Aberdare Tennis Club

Prices for the new Junior coaching session, starting 22nd February at Aberdare Sports Cente, is £1 per session but a membership fee of £10 will need to be paid for the year after the first 'taster' session.  This £10 membership includes insurance, club t-shirt and lets you play for free outside the club sessions at Aberdare Park tennis courts.  There are a limited number of places available so make sure you reserve your childs place as soon as possible.  You can e-mail us or phone us to reserve a place (see Contact Us page for details.)

 We've also got a Facebook page set up called the 'Official Aberdare Tennis Club' so use this wording to find us in the search for friends.

16/01/10 - Good news!  The Club has now booked the Aberdare Sports Centre Hall for Monday, 22nd February to start off our Junior Club Night.  This session, from 6pm to 7pm, will allow us to develop new players aged 6 and up who may have never played before but would like to learn to play tennis.  All equipment will be provided by the Club and once the Club season officially starts the sessions will then take place at the Club Courts in Aberdare Park on the Junior Club night every Wednesday. 

There are limited places available so if you wish to find out more information please contact the Club Secretary (see Contact Us page).  At the time of writing, fees for this Junior Session have not yet been agreed but as soon as they become available the web site will be updated with the details.

This Junior night will be a sparate membership than the normal Club membership as it involves coaching the junior members and it is hoped that in time when ability improves that the Junior members will progress into the Club System, taking part, if they wish, in the internal competitions that we hold.

17/12/09 - A Message From The Secretary:

During October, I contacted Martin Sullivan (who works for the R.C.T. Council) with regard to the condition of the tennis courts.  As all our members know, the surfaces on the three courts are now far from ideal, and the bottom court is in fact beginning to break up, giving players some really strange bounces to cope with.  Also, we have had a few falls on the bottom court this last season due to the loose gravel.

Not long after, Martin contacted me to arrange a meeting in November with himself and Julian Walker to discuss some interesting developments.  During this meeting he informed me that a sporting grant is now available for the Heads Of The Valleys, which is aimed at improving sporting venues such as ours.  He has applied for funding from this grant in order to completely refurbish the courts.  The cost of doing this is approximately £33,000, and as the council is prepared to donate £7,000 of their own money towards this, Martin is hopeful that the governing body will look favourably on our application.

This is tremendous news for us if it comes through and will enable the following to take place:

The existing courts will be completely dug up, and a porous mixture of earth and chippings will be laid down.  Then a special waterproof playing surface will be put on top.  This surface will contain small holes every 10cm or so, which allows water to soak through to the porous mixture, thus we should have less disruption to our playing time during rain interruptions.

He has also informed me that the courts are designed to minimise the amount of water getting onto the playing surface.  To do this, the court surface will slope slightly after the playing area, so that the water runs off to the edges where a draining system will run along the edge of the fencing surrounding the courts.

The grant will also cover the cost of replacing the existing fencing with a new fence made up of reinforced chain, which will hopefully prevent people getting in unofficially, and to complete things, we will also be getting three new nets and posts.

We should know in Januray if Martin's application is successful, and if it is, work should begin by August, but do not worry as we hope to have permission to play at the Hirwaun tennis courts whilst our courts are out of action.  We will owe Martin and Julian a big thank you if all this comes through, as we will then have a playing surface which will be the envy of many clubs.

Wishing you all the best and have a Merry Christmas

Alun

Just to let you know that the season is coming to a close, especially now that the park is being locked up earlier each Wednesday, so by the end of October at the latest the club sessions on Wednesday will stop.  The club normally resumes around March/April time so either contact us (details on the 'Contact Us' page) or check this web site for news regarding the new season.

On the 4th October, the end of season 'Do' was held at the Glamorgan Racquet Club (Esporta) in Llandarcy, Swansea with great success.  A mini doubles tournament was held with a meal afterwards and all who took part thoroughly enjoyed themselves, so much so that it is hoped that next years 'Do' will be held at the same venue. 

John Harvey literally drew the names out of a hat (and what a great gangsters hat it was, thanks Liam) and paired up the twelve players who attended.  The tournament was played in a great spirit with some quality tennis being played and all the games were competitive but fun.  The tournament was eventually won on points difference by the pairing placed together due to the fact of a car breakdown on the way to the bus pick up point  that meant them missing the bus and arriving late. 

The venue was fantastic, the food great and the hospitality of all at Esporta made this an afternoon to remember, cementing the idea of making this a regualr end of year event. 

To work out the scores, find the name in the first column that you want to trace and then look from left to right against their opponents named in the top row.

 The final standings: 

Talks are still being held with Rhondda Cynon Taff A.I.M in view of setting up a juniour and under 10's night  with some funding already in place to go along with the equipment, hopefully this will be up and running before the end of this year.

A new link to the Aberdare Boys Grammar School has been included in the  'About Us' and 'Links' page  as they have some history relating to the club grounds etc that's worth a read with pictures from our clubs very own Elfed Bowen.