TENNIS SENIORS QUEENSLAND INC
PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2006-07 John S Walker President

It is with great pleasure that I present this report on our activities for the past year, my first as your President. Through our network of Clubs and associations, with their hardworking Committees, we are achieving our stated aim of: "Creating a friendly and sociable atmosphere for any player who is aged 35 or over through the promotion of seniors tennis and the encouragement of seniors tournaments throughout Qeensland".

Our State still has the largest number of senior tennis players in Australia with over 26% of the membership of Tennis Seniors Australia (TSA). However the more populous States have been urged by TSA to "endeavour to increase their membership numbers". Victoria has agreed to be the first State targeted for this effort so lets hope for the overall sake of seniors tennis these efforts are fruitful.

Highlights of the past Year are:-

Australian Teams and Individual Championships, Perth, WA
 

A special thank you to the 63 men and 34 women who travelled to Perth to participate in the "SunSmart" Australian" Championships which were held on the real grass courts at Robertson Park, the Tournament Headquarters with Mt. Lawley and Alexander Park Tennis Clubs as additional facilities. All the courts used were in excellent condition and one noticed how much easier on the feet real grass can be in tournament conditions. Although numbers were down, the 6 womens teams and 12 mens teams proudly represented our State and all performed with credit. We could not emulate previous groups who have won the Teams Championship Trophy. However we did finish a creditable second behind Victoria with almost 57% success rate.

Our gold medal winners were:
55/2 ladies team:- Jennifer Griggs (Captain), Ann Cosgrove, Annette Pratt, Lorraine Fogarty and Jeanette Young;
60/2 men’s team:-Dennis Biggs (Captain), Murray Irvine, Stan Cuthbert, Luke Bond and Mick Fogarty
70/2 men’s team:- John E Walker (Captain), Neville Langford, Kerry Burke, Garth Wenck and Reg Payne.

Six other teams finished runners-up and three teams were in third place. Well done everyone and, hopefully, we can look forward to the 2008 events in Wodonga with the anticipation of a slight improvement in this result.

Despite the quality of our representation there was only one winner of an Australian Title this year when Peter Froelich defeated Kevin Crump 6/2,6/3 in the 70 men’s singles. The full results of the individual events were published in our February newsletter and I endorse the sincere congratulations extended to all those competitors who were runners-up in their events and those who won consolation events.

Congratulations and best wishes are extended to the 11 Queenslanders who were selected to represent Australia in the ITF World Seniors Championships, held in Turkey during May, and the Super Seniors Championships to be conducted in Christchurch, NZ, this December. They are:
Ros Evans (45+), Marilyn Davis (60+) Jill Taylor (65+) Nola Collins (70+) Mike Ford (45+) Max Bates (55+) Terry McLellan (60+) Peter Froelich (70+) Adrian Alle (75+) Dick Wilson (80+) Neville Halligan (80+).

The State Dinner, held on the first Monday evening of the Championships was very well attended and a big thank-you must be extended to our Secretary Coral Vickers who, once again, organised a great occasion for us. Thanks also to Mike Evans, (ex WA ) for his help to secure an excellent venue for the function. Good food and a pleasant evening was enjoyed by all.

Our flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony, held at Perth Soccer Club immediately adjacent to Robertson Park, was John E Walker. John has competed in the Australian Seniors Championships for 29 years and only took up tennis when he was 20 years old because “a team was short and someone asked him to play”. After playing for NSW early in his career he, together with his wife Donna, have represented our State with distinction at successive championships for a very long period so the honour was richly deserved.

Your Executive all attended the 38th Annual General Meeting of Tennis Seniors Australia which was held on 7th January 2007 where many matters of interest were discussed. For those of you who are interested in the full minutes of this meeting please check the Tennis Seniors website, www.tennisseniors.org.au.

TSQ Senior of the Year 2006.

I had the pleasure of presenting the trophy for this award to Laurie Bruhl at the Sunshine Coast tournament and was amazed to hear of his impressive record of service to the game, both here and overseas, over such a long period. Alan Hocking highlighted Laurie's achievements in last year's Presidents Report. However, as those present found out, that was only a small part of the story. Well done Laurie. The winner of this year's award will be announced at the AGM.

TQ Senior Player of the Year 2006.
 

Congratulations are extended to Max Bates who was presented with this prestigious Tennis Queensland award at the dinner held in Brisbane in November 2006. Max has represented Australia with great distinction in the ITF Seniors Championships for a number of years and was a member of the the team who won the Austria Cup (55+) and he partnered Andrew Rae (Vic) to win the 55+ World mens doubles title at the ITF Seniors event held in Durban, South Africa, during April 2006. Well done Max. Your efforts at this years ITF Seniors Championships in Turkey were similarly impressive.

2007 Tennis Seniors Queensland Championships
 

This ITF level 3 tournament was held on the Gold Coast at the end of June 2007. The record entry of 320 players enjoyed near perfect weather over the three days and it was particularly encouraging to note the increase in the number of ladies entering the singles events.(up 100% on last year) Long may this trend continue!! The singles events were conducted as knockouts and all other doubles and mixed events were round robins. Thanks to the efforts of our Tournament Director, Gail Bates (who was in Germany at the time with her husband, Max) Tournament Manager, Steve Longworth, Secretary, Coral Vickers and Tournament Referee, Julie Cleverly the event went off very well indeed. Because of the large entries in the doubles pools, final results were frequently determined under lights. It was very pleasing to see a significant increase in entries from New Zealand , Asia and around Australia in the tournament. Hopefully our representations to ITF will result in these championships being upgraded to Level 2 status in the very near future.
 

Web Page
 

Our web page www.tennisseniors.org.au/qld is now well established and is regarded by many experts with experience in this field as "the best website in seniors tennis". Our sincere thanks must be extended to our web master, Ian Somers, who keeps the site up to date and gives our organisation a truly professional web site.

Tennis Queensland
 

As the governing body for tennis throughout Queensland it is important that we maintain a close working relationship with Tennis Queensland and their management organisation. We will actively endeavour to develop this relationship further when the matters, currently under discussion between Tennis Australia and the executive of TSA, are further advanced.
 

Finances
 

The efforts of our efficient treasurer Graham Brown have resulted in our continuing healthy financial position. We have maintained our provision of assistance to the various clubs who conduct seniors tournaments during the year.

 
Tennis Seniors Australia.
 

The initiatives introduced some years ago by Bruce Hallt and continued by my predecessor Alan Hocking have resulted in a more efficient and effective management structure for Tennis Seniors Australia. While difficulties still exist it is apparent that identifiable progress is being made with the implementation of the Five Year Plan, sponsorship matters, a new ranking system and website merging with TA.

 
The issues are more complex as the structure of Tennis Australia, its development of the game nationally, its funding of bodies, relations with each State etc have changed and are being streamlined and improved day by day. Tennis Seniors Australia are only a small part of the national equation with approximately 4000 members in total. However, if the membership initiatives mentioned previously are successful in Victoria and continue in other States, there is hope this total could increase significantly in the near future.

Queensland’s Gail Bates has been appointed by TSA as National Singles Ranking Co-ordinator and Ian Somers has been approached to serve on the committee for the web site matters.

At a recent meeting of State Presidents, the TSA executive and Tennis Australia representatives in Adelaide in June, several important decisions were agreed by all States (something unusual). So hopefully, at the AGM in Wodonga next January, some progress in these things will be confirmed!!
 

Committee
 

The success of any body is dependent upon the quality of the team and I have been very fortunate to have the assistance of such a hardworking and knowledgeable group as the present committee.
My sincere thanks to Vice President, Alan Hocking, our Secretary Coral Vickers, Treasurer Graham Brown and Tournament Director / Committee member Gail Bates for the assistance they have provided during the year. It is a steep learning curve for me being a relative newcomer to the sport in Queensland. However, it has been most enjoyable.

I would like to record my thanks to the selectors, both National and State, who have given of their time in this area and, finally, to all members who have volunteered to serve on their Club Committees throughout Queensland. The amount of time and effort these people contribute to our organisation and the great game we play have made it possible for us to continue to prosper in Seniors Tennis.

All the very best for the coming high season of competition. Please relax and enjoy every game you can play!! Do come and join us for the Championships in Wodonga!!

JOHN S WALKER
President