NEWMAN Collard Tennis Club is a double award winner in the 2019 County Awards.
It is officially Hampshire and Isle of Wight Lawn Tennis Association Club of the Year and now goes through into the South West regional awards.
The club has also won the Peter Grinyer Innovation Award, which comes with a cash prize. It is a new award, set up to honour Peter’s contribution to county tennis.
Both awards will be presented at the Celebration of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Tennis, which is set to be held at the Concorde Club on February 27.
Last year was the club’s 50th anniversary, and one standout achievement of 2019 that was recognised by the awards committee was a village sports festival organised to support Breakpoint Challenge.
The challenge was a UK-wide tennis event organised by the Charity Bright Ideas for Tennis, with the aim of highlighting tennis as a means of improving mental health and raising money for disability tennis programmes.
The club organised a festival which included local sports clubs and provided activities for all ages, ability, interest, mobility and level of fitness and offered everybody the chance to have a go for free.
The club also collaborated with schools and other organisations so that people could have opportunities to try tennis for free. This included help with arranging for a coach to attend Liss Junior School during spring term and Greatham Primary School during their July sports week. The club also collaborated with Bohunt School, Crossover Youth Centre and East Hill House Dementia Support Group.
The results of these and other efforts over a number of years to lower barriers has seen increased participation and membership growth.
The Peter Grinyer prize was awarded for an innovative family outreach programme aimed at encouraging families to play together. In 2018 the club launched its first family outreach programme. The sessions were re-launched in 2019 and promoted as structured activity sessions for families.
Adults and older juniors were led in activities on one court, while younger juniors and minis were led in activities on the other court. Towards the end of the session both groups came together to play some games together.
The relaunched sessions led to an increase in participation and ultimately the award.
Newman Collard Tennis Club chairman Andy Gray said: “The awards are fantastic reward for the club’s efforts in its 50th anniversary year.
“However, the club would like to support tennis in Liss for the next 50 years. The courts and playing fields that they reside in are a fantastic village asset but they are currently difficult for anyone with mobility issues to access.
“The path to the courts are broken and uneven, there are steps to the courts, clubhouse and more steps to the toilets.
“The club has already started fundraising to help improve accessibility and the surrounding infrastructure and the awards will help this endeavour and hopefully help make a lasting impact to sport in Liss.”