Newman Collard Tennis Club picked up two prestigious awards – the Club of the Year Award and the Peter Grinyer Innovation Award. Both awards were in recognition of the club’s efforts in 2019.
The evening was hosted by Chris Wilkinson and Daniel Lobb, both ex-professional players from Hampshire and strong supporters of the County LTA.
Lobb moved into presenting following his tennis career, and Wilkinson is a former British number one singles player who represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup and 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
In presenting the awards, Lobb highlighted one standout achievement as the Liss Village Sports Festival.
The club had been asked to take part in the UK-wide Breakpoint Tennis Challenge to raise awareness of mental health issues and raise funds for a disability tennis charity.
The club organised the festival in response. Recognising all sports are good for mental health, the tennis club invited all local clubs to take part and the result was a sports festival with activities for all ages, ability, interest, mobility and level of fitness, which offered everybody the chance to have a go for free.
In introducing the club, Lobb also cited its collaboration with schools and other organisations to provide opportunities for adults and juniors to try tennis for free.
This included arranging for coaching sessions at Liss Junior and Greatham Primary Schools, hosting Bohunt School tennis matches, and opening the courts and facilities for Crossover Youth Centre and East Hill House Dementia Support Group.
The results of these and other efforts over a number of years have seen increased participation and membership growth.
Newman Collard Tennis Club chairman Andy Gray said: “The awards are fantastic recognition for the club’s efforts, not just in its 50th anniversary year but also over the past few years.
“If you’ve grown up playing tennis it’s easy to forget that tennis clubs can be intimidating places – but if people aren’t playing on the courts then clubs are just looking after tarmac.
“We’ve tried to lower barriers and make it easier for people to get started – adults and families – not just kids.”
The club is located at Newman Collard Playing Fields in Liss, which is owned and run by the charity the Newman Collard Playing Fields Trust.
Gray added: “The playing fields are home to tennis, football and running clubs, a women’s fitness group, Guides and Brownies packs, and a Men’s Shed – it’s a fantastic community facility for the village. The infrastructure doesn’t look after itself though.
“This is the tennis club’s 50th anniversary and these awards will mean so much more if we can use them to help improve the facilities so we can help support tennis, and other sports and activities, for the next 50 years.”
The club is currently working with the trust on a project to see where core infrastructure can be regenerated and improved.
Anyone who would like to start playing tennis in Liss, hear more about or even contribute to the infrastructure improvements should visit the club’s website at www.clubspark.lta.org.uk/NewmanCollardTennisClub