FACT Cancer Charity Fundraiser - Sunday, 7th May

Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club is proud to be running a major fundraising event in aid of the wonderful local cancer charity FACT. The day is based around a friendly American Doubles Tournament for the Mandy Tellyn Memorial Trophy in memory of a much-loved and inspirational Club member, which runs between 11.00am and 5.00pm, with a Grand Raffle to close the event from 5.30pm with a multitude of prizes - holiday lets, meal vouchers, SkyTV vouchers, drinks hampers, Club memberships and coaching and lots lots more.

All are welcome to come along and support the event, watch some great tennis and boost our fundraising! Raffle tickets will be available all day until 5.30pm, or can be purchased in advance - email tennisshotley@gmail.com or call 07973 553507 for details of how to buy.

HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II 1926 - 2022 IN REMEMBRANCE

On behalf of all our members, we wish to convey our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family on the sad passing of Her Majesty The Queen. She brought stability and reassurance to us all in a lifetime of public service. Thank you, Ma’am

Seniors@Shotley Tournament brings great tennis to the Club

The inaugural Seniors@Shotley & Benfieldside Tournament attracted a strong set of players to compete in this new LTA-sanctioned competition. There were entries for Ladies and Men’s doubles at Over 35, 50 and 65 over the weekend of 6th - 7th August and there were some great matches and intense competition over the weekend.

Our thanks go to Steven Sumner for organising and officiating at the Tournament, and to every player who took part. Our congratulations go to our winning pairs, who came away with the glory and a handsome trophy. We are now looking forward to next year and the Tournament becoming a regular fixture on the North East competition calendar.

UKRAINE APPEAL - A Day of Fundraising for the People of Ukraine

Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club is dedicating Sunday 3rd April to an all-day fundraising event in aid of the people of Ukraine. Supporting the day’s activities are Newcastle legend Bob Moncur and BBC Look North’s Jeff Brown, who will also be demonstrating their tennis skills on court.

The day kicks off at 9.00am with a Junior Tournament showcasing the brilliant young players at the Club now making their mark on our County teams at all ages. From 11.00am we have an American Doubles Tournament - friendly mixed tennis running until 5.00pm featuring Jeff Brown in the morning rounds and Bob Moncur in the latter stages. Jeff Brown will be awarding the Junior trophies around 11.00am, with Bob Moncur handling the Doubles awards from 5.00pm.

Available now through to all day Sunday are raffle tickets for a super prize draw including a Lake District spa getaway at Armathwaite Hall, meal vouchers at Sale Pepe and Isabella’s, hairdressing voucher at No 1 and multiple hampers of drinks, chocs, Easter Eggs and other great gifts. Message us on Facebook if you want to buy tickets - £2.00 each = £10.00 a strip.

The Club bar and the wonderful Cafe Advantage will be open to cater to your needs, with both donating takings to the Appeal. Please note car parking is very limited on site so please walk if possible, if not please park away from the Club and Benfield Close - use Benfieldside Road.

More Winners for S&BTC at the 2021 Durham & Cleveland LTA Awards

We are delighted to announce that Adam Parker won the Young Person of the Year Award at the 2021 Durham & Cleveland LTA Awards Ceremony, and David Esther won the Competition Award for the superb Club Championships that he ran last year.

Adam has become a keystone of our Club over the past couple of years, always ready to support the Club, our coaches and our younger players both on and off court, and an excellent young player on court with a superb temperament and great sportsmanship. His award is richly deserved.

David re-structured our Club Championships in 2020 to ensure every participant would enjoy multiple matches, creating the most competitive, keenly fought Championships in the Club’s history and, above all, giving us something other than Covid to make 2020 a memorable tennis year.

The Countdown begins...to Monday, 29th March→

There’s still a way to go, but at last we have something to look forward to. Outdoor tennis will be permitted from Monday, 29th March for both singles and doubles play. The full details of what is permitted can be found in the LTA Grid, and the Club will remain a Covid-secure environment with social distancing, the Rule of 6 and hand sanitisation and general hygiene standards maintained.

But the announcement of the return to play will mean that our organised activities will be able to resume immediately from 29th March, including our coaching and social tennis sessions. We will provide more details of our plans and schedules nearer the time. For now, we’ve all got 5 weeks to shake off the cobwebs and get fit again! And of course, the best way to do that is using David and Liane’s brilliant exercise and fitness videos - download them all at Galleries on our website.

Beat lockdown blues with our great new tennis skills and fitness exercises→

Our brilliant coaching team of David and Liane have put together a series of super videos to help you start to regain (or maybe retain?) your fitness in readiness for that wonderful day when we’ll be able to get out on court and start hitting again.

The videos include a wide range of fitness exercises that will really get that heart pumping, and challenging ball skill tricks that will really test your racquet skills. They can all be done in the comfort of your home, and can be found on YouTube as well as on the Club website ‘Gallery’ page.

The current videos are:

Tennis Skills fitness 1: https://youtu.be/4F1pQ3uqq9w

Tennis Skills fitness 2: https://youtu.be/KgAKduJFkhU

HiitStep Cardio Fitness: https://youtu.be/NsWtinlzGAA

HiitStep Fitness: https: https://youtu.be/lT5Mdh-KCfc

Enjoy getting fit again!

Closure of tennis facilities

The decision to impose a national lockdown with effect from Tuesday, 5th January means that all tennis facilities must close with immediate effect. Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club has, therefore, now closed for all play, both indoors and outdoors. The Club continues to comply fully with LTA Guidance on Covid-19 restrictions and will follow LTA advice as soon as any return to play is permitted.

In the meantime, please stay safe, stay healthy, look after yourselves and keep an eye out for others who need help.

Interim Coaching Programme out now for Tier 4 - Junior sessions from 5th January→

Our new coaching programme is now published, offering sessions for all our Junior players while complying fully with Tier 4 restrictions and maintaining a Covid-Secure environment at the Club. Full details and booking links can be found on the Club Coaching Programme page.

Because of the potential for further disruption to the programme, bookings are to be made in advance on a week by week basis and payment should be made similarly at each session. Pre-booking is essential to maintain control of numbers and to hold data for Test & Trace. All sessions will be outdoors until the region returns to Tier 3 (or better). Please note that each session is payable - the link suggests they are free, but this is NOT the case.

Unfortunately all group adult coaching is prohibited in Tier 4, but individual 1:1 coaching remains available for all. Please contact David Esther directly for more information.

Tier 4 restrictions on tennis

The imposition of Tier 4 lockdown means the restrictions on play are now:   

Outdoor tennis

o   Singles is the only form of casual play permitted other than:

o   Doubles with members of a single household bubble

o   Coaching is permitted as follows:

§  Individual one-to-one sessions for all players and  Group coaching for up to 15 U18’s

o   No spectating is allowed (other than one parent being allowed to supervise their child, if needed)

Indoor tennis

o   is not permitted. The Air Dome must close until further notice

·Clubhouse and bar

o   Remains closed and must not be used for socialising or shelter (it may be opened to access first aid and toilet facilities if needed)

The Tennis Club will remain open for play from 8.00am on Thursday, 31st December. The Clubspark booking module remains active and all members must use this to book their courts for all casual play. Please remember to use the hand sanitiser and hand wash regularly when at the Club, and maintain social distancing at all times.

Resumption of tennis in Tier 3→

We’re delighted to confirm the the Tennis Club will be re-opening from 8.00am on Wednesday, 2nd December. Tier 3 restrictions will apply to all forms of play, but that will still permit members to play singles and doubles outdoors (subject to maintaining social distancing and Rule of 6 requirements) and allow the Club to offer organised activities including Sunday Social and Men’s Night on Wednesdays. There will also be an interim coaching programme established to cover the period through to New Year, and a resumption of individual coaching.

Unfortunately indoor tennis remains off limits other than for use by U18’s and members of a single household, and the Clubhouse must remain closed (other than for First Aid needs and access to toilets). Full details of how Tier 3 affects tennis can be found here.

Look forward to seeing you on court|!

Covid-19 - Closure of tennis facilities

Very sadly, we must confirm that, in common with all other tennis clubs, Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club will be closed from Thursday, 5th November until Wednesday, 2nd December to comply with the restrictions put in place under the Government’s new national lockdown.

The Club grounds, courts and Clubhouse are now shut and we ask all members to respect this closure. The court booking system is also temporarily suspended for this period.

We look forward to seeing all members back on court as soon as we can in December. In the meantime, stay healthy and stay safe.

AUTUMN/WINTER COACHING PROGRAMME NOW OUT→

Our new coaching programme is out now, with a full range of sessions to run until Christmas. There is something for everyone in the programme, from Tots Tennis for 3 years and up, through Mini Red, Orange and Green for children up to 11 years, then U14 and U18. And for adults we have Beginner and Intermediate sessions, and for those who love mixing their tennis with some fitness work we have our ever-popular Cardio Tennis and BootCamp sessions.

Full details of the programme and links for booking are on the Club website now. Don’t delay, the programme WILL sell out!

And in addition to the fantastic tennis programme, we welcome for the first time a full programme of HiitStep, a brilliant exercise routine that will get those legs, arms and bodies moving and the heart pumping and transform your personal fitness.

JUNIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2020 - 22nd AUGUST

The 2020 Junior Club Championships will be held on Saturday, 22nd August, with all competitions being played through to complete the semi-finals. The Finals will then be played on the Club Finals Day over the weekend of 19-20th September together with the Club Championship Finals.

The Junior Championships are open to all Junior members and you should confirm your entries to David or Liane as soon as possible please. This year there will be competitions for:

·        U8 mixed singles

·        U9 mixed singles

·        U12 mixed singles

·        U14 boys singles

·        U18 boys singles

·        U9 girls doubles

·        U9 boys doubles

·        U18 boys doubles

The courts are reserved from 9.00am until 5.00pm so there will be plenty of tennis played during the day. We hope parents and grandparents will come along to watch, and David will certainly be grateful for some help over the day in overseeing matches (and helping to keep score!). The Clubhouse and bar will be open during the day for refreshments, and there is a rumour of some Masterchef-class baking during the day too! Please remember to maintain social distancing if you do join us at some point, and to use the hand sanitiser and washing facilities regularly.

2020 Club Championships

We are launching the Club Championships early this year and re-jigging the format to help to fill the gap in competitive tennis that many members are feeling this year. Entries are open now so please contact David Esther to let him know which competitions you’d like to play in. There will be separate, full Championships for Junior and Senior competitions and Juniors are welcome to enter the senior competitions too. Don’t delay - entries close on Monday, 6th July.

Senior competitions already announced are:

Ladies & Men’s Singles

Ladies, Men’s and Mixed Doubles

Ladies & Men’s Vets Singles

Ladies, Men’s and Mixed Vets Doubles

Family Doubles (handicap tournament for parent & child, grandparent & child, spouses - any family relationship)

To make sure there is plenty of good tennis for you all to enjoy, the competitions will start with box leagues for entrants, with several games to be played rather than the usual knockout format, with league winners then going through to the final knockout stages.

COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD - 2020→

Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club is proud to have won the inaugural COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD for its work in partnership with Sport Works to engage children with disability and additional needs in tennis and other sporting and creative activities at the Club’s facilities to improve health and social outcomes.

The SPORT GIVES BACK ‘CHANGING LIVES’ AWARDS ceremony was held at the Royal Institution in London’s Mayfair in March, and was attended by an array of sporting megastars including Seb Coe, Kelly Homes, Daley Thompson, Greg Rusedski and Darcey Bussell.

Neil Cameron from Sport Works said: “Many of the towns and communities in County Durham still face tremendous disadvantages, and many local families simply don’t have the chance to play sport or participate in physical activity.

“This Award is testament to the dedication of the Club’s volunteers and their commitment to engaging more young people into sport. It is a prime example of how a community sports club can make a significant impact on the wellbeing of local people”.

LIVE MUSIC featuring ARCHIE BROWN & the YOUNG BUCKS→

Don’t miss out on the gig of the year this Saturday, 9th November - the fabulous Archie Brown & the Young Bucks performing Archie’s own classic compositions with a few great covers thrown into the mix. These guys are among the best musicians you’ll see in the North East and have been making great music for 40 years.

Tickets are just £5.00pp and can be pre-booked on the Club website www.shotleytennis.co.uk.

Doors open at 7.30pm, there’s a music quiz, a fully-stocked bar with real ale…and the best music and atmosphere in town.

QUIZ NIGHT - FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER

It’s that time again - join us this Friday 25th October for our monthly Quiz Night. A fun and challenging evening of questions to test your knowledge across a host of subjects. We open at 8.00pm and questions start around 9.00pm - but there is plenty to test the old grey matter before then. It’s just £2.00pp to join in and non-members are always welcome. We have a fully stocked bar and there is free food at the halfway point for all who take part.

Spread the word and bring a friend!

October Holiday Camps→

Our fantastic school Holiday Camps are coming up again - Monday to Thursday, 28th to 31st October for our U11 camps, and Friday 1st November for the U18 camp. They run from 9.00am till 3.00pm and at just £20 per day (£70 for all 4 U11 days) they are fantastic value - as well as the greatest fun for all kids. And there’s plenty more than tennis on offer for them, with the build-up to Halloween and our Family Halloween Party on the Friday night, 1st November.

Sign up now to ensure your child has a place.

U11

U18