27 May Courtside News – May 2024
Firstly a big thank you to everyone who has responded to the survey. For those that haven’t could you please go to the link as the more feedback we have the better the decisions we can make. The final date to make submissions is Sunday 9th June.
One common request was a regular communication from Tennis Northern around various topics. So welcome back to Courtside News which we intend to send out monthly over the summer months and bi monthly over winter. With this newsletter we can cover off some queries.
Survey Questions
Survey Questions were put together in consultation with a representative of Aktive and whereas some have queried the format and wording the quality of answers and specific feedback across a wide range of topics has been excellent and supports how the survey has been constructed. Our favourite two pieces have been, what should we stop doing? ”tolerating assholes”. What should we start doing ? “remove the assholes from teams”.
Forrest Hill Update
We now have both Resource Consent and Building Consent which means work will commence on the 10th June and weather and other factors permitting should be available for the start of summer interclub this year. This will have brand new toilets and changing rooms as well as a lounge area and kitchen. So it will be a farewell to the portaloos. Courts 1 to 3 have brand new astro turf on them and LED floodlights which means more courts for interclub. The remaining courts have all had the LED lights adjusted to maximize efficiency.
Albany Tennis Park
There are now additional LED lights on courts 1,2,3,4,5,and 6 at Albany and we are currently seeking funding to get courts 7,8,9 and 10 fitted with LEDs. There are also new LEDs for the car park which will make it a lot safer in the evenings. The roof has been an ongoing challenge as due to its age, design and construction it has struggled to keep the rain out. We have spent a significant amount of money on repairs over the past 10 months which included a product called Skycool being applied. This is a type of membrane that provides both water proofing and also insulation there has been a massive improvement but we do still have a few annoying leaks around the flashings which we will continue to address. We have also managed to have in the indoor court ventilation system repaired and it is now operating as well as the heaters over the courtside seating.
Juniors
At the recent teams event Tennis Northern were runners up in the under 12’s and under 14’s and finished 5thin the under 17’s where unfortunately our top 3 players were not available.
Some very exciting news, three Tennis Northern players Hunter(11U), Neve (13U), and Liam (15U), have been selected to represent New Zealand in the Australian Teams Championship in June.
The 11u, 13u and 15uAustralian Teams Championships will showcase the best young talent at KDV Sport – Gold Coast, Australia.
The 11/u & 13/u Age Groups Teams event is being held from the 21 June – 25June 2024 followed by the 15u age group from the 27 – 30 June 2024.
Pickleball & Padel
Tennis Northern now owns and runs the Albany Pickle Ball played here Thursday nights from 7.30pmand Friday mornings. If interested please follow this link to book your session.
At present 6 Padel courts are under construction though work is suspended due to Resource Consent now being required where initially they were advised it wasn’t needed. This is owned and operated by Pacific Padel and is independent from Tennis Northern.
Interclub
If you sign up to play interclub you are making a commitment to the season where you may end up playing at any club within our boundary which is as far north as Warkworth and as far south as Ngataringa and as far west as Helensville. If perchance you do need to travel to the far reaches of the universe then please be assured it will only be once in the course of a season. For those requesting more home games it was interesting that this generally came from clubs who provide the least number of courts. Please talk to your club and request they provide more. We only have a limited number of courts at Forrest Hill and Albany. With regards using the indoor courts at Albany for interclub please note we have over 300 teams and only 6 courts, do the math.
Coaching
There have been a number of comments about coaching juniors around a variety of aspects including sportsmanship, etiquette, mental resilience and managing emotions to name just a few. This role falls to the club coach. We hosted a coaches conference here at the beginning of the year which was extremely well attended. Gayle Vaughan our Tennis Manager is working constantly with club coaches and can provide some great insights and support into all these topics.
Governance
Both the chair of TNR and the CEO spent two days in Queenstown with Tennis New Zealand and representative from the other regions discussing both the new constitution and the way tennis is delivered.. As some of you may be aware all clubs will need to adopt new constitutions by 2026. TNZ have done a lot of work around this and are close to finalising a national one. From this regions and associations will receive a template so they can modify it to meet their own needs and then a template will go out to all clubs. The plan is to have this to all clubs later this year.
Coach Development
The region’s coaches have had a busy start to 2024 which has already seen:
– A relaunch of Tennis NZ’s National Programmes –Hot Shots Tennis and Cardio Tennis
– The Tennis NZ Development Coach (DC)qualification kicked-off last week. The DC is an internationally recognized coaching qualification, delivered this year at Albany Tennis Park. 18 coaches were successful in gaining places on this year’s course – the biggest course of this level delivered in New Zealand! Gayle Vaughan, Tennis Northern’s Tennis Manager leads the coach delivery team and is providing tailored support to the Tennis Northern region’s Club coaches.
The coach development fun continues over the next few months too:
– Eight of the region’s club coaches, representing11 clubs are teaming-up to deliver a special Hot Shots Tennis Festival at Albany Tennis Park on Sunday 16 June. This event will see almost 200 children aged 6-10 years with a fantastic opportunity to get on court, play some matches, make new friends and to put into practice everything they have been working on in their coaching sessions
– Coaching Assistant Course – we’ll be holding a Coaching Assistant Course for budding coaches and coaching assistants at Albany Tennis Park in Term 3. Dates are still to be confirmed but let us know if you’d like to be added to the list for this course. The minimum age for this course is 15.
Email tennismanager@tennisnorthern.co.nzto get your name on the list.
Match Hub Rankings
What are Match Hub Rankings?
Match Hub Rankings is a Grading List of all competitive tennis players in New Zealand. All players, regardless of age, are in the same list however there are separate lists for males and females.
You can use Match Hub Rankings to search for the best players in your age group, club, association, region or nation.
Match Hub Rankings gradings are based on results in head to head matches. The number of points a player has denotes their Grade on a scale of one to twelve where one is best. Each Grade encompasses a range of about 300 points (see Gradings Table below).
Male Grade Points Female Grade Points
12 0-299 12 0-199
11 300-599 11 200-399
10 600-899 10 400-599
9 900-1199 9 600-799
8 1200-1499 8 800-999
7 1500-1799 7 1000-1199
6 1800-2099 6 1200-1499
5 2100-2399 5 1500-1799
4 2400-2699 4 1800-2099
3 2700-2999 3 2100-2399
2 3000-3599 2 2400-2999
1 3600+ 1 3000+
Reserved for WTA and ATP ranked players.
A player who loses their Pro ranking will be dropped to S2.
A Player’s position in the Grading table is based on results in Interclub and Tournament matches.
A Player moves up a grade when their points reach the next band level. After promotion a player receives 2 months immunity from being downgraded (except for grade 1).A player moves down a grade if their points drop below the bottom of their current band. However if the player has immunity then the player will instead be placed at the bottom of their current grade. Immunity lasts for 2 months after a grade promotion.
Match Hub also maintains Doubles gradings using the same concepts as for Singles. In Doubles matches, the average of each partnership’s points is used to determine adjustments. Mixed doubles matches are also counted.
For more information on how points are earned and lost click here
WORLD TENNIS NUMBER (WTN)
Tennis NZ has rolled out the ITF World Tennis Number – a brand new, inclusive and modern rating system for all players. Tennis NZ will continue to run the Match Hub competition system for interclub and leagues until a suitable replacement is found. All players will still have a Match Hub grading – for both singles and doubles. This is necessary for organizing divisions in many interclub competitions.
RULES OF TENNIS
Confused on a specific tennis rule?? Download the ITF Rules of Tennis app for all the rules, on the go.
To download the app, search ‘Rules of Tennis’ on Google Play for Android devices or the App Store on Apple devices.
Winter Interclub
Want to get your tennis fix over the winter? – Sign up for Winter Singles Comp 2. Entries close 1st July, rounds start 15thJuly. Click here for more info