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Recently at Strathallan School, Perthshire was the final of the Tennis Tayside/Central Grandprix Mini Red and Mini Orange event which has been running over the last few months all around Tayside and Central belt under the supervision of district coach Jane Morrison.
 
Montrose twins Suzanne and Georgia Stirling (Ferryden school) Mini Orange, are both exceptionally talented tennis juniors who are achieving a very high standard of play in their age group.  Out of eleven very strong players from around Scotland, Suzanne Stirling (2002) battled on court and was placed a very well deserved third with Georgia also winning two of her earlier round-robin games. 

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On Friday (29th July) Montrose Tennis Club bade farewell to assistant coach Duncan McLeod at a presentation of thanks for his services at the Clubhouse. Duncan has been assistant, and playing partner to Montrose Coach Graeme Walker for many years, at Stonehaven as well as Montrose. He now has a been a appointed a position as a Coach at Edinburgh’s Criaglockhart Centre.

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The Ladies second team, now in their third year of competitive tennis, have won their league UNDEFEATED! Well done to the team who have played so hard, but also had so much fun with it. 

Wish I could be with you for the celebrations ;-) 

L to R: Dawn, Wendy, Janet, Captain Di (front), Jen (back), Corinna.

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The club recently hosted it's first Montrose Schools Competition for P3/P4. Each school entered a team of 4 (Lochside had 2 teams of 4) and they then played a round robin style comp. with tie breaks up to 7. The team with the most points at the end were the winners! Thanks to the 4 umpires (Di Forbes, Graeme Walker, Chad Neighbor and Jamie McLaren). It was a very busy couple of hours with the competitive spirit from each team growing stronger as the competition progressed! The Champions at the end of the afternoon were Rosemount Primary who were a very steady and strong team made up of Orin Forbes, Matthew Holmes, Kai Henderson and Lydia Broadley. A great success!!

L to R: Orin Forbes, Kai Henderson, Graeme Walker, Lydia Broadley, Matthew Holmes.

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May newsletter available here - keep up to date with all the club activities.

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The bustle at Montrose Tennis Club went up a notch last Sunday, 27 March, with a full programme of Opening Day activities for members old and new. The day began at 10.00am, when coach Graeme Walker started his second year at the club with junior coaching that ran until 12.30. Bacon roll breakfasts were served to replace lost calories. The official opening was at 1.00pm, with new club president Jen Richardson and the unveiling of coach Graeme's new club programme. A demonstration of Cardio Tennis followed - the Club is one of the first clubs in the district to promote this new way of getting in shape and improving fitness, coach Graeme says “If you want get fit while having fun, then Cardio Tennis could be for you, it’s a fun group activity where players of all abilities, both men and women, enjoy the experience. It is more about getting people moving and active, less on hitting great forehands and backhands. Although Cardio Tennis is first and foremost a fitness program, it is more fun than working out at the gym, it involves short cycles of high intensity workouts with periods of rest-like interval training with background music to enhance the experience”.
Soup and nibbles were followed by a social Fun Tournament at 2.00pm. Racket man Mark was also on hand with a selection of rackets to try.  The tournament was the first of a series the coach will run each Sunday. These will be for different age groups, with each (including adults) having one tournament a month and providing new chances to play for the growing membership.
A year on after the installation of floodlights and new courts the committee have been delighted with the response both in membership and the usage of the floodlit courts. The club’s lighting system, funded with Lottery cash after Montrose citizens rallied to the club’s cause, has meant play has been uninterrupted over the winter – except when covered in the winter snow.  This year the club has set the goal of upgrading the three concrete back courts.
Training for the club’s league season is well underway, with many new faces ensuring the teams will be competitive in their new, higher divisions. Scottish Cup ties begin the first weekend of April, with the men handed the tough assignment of trying to tame the University of St Andrews. 
Over the winter the club fielded three winter league teams, including one in the first division, and competed well, with none of the teams in danger of relegation and the third team topping the tables. 

During the Easter School Holidays, coach Graeme will be running two weeks of Easter Camps for children from P1 at Primary School to 6th at Secondary to get outdoors, have fun and improve tennis skills. Week 1 runs daily from the 4th to the 8th April and Week 2 from the 11th to the 15th April. Open to all children both members and non-members.

The club has also been allocated eleven pairs of tickets for the Wimbledon Championships from June 20th to 3rd July. All paid up club members are eligible and those wishing to go can put their name into the club ballot for the tickets.

 

Photograph: Club coach Graeme Walker gets the action going with some cardio tennis.

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March newsletter available now.  Check out all the exciting club news here

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Is it possible?  Dare we even dream that it is?  Can we really manage to refurbish courts 4-6 so soon after the amazing achievement of 2010?  Montrose Tennis Club is going for it - there's nothing we like more than a challenge!  The courts will be inspected to see how much work it would entail. Watch this space for further news...

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Tennis Taster Sessions for school kids... Once again, we are delighted to be able to offer tennis taster sessions to school children in our area.  This year, thanks to some additional funding, we have been able to extend our programme to include Brechin, Edzell, Andover and Inverkeilor.  Dates and times are listed below:

Rosemount Primary School

Monday the 28^th February, 7^th and 14^th March

11:00am to 12:00noon

(Please note that another session shall be arranged by Graeme as Monday the 21^st of February is an in service day)

Borrowfield Primary School

Tuesday the 22^nd February, 1^st, 8^th, and 15^th of March

10:50am to 12:15pm

(2 classes over the hour and 25 mins)

Southesk Primary School

Tuesday the 22^nd February, 1^st, 8^th, and 15^th of March

1:30pm to 2:30pm

Lochside Primary School

Wednesday the 23^rd February, 2^nd, 9^th and 16^th of March

1:30pm to 3:20pm

(2 classes over the hour and 50 mins)

St Margaret’s Primary School

Thursday the 24^th February, 3^rd, 10^th and 17^th March

9:30am to 10:30am

Ferryden Primary School

Thursday the 24^th February, 3^rd, 10^th and 17^th March

11:00am to 12:00noon

And for the Brechin schools:

Maisondieu Primary School

Monday the 10^th, 17^th, 24^th, 31^st January

9:30am to 10:30am

(The session shall be split into 2 half hour slots with 22 children each half hour)

Edzell Primary and surrounding schools

Wednesday the 12^th, 19^th, 26^th January and 2^nd February

1:30pm to 2:40pm

21 Children

Andover Primary School

Thursday the 13^th, 20^th, 27^th January and 3^rd February

9:30am to 10:30am and 11:00am to 12:00noon

(39 children split over the two hours)

Inverkeilor Primary School

Friday the 14^th, 21^st, 28^th January and 4^th February

1:30pm to 2:30pm

20 Children

These sessions will culminate with the Tennis Festival on Monday 21st March from 10am to 12noon and 1:00pm to 2:50pm.  Assistance from our club members at this event would be much appreciated.  See Rhona for further information.

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Montrose wins again... this time it's Rhona!!!  LTA Volunteer of the Year!  Well done Rhona, we all hope you have a great day in London.  It is a perfect way to thank you for all your hard work and devotion to our club.

The British tennis Volunteer Awards are aimed at recognising those volunteers who devote much of their time to tennis; from working behind the scenes as a committee member to organising local leagues and building relationships to positively promote the sport.

The LTA recognise a volunteer from each of the regions / nations: the East, South East, South West, Midlands, North, Scotland and Wales.

Each category winner is invited, along with 1 guest, to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday 27th November 2010, held at The O2 arena, London. The day begins at 11.00am with a champagne reception and brunch followed by doubles and singles on court action.

Autumn Newsletter - click here to read all the latest Club news

2010 Club championship 

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 NEW GATES INSTALLED - Montrose Tennis Club would like to thank Andrew Walker for the fabrication of the new gates.  The gates have been installed on both the East and West entrances as part of the floodlighting project.  The new gates on the West side have a self closing mechanism for members use and the gate on the East side can be left open for public use. 

Members, please note the code remains the same (on both gates), but you must enter 'c' first in order for the gate to open.

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June 2010 newsletter

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We were delighted to welcome Judy Murray back to Montrose recently.  Judy came to visit our newly refurbished courts and offered coaching to the juniors.  There was a great turnout despite the weather, and a great time was had by all involved.  \Judy Murray was also kind enough to donate to the club a shirt signed by Andy Murray and also one of his rackets.

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The newly refurbished courts are ready for play!  The new surface has been laid and the lights are now operational. The first game on the new carpet was played on Sunday and the first game under floodlights took place this evening (Monday 15th March).  Please come along and try out the new courts; they are great to play on and every game helps the surface to settle.  There is still a little work to be completed, but nothing that will stop play now!  Tokens for the floodlights are available from a committee member and are priced at an introductory offer of £2 per token (each token lasts 30 minutes).

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The refurbishment work at the club is well underway.  The floodlights have been installed and we are just waiting for the power to be connected.  The carpets are in the process of being lifted - court 3 was coming up today (4/3/10).  On Monday the new carpet arrives for fitting to begin on Tuesday.  Weather dependent, one court can be fitted per day so all should be complete by the end of next week.

We are planning our Open Day for the 27th March with an official switch on of the lights.

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 We are delighted to announce the appointment of a full time coach at Montrose Tennis Club.  Graeme Walker has accepted the position and will start a full time coaching programme soon.  Please keep checking our diary page for further information.

February 2010 newsletter available here

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We are delighted to announce that we were successful in the People's Millions final on the 25th November!!  We have been awarded a grant for £34,500 to install floodlights at the club. 

This once in a lifetime opportunity will enable us to continue the club's development, offer an extended coaching programme and make the courts more available to members and the general public of all ages and abilities throughout Angus.  

We would like to thank everyone for their support and votes.  We couldn't have done it without you.  It seems like the whole community and beyond maxed out on the voting, with tremendous result.  Thank you so very much!

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The Angus Council ACE GOLD AWARD was presented to the Club in June.  It was a well attended ceremony with Councillors Colin Brown and Mark Salmond and Graeme Newton all praising the club for gaining this prestigious award.  Coaching on the day was led by Alan Green Arbroath in the absence of Graeme Walker and Laura Ross, Sports Development Officer Angus Council also aided by Katrina Pert. The committee are also currently working towards the Tennis Clubmark which is the LTA club accreditation programme. 

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Montrose Tennis Club held a 12 Hour Sponsored Tennis-a-Thon on Sunday (28th June) to raise funds for their floodlight appeal.  The day was started at 8am with a doubles match being played on court by Club Chairperson Jean Stevenson, Secretary Rhona Alston and members Dave McArthur and Graeme Newton.  Although only one court was in use early on, it was evident by the afternoon that our 6 courts were not enough!  By 3pm we had every court full with people waiting to play.  Coaching was provided for the children (thanks to Dr O'Mara), there was also a bouncy castle to keep the younger ones amused and a barbecue to keep everyone fed.  Even the weather was kind to us!  It was a great day enjoyed by all.  The total raised by this event is £1000!!!  Thanks to all who played, sponsored, helped and supported this; every little bit helped and it is very much appreciated.

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Au revoir Coco!  The club held a French Tournament last Sunday as “a fond farewell” to Constance our school French language assistant who has been an integral part of the club since setting foot in Montrose last September.  Coco has been an outstanding member playing regularly, participating in coaching and playing in the league for the Ladies 2nd Team, as well as helping out with power-washing courts, assisting with fundraising events and generally mucking in!  We will miss you Coco!  Check out the gallery for photos.

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Montrose Tennis Club took a last minute stall at the recent Montrose Music Festival selling strawberry skewers and other fruit goodies.  From this £640 was raised for the floodlight appeal.  Thank you to all of those who helped prepare or sell our goodies.  We really could not do this without you!  Check out the gallery for some photos!

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Montrose Junior member Jonny O'Mara had some excellent results in the Czech Republic playing  on the Tennis Europe  under 14 Junior tour recently. Playing in the Bohemia Cup- one of the top ranked tournaments on the tour, Jonny  beat a good Russian junior in the first round then had a really tough match against  a Spanish specialist clay-courter, who had  recently won a title on the tour. Jonny managed to win this excellent match in a third set tie break.  Jonny then backed up that good result  with an easier win in two sets against a Belarussian before his excellent run was ended in the quarter final where he was narrowly beaten  by the  European number three from Italy.
It was a similar story in the doubles where Jonny and his first-time partner, Laslo Djere from Serbia, seeded number seven,  made it through to the semi final, which included a win against the number 1 seeds in the second round. Unfortunately, their lack of a common language was their undoing in the end as Laslo spoke little English and Jonny's grasp of Serbo-Croat is slightly lacking, leading to  confusion on some key points in their semi-final. Overall,a great week for Jonny who, despite mainly concentrating on training and fitness this year is still aiming to be in the top ten in Europe before the year is out.

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Montrose stepped up to host the Road to Wimbledon tournament last weekend.  Jonny O'Mara acted as match director (ably assisted by his apprentice Dr Dave) and was responsible for the tournament - thank you and well done Jonny!  The winner was Liam Curry (dual Arbroath/Montrose member). He qualifies to the next round at Gannochy on 6th & 7th June.  Montrose wish him well on his journey.  See Gallery for photo.

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Montrose Tennis Festival
Montrose Tennis Club, in partnership with Angus Council held its third Tennis Festival today at the club's courts. Club coaches Graeme Walker and Dr. Dave O'Mara teamed up with Jamie McLaren, Active Primary School Coordinator, to hold the event with all of the town's Primary 3 children. Throughout the day around 170 children participated in the various activities.

 

February 2010 newsletter

July 2009 Newsletter

June 2009 Newsletter

Spring 2009 Newsletter

Tennis Taster for P3 pupils

Autumn 2008 Newsletter