An Update From Howard Massey

Wednesday Mixed Tennis is Vibrant and Three years old

It’s been going now for over 3 years.  The first advice to members was on 12 September 2012. By May 2013 it was well established and Bob Morgan posted this message on the website when he returned from working in Queensland.

I was glad to see on my return that Sunday fills the courts. We always thought that weekend mixed and family tennis would be popular and here it is. It’s taken a while to build but is now an established occasion.

Get down to the courts about 2pm to make the most of daylight.

Wednesday mixed has a lot of potential for those lucky enough to be time rich. At present we seem to use three courts so we could double numbers and not notice it. Gwen Hinchliffe does her usual wonderful job mixing sets better than any computer could do it.  Feel free to come down and join the mixed from 9am Wednesday

Today, in October 2015, at the start of summer we need to increase our members’ participation on Wednesdays and Sunday – get more members to give it a go and encourage players in the community to join us. There’s no doubt that both occasions are the very best of social interaction at the club and that is what most people play tennis for these days.

The Main club contact on Wednesdays and Sundays is Jackie Parker ( on the left in picture below) also Bob Morgan on 4233 2819 and many other regular players will also introduce new players, whether they are members or casual players who want to just give it a try.

For all members who are wanting a game of tennis on Monday there is social from 2pm onward – bring the family along and enjoy the day

We had a fantastic junior tennis clinic this holiday.

It’s really great to see so many kids enjoying tennis in our community and keeping the club growing.

The juniors are the future of our club and all will have fond memories of their tennis in years to come.

Thank you David Jones, Hannah Jones, Bjorn Myers and Matt Terentis .

Joe Moseley

Head Coach

(Tennis Australia Club Pro)

The new Board of Directors as elected at the AGM with key portfolios – by David Lehman

David Lehman – President

David Graham – Vice President

Ann Boulton – Secretary

Karen Koks  – Treasurer

Bob Morgan – Membership, Projects and Maintenance

Jackie Parker – Membership and social tennis

Joe Moseley – Junior Development

Darrel Wray – Projects and Blowhole Growth

Hannah Jones – Tennis Marketing

Jeannette Horrocks – Fundraising

Kiama Wins George Fletcher Cup – by David Graham and David Lehman

On Sunday 13th September the finals of the NSW Hardcourt Inter-District series for 2015 were held at Southern Districts tennis Centre at Leumeah near Campbelltown.  Kiama were represented in three finals. In the George Fletcher Cup Kiama/Shellharbour took on Southern Districts and although Bill Summerside’ s  team  had beaten Southern Districts in each of the rounds the team  knew it was going to be a tough match. Cameron Pearson and Todd Austin were on the verge of winning the opening set, but after leading 5-3 and serving for the set they squandered their opportunities and dropped the set 7-5. Chris Ford and Bill Summerside evened the match with a 6-4 win. After leading again Pearson and Ford lost the third set and things didn’t get any better with Todd Austin and Bill Summerside also dropping the 4th set. At three sets to 1 down it wasn’t looking too good for the early favorites’ now down 3 sets to one. The 5th set was a very closely fought match with Pearson and Summerside taking the set in a tight tie break (7/6). This was the turning point for the Kiama side who  re-focused and  turned the match on its head winning the next 4 sets  to take  a 6 sets to 3 advantage. It wasn’t over yet with Chris Ford and Bill Summerside needing to hold the next set for victory.  At 3-1 Kiama were in sight of the finish line before the home side bounced back from 3/1 down to snatch the set from Kiama 6/4 With Kiama with their nose in front 6 sets to 4 and Southern Districts sensing a resurgence Chris Ford and Cameron Pearson steered Kiama to a 6-2 victory giving them the match 7 sets 60 games to 4 sets 53 games. What a relieved group of players, not having to play the last set. Well done to the team who were well supported by Michael Phipps, Grant King and Ian Avery who played in the team during the 3 rounds of the competition leading up to the finals.

The George Rider team of Jeff Brown, Richard Welsh, Owen Rice and Frank Wallner fell just short losing to Southern Districts in a close final. The match went down to the last set with Kiama having to win the set but unfortunately losing a close encounter.

The third Kiama team reached the final of the Life Members Cup and with Bob Morgan injured it was always going to be an uphill battle. With Ross Smith succumbing to a hip flexor injury during the first set the team battled on losing seven sets to love. It was a disappointing end to the competition after Kiama lead the competition during the preliminary rounds.

Kiama’ s Blackwell Cup team lead by Joe Moseley and Bjorn Meyers were defeated by Illawara 2 and placed second in Division 2. Blackwell Cup is for open men and has seen such players as Tony Roche, John Newcombe, Colin Dibley and Phil Dent competing in this prestigious competition prior to going onto tennis greatness.

Tennis NSW President Ian Campbell praised the efforts of the Kiama players for reaching three seniors finals and also the Blackwell Cup team for their second placing in Division 2. Tennis in the Kiama area is showing its strength against the larger Sydney district sides.

Congratulations to all sides and players who competed 

George Fletcher Cup – by Bill Summerside

The team finished the comp with a resounding win over the team from Nepean. Michael Phipps and Todd Austin got Kiama off to an excellent start with a 6/1 win and Brett Thomas and Ian Avery followed this up by taking their set 6/3.

Michael and Brett took their set before Ian and Todd took us to a 4 set lead with a narrow 7/6 victory. Michael and Ian gave us our 5th set 6/2 and Todd and Brett extended the lead with 6/3 win.

 Michael Phipps and Todd Austin put the match beyond reach for the Nepean team with an emphatic 6/0 win and Brett and Ian continued Kiama’ s dominance with a 6/4 victory. 

The final result was Kiama/Shellharbour 8 sets 49 games and Nepean 0 sets 20 games. This big win may put Kiama back into first place on the ladder in the lead up to the semifinals next weekend to be played at Southern districts.

Life Members Cup – by David Graham

The Kiama Team was on the top of the ladder in the lead up to the final match of the round played at Jamberoo on Sunday (24th August) against Southern Districts. The visitors from Leumeah arrived with their “A” Team and ready to play.

Kiama were really out of sorts and failed to reach any heights and after David and Mark Graham lost 6/3 in the opening set it was all downhill from the outset, losing the match 7 sets 47 games to 1 set 21 games. Ross Smith and Mark Graham put up some resistance winning the 6th set but after Mark Graham and David Jones went down in a close tie break set 7/6 it was all over.

This was a very lackluster performance emphasizing a need for improvement in the semifinals this coming Sunday 30th August. It is hoped that the dynamic and inspirational play of Bob Morgan in his return match in the semifinals will inspire greatness after a disappointing performance (today). 

Life Members Cup – by David Graham

The second last match of the competition saw a close encounter between Kiama and Hornsby Killara at Jamberoo. With star player Bob Morgan not playing, Ross Smith stepped up to the plate and once again dominated the net forcing many errors from Killara as they endeavored to both pass and lob their way to victory. This did not happen and Ross combined with Mark Graham, David Jones and Stewart Dawson to win all of his 4 sets. With the match evenly poised at three sets all Ross and Mark were too strong for the Killara second pair winning 6/2 but David Jones and Stewart Dawson fell short losing 6/2 levelling the match at 4 sets all. Kiama narrowly won on games and took the winning points on the day 4 sets 37 games to Killara 4 sets 34 games.

George Rider Cup

In the last round of the George Rider Kiama played Blacktown 2 for a comfortable 7 sets 48 games to 1 set 25 games win and retain their unbeaten record through all the rounds and ending on top of the table entering into the semi-finals. Jeff Brown and David du Bois maintained their unbeaten record with comfortable wins in all their matches and the only set lost was by Owen Rice and David Lehman in the opening encounter being a close 6/4

Blackwell Cup

The Blackwell Cup side of Joe Moseley, Dane Mottley and Laughlin Parker travelled to NSW Catholic and had a very easy win of 8 sets to 2 sets with the losing 2 sets being due to retirement of Laughlin due to illness.