Welcome to our September Newsletter!  Your monthly edition of club news, a brief, club-wide, and informative snapshot of what is going on at our favourite home-from-home!

Tennis Finals Day

Saturday 11th September saw one of the highlights of our year:  tennis finals day.

The rain held off, we had a great turnout, and there was some excellent tennis.

The Tennis Committee have issued a full report and circulated the results, so we’ll just add our congratulations to everyone who took part and our thanks to Tyrell for the brilliant organisation of this year’s club championships.

Join the Squash & Racketball Reunion for World Squash Day

This year's annual World Squash Day is on Saturday 9th October.  Our clubhouse is booked for an event that afternoon and evening, so we’re going to do our bit 24 hours beforehand, on Friday 8th October.

The theme this year is the reunion of squash - getting everybody back on court after the setback to indoor sport over the past 18 months.

So we’re holding a graded event (all standards from beginner to elite) for both squash and racketball.  It will be a fun event and it’s also Pizza Friday at the club - we’ve got your refuelling needs covered too!

Any tennis players fancy trying racketball?

New on the weekly calendar is Racketball Lunchtime.  Every Thursday from 12 to 1pm.  A mix of skills and drills for improving and accomplished players, and ‘try before you buy’ for beginner adults.

Rackets and balls are provided and we’d love to see you.

We spend time and effort marketing our indoor courts to the local community - it’s about time we tried to persuade a few of our tennis players to come inside on a cold, wet Winter’s day and try out racketball!  If you can play tennis, you can play racketball; it’s an easier transition than squash - bigger ball, bigger racket, just as much fun.  Who is your regular tennis doubles foursome - why not gang up together and have a try out.  A few tennis diehards were found scampering around the courts at last weekend’s Club Open Day (and a great day it was!) and loved it - go on, join them and give it a go!

If you’re interested, contact our head coach Adam on 07751 239472 / adam@best-academy.co.uk

Racketball box leagues

Whilst on the subject of racketball, a huge thank you to Mark Tanzer who has handed over the running of the the box leagues, and to Andrew Bryson who has received the baton.  Mark did a transformational job, revitalising and expanding the leagues.

It is easy to overlook that, aside from our coaching and our bar/catering business partners, our club has only 3 (part time) members of staff; Susannah and Vicky, our office managers, and Kevin our groundsman, who do a fantastic job for us.  Everything else around the club is run by volunteers.  Our volunteer workforce is the lifeblood of the club.  Mark, thank you; Andrew, welcome to the team.

Social Committee

Whilst on the subject of our volunteers, a huge welcome to our new Social Committee:  Bobby Mercandino (Chair), Julia Mills, Shrina Patel, and Corina Sampson (plus Graham and Claire).

Let’s give them all our support by joining in.

On Friday 8th October we have the graded squash and racketball fun evening mentioned above.

Then on Wednesday 20th October, Quiz Night returns.  Who doesn’t need a midweek pick-me-up to lift our spirits!  Go on, sign up - details to come later this week.

Sunday 31st October is Halloween.  Get to the club and get spooky, as we’ve got a Kids and Adult tennis tournament.

And to close the year out, the annual Dinner and Disco is on Saturday 4th December. More info to follow next week....

Bar prices

As a members’ club, we try to operate the bar at a finer margin than most pubs and other outlets but, having held prices level for the past 3 years since February 2018 and absorbing a number of increases from suppliers in that time, we will be increasing all drink prices at the end of the month.  Never welcome news, but we’ll still offer a keen deal on your favourite tipple.

Breaking news

To finish off, a news flash hot off the press.  Our assistant squash coach, Grace Gear, has continued her great run of form since the professional tour recommenced, and has finished runner-up in the Scottish Open!  Grace went in as the No. 8 seed and defied the odds to reach the final (her first Challenger Tour 10k final), losing to the current WR58 and winner of our Berkhamsted LinkSAP Open last month, Gina Kennedy.

Great job Grace, looking forward to seeing your move in the October world rankings! 

That’s all for now.  Hopefully we’ll see lots of you at the squash and racketball fun evening!

Club Council

(John Shaw, Matt Markwort, Phil Trimmer, Tracey Mackey, Mark Shattock, Bobby Mercandino)