Heaps on at the Taieri Tennis Club - read on to see what might apply to you :)

RENEWING YOUR CLUB MEMBERSHIP:

Last season's memberships expired on 31 August. This season runs from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. As a member you have a three-week grace period to renew your membership. What this means is from 1-21 September you can still book court time for free using last season's membership. If you haven't renewed your membership by 21 September, you automatically become a casual user, and can continue to use book-a-court, but with a fee ($10/court/half hour). To renew your membership now, please visit: https://clubspark.kiwi/TaieriTennisClub/Membership/Join. Lots of other benefits for members as noted!

MORE INFO ABOUT 24/25 MEMBERSHIPS:

Great news for existing and new members: your committee decided to keep memberships at the same price as last season. Yay! A Senior Social membership for 24/25 stays at $160; a Senior Competitive Membership stays at $220 (and so on for Junior and Tertiary membership types). Our goal is to steadily increase our number of members, to help offset the ever-increases costs of running the club - and we think keeping prices static will help encourage more people to join us as a member this season :)

Another piece of good news! Thanks to a kind donation from John Faulks - Property Brokers, if you are aged 65 and over, you can take advantage of the new Veteran Social Membership type, which is subsidised by $25. So, 65s and over can now pay $135 per person. Or - feel free to purchase a Senior Social Membership as before for $160, and your $25 subsidy is donated to the club. Up to you which way you wanna play it!

SENIOR INTERCLUB:

Keen to play in a Taieri Tennis Club team in the 24/25 Tennis Otago Interclub? Be sure to purchase your Senior Competitive Membership by 21 September, and add your name to this sign up sheet by 21 September. Please review the info on the sheet, and if you have any questions, please reach out to the team captains (as noted on the sheet). There are five competitions this season:

• Men's Division 1 (captained by Connor Morrison)
• Women's Division (needs a captain if a team is formed)
• Division 2 (captained by Mike Carter)
• Mixed Division (captained by Peter Smith)
• Premier Doubles (needs a captain if a team is formed)

By the way, Senior Competitive Training with Head Coach Jaden restarts at the club on Thursday 17 October, at the new time of 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

LOVE TENNIS / OPEN DAY:

By now it's unlikely you don't know about our Open Day, but just in case... This Sunday, 8 September, from 10am-2pm, is our LOVE TENNIS / OPEN DAY. Come one, come all, and bring a friend! More info on our Facebook page. To keep up to speed, give us a follow, here: https://www.facebook.com/taieritennisclub. Massive thanks to Willa Faber and her team for all the energy and love going into planning this fun celebration of tennis. And thanks also to Keith Ruthven and Mike Carter for coordinating the Working Bee two days ago. Our facilities are looking GREAT!

SPRING HOT SHOTS (TERM 4):

Spring Hot Shots is back! Due to great success last spring, we will again offer both Thursday arvo AND Saturday morning lessons for 3-12+ year olds, and the courses will start on 17 & 19 October, respectively. Other good news: we're keeping prices the same as last season, woohoo! They are:

• $65/term per child in the Red/Orange/Green stages
• $45/term per child in the Blue stage
• And remember: 50% off the second course (if signing up the same child for both Thursdays and Saturdays!)

These prices represent epic value for money, compared to many other sports, and especially so given that we have paid professional coaches providing these sessions for kids! Click here for more info, and to sign up now, please visit: https://clubspark.kiwi/TaieriTennisClub/Coaching. Spots fill up fast, so don't stand in no man's land!

JUNIORS:

Our Junior cohort (of 10 to 18 year olds) is small but steady, and will soon be growing substantially as we see those in Hot Shots moving up the ranks. We had 184 participants in Hot Shots courses last year, so watch this space as we nurture the next generation of tennis players! That's right: one hundred and eighty-four children took part in Hot Shots courses last year!!

Junior training restarts on Thursday 17 October, from 4:45pm-5:45pm, and is FREE for Junior club members! For more info, please visit: https://clubspark.kiwi/TaieriTennisClub/Coaching/Juniors. And click here to renew Junior memberships. 

We are awaiting news from Tennis Otago on the Junior Interclub for 24/25, and will share the news when we have it to hand. Any questions, please reach out to our Junior Coordinator, Peter Smith. Many thanks to Peter for taking on this role again. Legend!  

CASUAL PLAY:

We see a lot of out-of-towners keen for a hit, as well as locals just looking for a sporadic tennis match once in a blue moon, and our book-a-court feature on our website is proving a great success for casual players. As a reminder, casual players pay a fee to play ($10/court/half hour), while members can book court time for free.

With this in mind, and with the committee's goal of encouraging more people to become a member, the cost to play at our weekly social sessions (on Tuesday mornings, Wednesday evenings, and Sunday afternoons), is increasing from 1 September 2024. The new prices are:

• Members: ball fee: $2/session
• Non-members: session + ball fee: $15/session

For more info about all this, please visit: https://clubspark.kiwi/TaieriTennisClub/Social. Handy hint: if you find yourself attending more than one social session per month, it will be more cost effective for you to become a full member.

Plenty to chew on there as always at the start of the tennis season! Whatever level you're at, and whether you're playing competitively, socially, casually, and/or taking lessons to learn tennis or improve your game - we wish you a wonderful season of tennis ahead. Thank you for your support and your good vibes on and off the court!

Every tennis match starts at "love all",

Secretary Steve, on behalf of the Taieri Tennis Club committee