March 2025
Introducing the newest tennis event at SVLTC - The ESC Championships!
The ESC (Every Shot Counts) Championships is the latest initiative to integrate junior and adult members whilst recapturing and reimagining social and competitive tennis. Through the formation of drafted teams, juniors and adults will work together to win as many points as possible across 3 meets. The team with the most points at the end of the 3 meets will be the inaugural Champions.
The 3 meets will have differing formats and point scoring methods that the teams will need to show their teamwork and collaboration in order to do their very best with every single shot. This is why Every Shot Counts!
The first meet is taking place on the 29th March at 2PM where teams will be drafted, team names created and the tennis will be timed rounds of 10 minutes with tiebreak scoring. Each round will differ with bonus points available. There is a £5 signup for the 3 meets which will be reinvested into the club.
PICKLEAGUE 16TH MARCH UPDATE
The sun was shining for the first club Pickleague on Sunday 16th March and plenty of fun was had. Three 15-point games were played by the four pairs. Congratulations to Charlotte and Adam who won all three of their games and are currently top of the Pickleague. Big thanks to Phil for organising.
PHIL'S PICKLEBALL AMERICAN TOURNAMENT
Phil is organising the club's first Pickleball American Tournament on Sunday 6th April from 1.30-4pm. The entry fee is £5. Please contact Phil on 07951 140 086 if you'd like to participate.
It has been a great year at the club with our new initiatives bringing in many new members. It is now time for memberships to be renewed for 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026. Please make payments from 1st April and by 10th April. We will send a gentle payment reminder email on the 1st April.
I hope everyone is enjoying the benefits of belonging to our lovely club. No need to fill out a form if you are already a member unless anything has changed. Thanks to those that have already paid.
Full membership gives you access to all areas, tennis and pickleball social sessions (club sessions), and you can use courts outside of the social sessions to play with other members. Full membership is £180 for the year. You can also attend and vote at the Club’s AGM. We have many other membership categories, including Pickleball and Family Memberships.
It really helps the club if at the same time you could enter the lottery bonus ball competition with your renewal for £52.00 for a year (£1.00 per week). You could win a cash prize each week based on Wednesday’s bonus ball number from the National Lottery. All profits are reinvested in club improvements.
For all information on membership and the lottery bonus ball please click here to go to membership page.
We will be changing the code on the padlocks for the courts around the 1st May, you will be informed of the new code after you have renewed membership.
Best wishes,
Lorraine and the Management Committee
PICKLEAGUE
We have 8 players for the very first Pickleague event on Sunday 16th March at 12.30pm. The session is free as it is part of your membership. If for any reason you cannot make it please let Phil know so he can fill your space.
Charlotte
Subha
Lizzie
Will
Duncan
Adam
Simon
Terry
February 2025
Club Captain Update
Our lovely Club Captain, Kay Liu will be stepping down as Club Captain from 1st March 2025 and leaving the committee. Kay has done a great job for many years, but she is taking on new responsibilities at work, so doesn’t feel she can give the role the time and effort it needs. We thank her for all she has done to contribute to the club over the years and she will continue to be a valuable and fun member of the club. A new Captain (or maybe Captains, as the club is growing now) will be voted for at the upcoming AGM.
Committee Update
We are delighted to say that Austin Young has accepted our invitation to join us on the committee.
COACH-LED PICKLEBALL SESSION - SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 12.30-1.30PM
Phil will be running a session before the Sunday afternoon social session focusing on Tactical Awareness. There are 3 spaces left for this coaching session. If you'd like to come along, please contact Phil directly on 07951 140 086. Cost is £5 per person, payable to Phil (cash or BACS).
MESSY CLUB DATES
The popular messy play session will be welcoming more local families into our clubhouse on the following dates and will continue to promote our tennis and pickleball opportunities:
Saturday 1st March
Saturday 22nd March
Saturday 19th April
January 2025
NEW PICKLEBALL LINES ON COURT 3
Pickleball is proving to be very popular at the club. It is great fun and we are still paying in the cold under floodlights on Tuesday evenings, and Thursday and Sunday afternoons.
We thank our club members, Danny and Adam for giving up their day to paint pickleball lines on court 3. They did get very cold but at least it stayed dry. The courts look great and will be well used.
JUNIOR TENNIS COACHING
Saturdays 9.30am -1.30pm
Saturdays 9.30am -1.30pm
Junior group coaching sessions are back in full swing on Saturday mornings with the club's MDL coaches, Matt and Phil. The first session is free to try.
9.30am - 10.30am Red Ball Group - Ages 5-8
10.30am - 11.30am Orange Ball Group - Ages 8-11
11.30am - 12.30pm Green Ball Group - Ages 11-13
12.30pm - 1.30pm Yellow Ball Group - Ages 13-18
WELCOMING LOCAL FAMILIES WITH UNDER 5'S
Messy Club returns to the clubhouse for a 1 hour session on Saturday 15th February at 10am. We look forward to warmly welcoming local young families to our club to develop their gross, social and motor skills (key skills for future tennis players!). Book here.
A friendly note to members: as usual, the clubhouse will be semi set-up in advance for this fun session and will remain fully useable for members.
NEW YEAR - NEW RACKET / PADDLE?
Head Coach, Phil Vivian, can supply top performance racquets (new or slightly used) at the cheapest prices anywhere. He can also offer the very best information on all tennis and pickleball equipment to provide club members with the best equipment and prices for them from an online retailer that Phil selects for you.
'Phil's Deals' include:
A new HEAD BOOM MP £120 (RRP £200). Includes a FREE racquet thermo (worth £50) to match the racquet.
2x new HEAD PRESTIGE MPL racquets £120 each (RRP £230 each).
2x new HEAD SPEED S racquets £120 each (RRP £200).
2 x new HEAD EXTREME ELITE Pickleball paddles £45 each (RRP £55).
Please contact Phil directly if you're interested in any of the above deals or his variety of specialist services.
PICKLEBALL LINE PAINTING UPDATE
As voted by the Committee and communicated in September 2024's Club News, Pickleball lines will be painted on Court 3. Painting is due to take place this month but has been postponed this week due to the recent wet / drizzly weather. The marketing tape was removed from Court 3 in preparation and temporary markers are being used on for the meantime during club play sessions and for members using the courts outside of these sessions.
Pickleball has brought a new lease of life to the club, especially on to the previously underused Courts 3 and 4. Use / movement is exactly what members and the committee recognised these courts needed to help with the moss problem that was occurring. It's great that Pickleball has been a positive solution to this issue. Another progressive and positive initiative driven by the Committee.
A WARM WELCOME BACK TO MESSY CLUB
18 local families embraced the freezing temperatures and entered our defrosted clubhouse on Saturday 11th January for the first Messy Club session of the year. And what fun they had!
Holding additional activities for the wider, local community at our friendly club has been a great way for our club to be discovered.
We also thank Messy Club for always leaving the clubhouse cleaner and tidier after every use.
Matt and Phil also braved the cold to greet and inform some of the brave juniors who were eager to get back to their Saturday morning coaching programme but sadly the courts resembled an ice rink so all sessions on the weekend were cancelled.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2025.
We had fun at a Pickleball group session at the start of the year. It was also the birthday of a long-standing member of the club, Terry, so we had a break (with bubbles) to celebrate with him!
NEW PICKLEBALL GROUP PLAY SESSION
Due to popular demand, from Thursday 9th January 2025 there will be a new Group Play session on Thursday afternoons from 1.30-3.30pm.
Come and join the fun and get fit at the same time playing tennis or pickleball. Many of us now play both.
We are offering a membership package for just £25.00, for unlimited play up to 31st March 2025.
PICKLEBALL LEAGUE 2025
An update from Phil:
From April 2025 I am planning on setting up a Pickleball League (PICKLEAGUE) for those of you looking for a bit of competition at the club.
PICKLEAGUE Rules are simple:
I will post dates and times of each session at the club.
First 8 players to respond will be playing on that date provided.
Doubles format. 1st round is Pair A v Pair B. Pair C v Pair D. Then winners play each other and losers do the same in the 2nd round. 3rd round you all play the pair you have not played (like the ATP Finals)
Matches are 1st to 10 points. Send all scores to the Pickleballers group chat. Every point counts 10-6 or 10-9 etc.
Players can enter as many or as little of these league sessions as they want.
I will post different dates times each month depending on popularity of the Pickleague.
Top 4 players at the end will play off in a Champions Final for a trophy.
If you're interested in participating, please get in contact (details here).
Regards,
Phil
Club Lotto Bonus Ball Syndicate
You’ve got to be in it, to win it. Only £1 per week to play!
Match Wednesday's National Lottery Bonus Ball to win the prize money.
If a participating number is not drawn on a Wednesday, it will roll over to Saturday’s draw then to Wednesdays, etc.
For all members to participate. Further details can be found here.
Recent Winners
Geoff (17), Lizzie (3), Susana (19) and Glynis (28).
100 Club 2025 Draws
More details and how to enter our 2025 draws are here. We will have a draw at Club Finals' Day in June and again in December 2025. Secure and buy your numbers now to be in with a chance of winning up to £100 per draw and support our not-for-profit community club in doing so.
For any questions or enquiries, please email sandersteadvillageltc@gmail.com where your email will be picked up by the Club Secretary, Adam.