Summer 2011 has generally been a resounding success. Having taken-on the “captaincy” this season, there were initially a handful of incidences of players dropping-out of matches they’d initially committed-to, but generally this did not persist and Stanton ultimately fielded full teams in all-but-one of its matches. We were also blessed with good weather for all-but-one match of the campaign in so much as, that occasion aside, no other match had to be postponed or abandoned because of rain.
Beginning, as the season did, with our Mixed team, the first match of the summer was marred by an injury to Catherine Taylor. There had been rain during the morning and afternoon that day, as well as some intermittent drizzle during the match itself, and for some reason the tarmac at Ashover was far more slippery than anything I have ever personally encountered. I slipped over once myself that evening, and Catherine’s second fall of the match saw her land awkwardly on her elbow and ultimately miss the better part of the next two months’ tennis.
The away fixture at Parwich also caused multiple problems. The original date for the match was a Saturday afternoon (the Saturday afternoon of the FA Cup final, no less) and as soon as it became apparent that we were not going to be able to raise a team I contacted Parwich to reschedule the fixture. Parwich gave us a choice of five alternative dates, but somewhat unhelpfully all were weekends and we again found ourselves struggling for bodies. After a bit of arm-twisting I managed to find a six able to travel on a Sunday afternoon, however Parwich telephoned two hours before the scheduled start-time to advise that heavy rain had left their courts waterlogged and unplayable. As this had been the last of Parwich’s five options they then offered us one further date, which was again unsuitable. At this point I contacted all of Stanton’s players to enquire as to availability for the last three weeks of August (the League’s deadline for all matches to be played is the end of August). Replies were slow to come back, but eventually it transpired that we could raise a full team on three different dates, hence these were passed-on to Parwich and they agreed to pull the match in during the evening of Bank-Holiday Monday. With the subsequent withdrawal of one of Stanton’s players (and no replacement available), however, I decided that enough was enough and conceded the match. As well as being recorded as a 9-0 loss, this also incurred a penalty of minus two points. From the whole episode we must learn, if nothing else, that Stanton struggles for a team at weekends, and we must be stronger in negotiating original fixture dates with other clubs.
On a brighter note, the team won all of its other six matches, and other teams’ results were favourable enough that the penalty points did not prevent us securing promotion back up to Division 4 at the first time of asking. Ros Shapland made herself available for every single fixture (including all of Parwich’s options for the re-arranged match!!) and ultimately played-in five out of six matches, whilst Jayne Hickingbotham similarly made herself available for five matches and played four. For me Jayne was the single most-improved player at the club this summer, and the rise in her confidence has been great to see. Finally, the emergence of Gemma Gough, who took-part in her first match in what proved to be our final fixture at Rolls Royce 3, as a credible match player has added further depth to our ranks.
Stanton’s Men’s team finished with a record of four wins from six matches, narrowly missing-out on promotion on set-difference for the second time in the last three summer seasons. The whole division was generally an extremely tight one though, with three of our four wins coming via 5-4 score-lines. A 7-2 success in the final match would have sealed promotion back up to Division 4 at the first attempt, but it was ultimately not to be as we ran-out 5-4 winners. With another of those 5-4 victories coming by virtue of the opposition being a player (and hence a pair) short, it is perhaps arguable that Division 5 is the right place for Stanton’s Men’s team at the moment.
On the downside, the number of Thursday-evening matches (four out of six) meant that one of our better players, Andrew Hickingbotham, was only available for a third of the season. On the plus-side, a product of the club’s “youth system”, Josh Kirk, proved the “Iron Man” of the team, taking-part in all six matches. Thanks to Tim Ringer, the club also picked-up a new member in Steve Lacey, and along with Tim and Phil Thomas, Steve went-on to play in five out of six matches this summer, with Mark Hancock and I contributing four matches each. The season ended with the treat of playing on the grass courts at Rolls Royce – I am extremely jealous to have missed this!
The facilities in general at Kirk Hallam this summer have been excellent, and the staff literally could not do too much to help us. On match-nights two collapsible tables and extra seats were set-up for us in the foyer area, and on one occasion the weather was even good enough for us to sit at the picnic tables outside – though this did incur the wrath of the staff member who had “got the tables out for nothing”!
Even after several instances of heavy rain in the day-time, the courts themselves dried-out extremely quickly and were not at all slippery, and they are obviously an infinite improvement on the “courts” (I use the term loosely) at our previous home at the Stute. The Head “Radical” balls suited the surface very, very nicely too, holding-out well against wear-and-tear after initially loosing their “fluff” quite quickly, and also not bouncing ridiculously high either, which is a common problem on hard-courts.
Looking to the future, it may prove to be a slow process, but I believe that proper courts will now help to attract players (both new members and returning former members) to the club’s teams as well as to the club in general. The aim for next summer will undoubtedly be promotion back to Division 4 for our Men’s team, and consolidation in Division 4 for the Mixed. My medium-to-long-term goal is to see both teams competing in Division 3.
In summary I am broadly pleased with our efforts this summer, and look-forward to trying to build-upon them in the future. I offer myself to the Committee to continue as honourary “club captain” for the Winter 2011-2012 season and beyond.
Jon Shapland |
