July 27 update:

...as of July 31st the following applies:

• The Club will close at 9:30 pm on weekdays, weekends remain unchanged.
• Staff will only be available weekdays between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm,
• Weekends between 8:00 am – 10:00 am, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm.

A more detailed staff schedule will be posted in the Clubhouse.

The courts will still be dragged and watered between 1:15 and 3:30, however, because the afternoon shift has been eliminated, members will have to clean off the lines as they play. Please remember not to brush the courts during hot and dry weather conditions as they dry out too quickly.

In order to avoid any confusion, please make sure to put up your tags and the time you should be coming off the courts.

We kindly ask those who bring in guests to sign their name and phone number on a sheet by the front desk so we can collect the money at a later time. This will be done on an honour system and, please keep in mind, if you are not enforcing payment, it is all our loss at the end of the day.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

June 15th Newsletter

Good Morning, Hamilton Tennis Club Members:

We are over one month into the 2010 season and I would like to give you an update on what is happening.

Membership:

As you might have noticed, the membership drive to join before May 1 to avoid the HST was a huge success: We had over 100 members before we even opened!!

The current numbers are about the same as last year this time, however, we are happy to report that we have 30 new members and 30 play passes. You might have noticed that there are more younger people playing which is wonderful to see.

Club Stuff:

A special “thank you” to Dr. Tom Ryan for donating a gently used computer and a brand new printer.

Vilma kindly organized a fundraiser to purchase hanging plants for the Club: thanks to Val Kay, George Giacinti, Paul Mazze, Maria Burrows, Barbara Johnson, Jean Croew, Jean Donaldson, Irene Strum, Brenda Morgan, Ron Gelens, Rick Gard, Claudio Velenosi, Dave Brooks, Rick Fox, Ralph Watson, Billy Chow, Karen Duncan, George Golakovich, Rudite Loze, Richard Royds, Gord Price, Ted Finnigan, Yoshi Kimura, Stephanie Cherwinski, Linda Gyetvai, Peter Maxymuik, Edna Moreno, Joan Martin, Kevin Clar, Hazel Ryan, Vilma Pazaratz.

The flowers really make the Club look nice!

Billy Chow came to the rescue and tracked down a much needed used freezer - thank you so much!

Financials:

As indicated last year, we are very tight with money for the current season. We are trying to cut costs by reducing staff hours as much as possible and raising additional funds through our socials, tournaments and fundraisers. Thank you, Ron, for organizing the ‘liquor basket’! There are still tickets available and the draw will be held later in the season.

With the help of a consultant we are approaching organizations for grant money and have, so far, received $500 from the Ti-Cats Athletic Trust. Special thanks to them!

Repairs:

We are pleased to have established a great working relationship with the City. New lights on the outside deck were installed at no charge to us and several repairs inside were done as well. You might have noticed the shiny floors in the change rooms, all thanks to one of the City workers.

The City had a hard time with the new letters on the outside, but they finally came through and it’s nice to no longer be the ‘milton’ Tennis Club!

Bill, Leo, Nancy and I had a meeting with Counselor Brian McHattie and the Manager of Facilities and Capital Planning. They agreed that the City is responsible for the deck and we requested to have glass versus wood for the partitions. We stressed the safety issue given that the wood is rotting in many places. This will be a major expense and we are hoping to be included in the City’s capital expense budget for 2011.

We addressed the issue of resurfacing the hard courts and were told that we would have a much better chance to get City funding if we could come up with ½ of the money needed. We are working on submitting funding proposals to various organizations hoping to get the necessary funding. Brian McHattie will contact Susan West from Trillium to discuss the feasibility of us applying again – we received funding a few years ago and the opinions are divided if Trillium grants money to those you were recipients before. We appreciate your input and ideas on how to raise money for this.

Tournaments:

The first mixed doubles tournament of the year on June 5th went extremely well – 24 teams were competing in the A and B divisions. The results are: Winners of the A division Brad Kirkham and Lauren Hartley, runner ups Jessica Kano and Ryan Donkers.

Winners of the B division Heather Gelens and Rafael Pegado, runner ups Navveen Parasu and Carol Jurriaans.

Congratulations and thank you, Marcela and Mischa, for a great event – with your help we were able to raise $800!

Tuesday Night Mixed Doubles

The Tuesday night mixed doubles league is well on its way and quite a success. While I understand that it is inconvenient for some to have the courts closed for part of the evening, this is a great way to have new people check us out.

Upcoming Events:

Our first social of the year will take place on Thursday, June 17th at 7:00 pm. David will prepare Jerk chicken, and, of course, there’ll be a round robin. Thanks to Rick Gard we will give away a ‘head to tow’ New Balance door price for the best Tropical outfit. Don’t miss it and sign up at the front desk!

That’s all for now. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I will try to get another update out later in the season. Have fun on the courts.

Petra