By Tayla Kershaw
WITH a focus on offering a family-orientated and socially inclusive environment, Westernport Tennis Club is thriving.
In fact, the San Remo-based club is bursting at the seams, with players from across Bass Coast wanting to be part of its competitions.
Eleven teams are currently competing in the winter competition – a club record.
“We’ve never had 11 teams before, and we could’ve had more, but we don’t have enough courts,” vice president Fiona Smart said.
“As it is, three teams have to have a bye every week. It’s good that we have so many people, but we’re playing less because we want to give everyone the opportunity to play.”
The club is pushing for the expansion of its tennis courts to allow more people to get involved and enjoy the game.
The San Remo venue offers four courts.
Westernport Tennis Club also hires courts in Newhaven – which are not up to standard – and at Newhaven College.
Some of the funds raised through merchandise and raffles help to offset the costs of hiring the other venues.
Westernport Tennis Club is abuzz with activity almost seven days a week, all year round.
It offers year-round junior competitions, midweek ladies’ competitions, men’s and women’s competitions over summer, and mixed competitions over winter.
The club also offers coaching and social events.
Headed by an almost all-female committee and backed by a highly experienced coach in Paul Rowbottom, the club has attracted 120 members.
The club accepts members of all experience levels and supports them as they rise through the ranks.
“For me personally, I started playing when I first moved here and I felt so welcomed,” president Kate Buchanan said.
“It’s fun physically, but it’s also fun socially and I’ve created a whole new group of friends. It’s a highlight just to come to tennis each week.
“I didn’t come from a tennis background, but everyone has been really encouraging.”
Kate said the additional cardio sessions offered by Paul on Tuesday nights and Friday mornings helped her make the transition into competition tennis.
“(Paul) got me to the point where he was suggesting I could play on a Wednesday night,” she said.
“He was really encouraging. It really helps feed people through. There’s quite a lot of people who have started there and managed to come through to this point. He’s a really lovely person.”
Cardio with Paul is $20 a session and is open to the public.
There’s no sign-up – anyone can come along to a session.
Paul also coaches students at Newhaven College.
Coaching students as young as Grade Prep has inspired many young players to join the Westernport Tennis Club.
The contingent of juniors, ranging from ages 10 to 18, is one of the club’s strengths.
Twenty-one junior players are competing in the current junior club, with many excelling and trying their hand in the senior competitions.
With so much interest, the club also entered the most teams in Victoria into the last Country Week tournament held in February.
“It started off as a small group, but it has certainly grown,” Fiona said.
“We have to stop our competitions during that week because there’s no one left, which is great. It just bonds everyone together and it’s a lot of fun.”
The lack of space is the only limitation the club currently faces.
“Expansion is our biggest long-term goal. Right now, we are pretty much at capacity. We’ve got more people we’d like to have come in, and we really don’t want to turn anyone away,” Kate said.
“We rent this space (the clubrooms). The land we want is owned by (the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action). We’re trying, but it’s baby steps.”
Westernport Tennis Club rents its clubroom from the rec centre.
Establishing its own clubroom is also part of its long-term plan.
“(By the end of this year) we’d like to have some traction on the expansion. We’d like to have a few more defined steps and have some progress,” Kate said.
In the short term, the club recently applied for a Bendigo Bank grant, which will go towards a $43,000 lighting project, if successful.
“We want to replace the lights to make them LED lights,” Fiona said.
“If we are successful, we are hoping to get it done in the September school holidays.”
The club is also expanding is merchandise range – which has been very popular in promoting club unity, particularly amongst the juniors – and an online system to hire out the courts during the school holidays.
“Hiring out the courts to outside parties has been convoluted. We are looking into an online system to generate more revenue through that,” Kate said.
“Our competitions stop during the school holidays, and there’s an influx of tourism. Plenty of holidaymakers want to play but it can be hard to make a booking.”
Westernport Tennis Club thanked its volunteers and the local businesses who continue to show invaluable support.
