubles: Zach Sanders & Emily Ryves, R/up Chris Gatehouse & Jo Snell.
Sponsored & Club Awards:
Positive Attitude & Enthusiasm: The ‘Kelly Gang’, Ethan, Grace, Jude & John (Photo L). Initiative Award: James Elliott & Rhys Schmitz. Sportsmanship Award: Dylan Billman. Most Improved Lady: Emily Ryves. Most Improved Man: Zach Sanders. (Photo below L)

Presidents Appreciation Award: Alan McNeil (Photo R). Most Promising Junior Award: Anna Elliott, sponsored by Greg Quintal Snr. Over the Hedges Award: Gaelene Christian, sponsored by Tom Lloyd.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

'Team Tennis' Relay for Life

Wow – what a fantastic night we all experienced last Saturday. Along with the other 34 teams, Team Tennis were up at the School Oval from 3pm on Saturday to participate in the 18hr ‘Relay for Life’. Most of the team stayed right through the night and the atmosphere and spirit of everyone involved was amazing. To see the endurance of Alex and his support team was incredible, seeing the highs and lows and not believing that he would make it for the 24hrs at some points, then 30hrs later he finishes!!! He blew us all away. Congratulations to Alex and to Fi, Kaye, Ross, Janet, Lucy & Hazel – you guys are amazing and thank you for choosing Norfolk Island to break the Guiness Book World Record.

The all night breakfast was put on by ‘Team Tennis’ and what a fantastic job they all did. You will be pleased to know that I didn’t cook the breakfasts and everyone was still upright the next morning. However – Alex did comment on the ‘great’ potatoes that I cooked – yes me, and despite all of the heckling sent my way – I’m sure this was a big factor in him lasting for the 30hrs….

Typically when these events come along, Norfolk all pulls together and the generosity of ‘orl aklan’ is amazing. Team Tennis would like to thank the following for their donations, Rustys, Mike Andrews, Matt & Suz Bigg, Dave & Bronwyn South, Roy Nobbs, Chris & Karenne Gatehouse, THE BACON MAN… and to all of our ‘Team Tennis’ participants for your donations and time for this very worthy cause.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Dick Gray returns

One of the very good things about living on Norfolk Island is the variety of sports that are available to us to enjoy, and that visitors can enjoy too. There is golf, junior footy and soccer, touch football, a wide range of athletics, archery, shooting, snorkelling and diving, lawn bowls, squash, hapkido and other martial arts, surfing, bike riding, table tennis, horseriding, swimming, dancing, boxercise …. and on and on we could go. One that is very important is tennis, and Norfolk has a proud history in this sport.

So we were delighted to catch up with Richard (Dick) Gray, who was back on-island recently. He is fondly remembered for what he achieved for tennis here in the 1980s. Dick and wife Joy were visiting us from their home in Hamilton (NZ) to catch up with their many friends, and family – son Duncan lives on Norfolk with his family.

Dick was working as an insurance broker in Hastings (NZ), and after a very pressured few working years he and Joy came to Norfolk in 1980 for a holiday. They enjoyed the change of lifestyle offered so much that they decided to return to live the following year.

Dick was a very keen and good tennis player, and he took over the role of President of the Cheryl Tennis Club that had one tarsealed hard court, and five grass courts requiring lots of maintenance. The club had little by way of a financial base, and there was little competition too. Dick with help from members expanded the game here and improved it in every aspect. And Julie South, who is well known and much loved for her dedication to the sport, suggests Dick played a significant role in this improvement until he returned to New Zealand to live in 1992 – called back by ‘all of those grandchildren popping up everywhere’.

Dick took on ‘coaching’ duties, and focused a lot of attention on developing our juniors ‘who played their natural game of giving the ball hell’. Dick established a Junior Trust with generous support from Val and Alex Martinez to assist with travel costs for juniors travelling to overseas competitions. He travelled to Australia to improve his knowledge of coaching, but never attained formal qualifications as a coach. One of his sons, Jeff, was a qualified coach, and he would come to Norfolk to coach players here. Jeff had learnt the game from the famous Australian tennis coach, Vic Edwards. Vic is best known for being the coach of the amazing Australian player of the 1960s and 70s, Evonne Goolagong, who won Wimbledon in 1971, and again as a mum in 1980. Bill Gilmour, who played tennis for Australia, and is known for beating Roy Emerson, another great player, also coached here. His reputation helped lift the profile of tennis in Norfolk Island, and lead to the establishment of a permanent coaching position on the island.

Dick with help from many locals introduced several innovations into the game, and these helped build a very enthusiastic club. The tie break was introduced. A singles competition began in 1981, and one of our own, Bebs Sanders, one of our ‘young tennis guns’ of the day, will recall many a tough match against ‘ambidextrous’ Dick. Night tennis was introduced. More and improved courts were established, and he remembers how hard Norfolk’s Dennis Sterling and others worked to achieve this. A two-storey clubhouse was built. He recalls tough negotiations with Bill Sanders who was planning minister in Norfolk’s government in the 1980s, to build the clubhouse closer to the boundary than was the law of the day. The Johnny Walker tournament began that brought sponsorship into the game, with our own Liquor Bond being the major sponsor. And Dick was involved in establishing the Vets Tournament that is still going strong, with 110 players participating in 2010, many from overseas.

Dick has travelled through the South Pacific with tennis – to Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji – and in all of these places the people love their sports. They play bowls, tennis and much more, and so in part they are like Norfolk Islanders. But he believes that Norfolk is different and more special to every other place. It has ‘something intangible about it’, and while he can’t put his finger definitively on what it is, he thinks ‘it is possibly something about the history’.

We wish Dick and Joy back here soon. We thank him for all he has done for the game of tennis in The World of Norfolk.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

TechSpecific & Expressions Norfolk Island Mixed Doubles Tournament

Those who came up and spent the afternoon as spectators on the verandah last Sunday watching the TechSpecific & Expressions Tournament saw some awesome tennis. Everyone who played commented on what great games they had. Each playing at least 3 sets, some playing as much as 5 for ‘Plate’ and consolation prizes.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to watch many of the games so I cant give a commentary this week. (you’ll just have to come and watch yourself next time..)

Interestingly enough the winning combinations ended up being against the Randall siblings. All who play fantastic tennis and the games were all won on tye breaks. Tanya Randall & James Elliott v Debbie Randall & Douglas Donaldson saw Debbie & Doug just pull through. On the other court Kevin Randall & Lynne Mogey pushed out Trevor & Karen Menadue on a tye break. Kevin & Lynne then had to play Debbie & Doug. This was the match to watch, fantastic tennis by all with Kevin & Lynne having to pull out all stops to finally win the game on a 15/13 tye break.

Congratulations to Kevin Randall & Lynne Mogey who won the trophy for 2010, to Sam Taylor and Vicki Crow for winning the consolation prize and to Toni Wilson and Michael Trickey winning the Plate.

Great to see some new faces back up the courts and it was good to have Graeme & Vicki Crow over from QLD joining in too.

Huge thanks to our sponsors, Andre & Kim Nobbs (TechSpecific & Expressions). We look forward to seeing you both at our presentation night on the 24th to present the trophy and prizes.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Interclub Sports Day

‘GO TEAM TENNIS!!!’

What a fantastic day all 5 participating sports clubs, (Golf, Squash, Gun Club, Netball & Tennis) had on Monday. A start time of 9.30am saw everyone down on the Golf Course for an interesting round of 4 holes. Tennis drew the Netballers for the golf challenge, (just quietly we were all pretty happy about that) with balls going from 3 feet to way out west and the occasional straight one from some of our team that could actually hit a ball, Team Tennis beat the Netballers in the first challenge. Then off to Squash and Darts at the Leagues. Our draw for squash was the gun club. Slugging it out for Tennis was Trevor M, Tanya, Richard and Amanda. Lots of cheering from the rest of the team saw them finish in a tye. At the dart board the netballers showed off their style but they were no match for the Tennis team. Off to the netball courts for a very rough game against the golf club. We pulled out our ‘joker’ for this one and it paid off. Some of the golf club boys couldn’t seem to get the 3 foot rule and we had a slight height disadvantage but after knocking over our players, stealing the ball, shoving and pushing the tennis team still won the game and Tanya scored highest in the play off. The day finished off at the tennis club where the challenge continued between the golf, squash, gun club and netballers. (Clubs were not allowed to participate at their home club). Team Tennis won the trophy for 2010 and are gearing up for the 2011 challenge.


To Umi and Kylie, we thank you for organising the Interclub Sports Day. You are both amazing. It was a huge effort to pull it all together and all of the clubs and participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we are all looking forward to next years challenge.

Team Tennis would like to thank John for driving us all around in the 6WD with the Tennis Flag waving around in the breeze. Huge thanks also to Norris and Lew for coming up to the club and cooking. To Karenne for picking up, washing and delivering the food. Rustys for your sweet burger paties – yum, thaenks f’ aklan. Thanks to all of the clubs for joining us for burgers and chips and especially to all of the table top entertainers, great day, great night.

Well done to all of the clubs for participating and supporting the Interclub Sports Day. This is a great way for the clubs to get together so keep it in your club calendar and make it an annual event.