TSC Board Chair’s Speech – Keith Lane

“Welcome to the TSC 2015 Junior Prizegiving 2015 has seen another strong year of Tennis in SC.

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the sponsors. ASB has been a major sponsor of tennis in SC for many years and we are very grateful for their support. Kim Reid from ASB will present some of the prizes later on. Also the Board has undertaken a sponsorship drive and you will see a number of new signs around the courts. Please support our sponsors as they support you. It is always good to mention their sign and acknowledge their support in our community.

A big thank you to the Board comprising of Rene Crawford, Irene Emond, Keith Tomsett, Ferg Hazlett, Glen Black and Jacqui Robinson, and Sue Ward, our Admin Officer who keeps us all in line. Recently, Matt Cameron our TSC Co-ordinator for many years has resigned to take up a teaching role at Roncalli College. Matt has done a tremendous job growing tennis in our region. Thank you Matt and we wish you all the best. However, as one door closes another opens and Jane Sullivan (many of you will know) has taken on the role of Co-ordinator. Jane has a very impressive resume in sport and we look forward to working with her.

Our thanks to Kane Newland, our full time Professional coach in Timaru, and the other coaches within our region who deliver first rate programmes to our players. We are very fortunate to have this calibre of coaching. Junior Interclub remains strong with a record number of teams on Saturday mornings. This year saw a Premier section for the first time, which gave the more experienced players tougher competition. Secondary School tennis is held on a Tuesday night and this is an area that we wish to develop further. Our Representative Performance has had a strong year, winning the overall Southern November Teams Event and coming second in the February Southern Junior Teams event. We also suffered a narrow loss to Mid Canterbury in March. Local players have continued to achieve. SC had 5 players represent Southern at the National Teams event in January. The 14s finished 4th and the 12s, 5th but could have been 2nd if a couple of results had gone our way, but they beat Canterbury (Editor’s note: They lost to Central on the first day – who finished sixth, but beat Northern who came 2nd and beat Canterbury who came 3rd) – It is always good to beat Canterbury. Harrison Darling won the South Island Primary Schools Champs and was runner up in the NZ Primary Schools Finals at North Harbour in December. Harrison was also runner up at 14s National Doubles in January and along with his partner have another year in that age group. Well done Harrison. In addition we have other juniors do well at regional tournaments: notably Lucy Crawford, George McAleer, Josh Cameron, Matt Ellis and James Watt.

As many of you travel around NZ it becomes quite clear that Tennis South Canterbury is the envy of many associations with its facilities, systems, and coaching programmes. The cost of these programmes to the parents are significantly cheaper here in South Canterbury than the majority of other regions. This is due to the strong board and governance we have in place. For tennis in South Canterbury to remain strong and continue to grow we need to keep building on these foundations. By parents volunteering to help, however big or small, you may perceive your contribution as being, it is ensuring the future of our game. Every bit of assistance you can give will help, as we strive to maintain the levels we have achieved in the past. This help is gratefully acknowledged and appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge the Kath and Tony Preen for the continued support of the Preen Scholarship. The two winners of this award will be announced later in the evening.