ANNUAL AGM REPORTS - 20th November, 2007
Tennis Report
In January this year I reported to the Club Committee that:
- New Chief Executive Roger Draperīs blueprint for LTA published in full in Tennis Today. Probably a lot of consequences for the Club in the long term. These are the most obvious changes on the way:- `We will consider turning affiliation on its headī... `...plan to stop LTA Advantage Club Membership and the current Wimbledon ballot...replace the ballot with a more inclusive way of distributing tickets to a more diverse population of tennis fans.ī `We will stop the ineffective marketing initiatives, RAW Tennis and Play Tennisī.
These changes are now being implemented and we are in the process of contacting all our tennis members to advise them about the new British Tennis Membership Scheme and why they should be joining it.
The Junior tennis season got off to a great start in March with a record entry for the Waverley Junior Open Tennis Tournament. There is an intriguing `numericalī report on this by Pete Nicolson on our website in the Tennis Juniors section.
Waverley was one of five clubs (with Thistle, Colinton, Meadows and Braid) which gave court time to the Scottish Junior Open Tournament which also had record entry levels this year. The main event took place at Craiglockhart and in future it may have to be divided into more than one event due to itīs popularity. Once again it was good to see the facilities at Waverley being fully used - our clubhouse lends itself very well to this sort of event as there is plenty of comfortable space for the large numbers of players and their families. As with our own Junior Open, we provided a modest catering service from the kitchen all day and the bar was also open.
Junior tennis at Waverley goes from strength to strength thanks to Tam Bruceīs Junior Development Programme and this was clearly shown in a very healthy junior entry levels for the Club Tennis Tournament in August. In particular we had 16 boys in the U14 competition, about half of whom were actually under 12! Full results from the tournament are on the website. Junior Tennis Convener John Palmer played a very active part in the instigation by the ESLTA of Autumn matches for juniors. Now that we have so many keen and committed juniors we do need to provide all year round opportunities for them to compete. Many thanks to all the Parent Team Organisers who ran the teams both in the traditional league season and in the new Autumn season.
Congratulations are due to the Ladies National League Squad whose excellent results from the 2006/7 competition earned a Ģ1,000 reward. The ladies are considering using the money to buy Waverley logo sweatshirts for Club members perhaps with a special edition for themselves.
Plans are afoot to re-surface the tennis courts and to install floodlights on the back courts. We have a Club Development Committee in place to deal with the planning application and project management of this and further improvements to other areas of the Club. New court surfaces and floodlights on all four will greatly improve the tennis playing experience and opportunities for all our members, junior and senior, social and competitive.
Marion Hunter, Tennis Convener
November 2007
Squash Report
It is reflection time again, to look back on the achievements of the past year.
In the East of Scotland Leagues, two of the four Menīs teams gained promotion (1st team to Division 1, 4th team to Division 5) while the other two stayed where they were (2nd team in Division 4, 3rd team in Division 6). If you look at the League tables for season 2007/08 which has recently started, note the deliberate mistake (3rd team in Division 5 and the promoted 4th team still in Division 6). A coveted prize of coming onto the squash committee for anyone who can give the correct answer as to the reason for this. The Ladiesī 1st team were 4th in Division 1 and the 2nd team finished 2nd in Division 2. This would have meant promotion, but the Ladiesī League was restructured for the new season - 3 smaller divisions, new format - and we are now in the new Division 2.
The Club Championship was the main event of the year, ably run by that stalwart veteran, who reached a milestone this year, Dave Ferguson. (All he has to look forward to now is the free bus-pass and to win the Super-Veterans.)
Winner |
Runner-up |
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Menīs Open |
Chris Ferguson |
Douglas Kempsell |
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Ladiesī Open |
Heather Spens |
Yvonne Ferguson |
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Menīs Veteran |
Dave Ferguson |
Paul Osinski |
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Menīs Super-Veteran |
Donald Shearer |
Mike Gibson |
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Ladiesī Veteran |
Heather Spens |
Yvonne Ferguson |
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Menīs Handicap |
Mike Read |
Scott Tulloch |
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Ladiesī Handicap |
Anne Carter |
Karen Read |
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Boys |
Douglas Kempsell |
Paul Tulloch |
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Junior Stage 1 |
Lara Pedreschi |
Declan McMullan |
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Junior Stage 2 |
Darryn St. Clair-Gunn |
Jonathan Ruggeri |
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Junior Stage 3 |
Scott Tulloch |
David Munro |
The real winners were all who participated to make it a great tournament.
Racquetball continues to be played by a hardy few and weīve had home and away matches against Hatton and Colinton Castle. Waverley were also invited to take part in Edinburgh Sports Clubīs 70th birthday celebrations by fielding a 35-player team against them. A lot of squash was played and refreshments consumed. Social nights have been introduced recently to encourage new members to join in and meet up with others.
In closing, if anyone is keen, willing and able, please join the squash committee and put forward ideas to improve YOUR club.
Brian Scott (Squash Convener)
November 2007
Juniors Report
Another great year for Waverleyīs juniors. The 2006/07 East of Scotland Junior League ended in May and we again did very well. Our 1st , 2nd and 4th teams won Divisions 1, 2 and 4 respectively while our 3rd and 5th teams each finished fourth, in Divisions 2 and 4. Nine clubs participated and 79 players, including 16 of ours: Paul and Scott Tulloch, Douglas and Elliot Kempsell, Luigi and Lara Pedreschi, Ross and David Crummey, Katrina Ferguson, David Munro, Euan Millar, Darryn St. Clair-Gunn, Robin Shepherd, Graeme Scotland, Jonny Ruggeri and Declan McMullan.
In the Scottish Squash Inter-Regionals last weekend, Waverley provided East with (under 19) Chris Ferguson, Paul Tulloch and new member Annie Lamb, (under 17) David Munro and Katrina Ferguson, (under 15) Douglas Kempsell and Scott Tulloch, and (under 13) Jonny Ruggeri. Chris and Katrina played up an age-group and the closest to glory was the 2nd -placed under-19 team. Well done to everybody for their performances and commitment. David particularly was in at the deep end and competed very strongly against highly-rated and more experienced opponents.
Now, on to the exploits of Douglas Kempsell and Chris Ferguson:
Douglas (Scottish Squash Academy, playing in under-15 events)
- December - 8th in the Irish Junior Open with 1 win out of 4. Won the Grampian Junior Open. 8th in the Scottish Junior Open with 2 wins out of 4.
- January - 2nd in the Central Junior Open.
- March - 3rd in the East Junior Open. 22nd out of 31 in the Welsh Junior Open. Played for Scotland in the Under-15 Home Internationals, but unwell and unable to compete fully.
- April - reached the final of the Menīs Open in our Club Championships.
- May - Played for Scotland in the European Championships (Hungary), with 1 win out of 4. Team was seeded 8th and finished 9th out of 16.
- July - Won the first-ever Heriot-Watt Junior Open.
- September - 9th out of 54 in the Nordic Junior Open (Malmo) losing only once, to the top seed.
- October - 5th in the (non-age group, everybody in together) Central Junior Open, the highest-placed under-15 player.
- November - Won all his matches for East in the Inter-Regionals (under-15 team).
Chris (Scottish Squash Academy, playing in under-17 events)
- December - 9th in the Irish Junior Open with 3 wins out of 4. 2nd in the Grampian Junior Open. Unwell during the Scottish Junior Open, 19th with 2 wins out of 4.
- March - 2nd in the East Junior Open. 3rd out of 32 in the Welsh Junior Open. 11th out of 20 in the (senior) Scotland Selection event, ranked 12 in Scotland at senior level.
- April - won the Menīs Open in our Club Championships for the third year in a row and still younger than any previous champion. All opponents were seen off with two 9-0s and no more than 4 points in the other game.
- May - Played for Scotland in the European Championships (Hungary) with 4 wins out of 5. Team was seeded 8th and finished 6th out of 18.
- June - had to have a cartilage operation, but it was a success, with tremendous support and full funding from the East of Scotland Institute of Sport.
- September - 7th out of 49 in the Nordic Junior Open (Malmo) losing only twice.
- October - Won the (non-age group, everybody in together) Central Junior Open, the highest-placed under-19 and under-17 player.
- November - Won 2 out of 3 matches for East in the Inter-Regionals (under-19 team) losing only very narrowly to Scottish under-19 no. 1 Lyall Paterson, the next target in the sights.
- 2006/07 season - led our Menīs 1st team up from Division 2, despite three offers to play for other clubs in Division 1.
It always looks good when you write it all down ....
This ainīt juniors, but our Menīs 1st teamīs chances of staying in Division 1 have been greatly boosted by the return of Iain "Barry Ferguson" Murray and Andrew Leitch. Also, recent juniors Donald Shearer and Chris Jeffrey have done really well in the over-60 tournaments, Donald winning the Stonehaven Maters and Chris reaching the final of the West. Finally, Iainīs brother Andy took part in the 150-mile Sahara Desert race in October along with 50 other nutters - and WON it !!
Our club has never at any time been anywhere near as well-off for squash-playing juniors as we are now. Itīs the responsibility of all our adult members to recognise the value of this and continue giving every encouragement.
(This paragraph © last yearīs and the previous 3 yearsī reports - and we hope to use it again next year.)
Dave Ferguson
November 2007