Sported & Reported
Quarterly Newsletter of the West Worthing Club Autumn 2016
In this Issue
Profile of Bob Ainsworth from Petanque
Start of the new Squash Season
WWC on The Road to Wimbledon
David Rothera remembers his own Road to Wimbledon
News from Striders
Diary of Events
CUSTOM SOLUTIONS News in brief
WWC tops National GBTW leader- The Davis Cup in Worthing board for the second year running. More on next page. On Wimbledon Ladies Final Day in July the Davis Congratulations to Cup visited Worthing as part of its tour of the country. Lui Maxted, one of our junior mem- The Cup was on show in Steyne Gardens for all to bers , who was the winner in four cat- see. There was also a big screen showing the Ladies egories at the Sussex Open Tennis Final and many local sports organisations were repre- Tournament held in August. He won sented including West Worthing Club. the under 14 and under 16 boys sin- gles and was a winner in the under 16 and under 18 boys doubles.
News and pictures of some more of our Junior Members achieving suc- cess In Sussex tennis tournaments lat- er in the newsletter.
Pictured with the Trophy from the left: Colin Sweeney (WWC), Sue Foott (Chichester Rackets Club), Gill Andersson (Tennis Sussex), Carole & William Naunton (WWC ) ,Philip Latham (Tennis Sussex)
Congratulations to Thomas and Joseph Hearn winners of the Family Doubles Tournament held in September.
Cup presented by the Club President John Barton.
WWC hits the top spot once again!
For the second year running, West Worthing Club's attendance at the Open Day and Great British Tennis Weekend held in May was the highest turnout recorded nationally! Our visitor total of 452 was over 200 more than the next highest recorded attendance at any event held this year (and there were over 2,000 events). This is a tribute to the effort put in to the advance planning and to the help given by all those who volunteered on the day. In addition to the numbers who joined the club on or shortly after the GBTW (not just for tennis!), we have seen in- creased attendance for coaching and club sessions. Thank you to all our members who helped make the day such a suc- cess. West Worthing on the Road to Wimbledon
On Saturday 18th June The Club was transformed into Wimbledon in celebra- tion of our participation in HSBC Road to Wimbledon National 14 and Under Challenge. The Challenge is a series of national grassroots tennis tournaments for more than 10,000 youngsters and 800 tennis clubs and schools each year.
The transformation was courtesy of HSBC and saw TV gardening personality Charlie Dimmcok (pictured below) bring the look and feel of the famous champi- onships to the club’s flower beds with support from All England Club gardeners; planting the iconic green, white and purple colours of Wimbledon so the club can enjoy the feel Wimbledon for years to come.
The transformation also included one of the club’s grass courts becoming Centre Court for the weekend.
HSBC ambassador Judy Murray (pictured above) was also on hand to pass on some advice to the young- sters. Road to Wimbledon Event Prompts Memories for one of our Veterans Hearing about Judy Murray’s visit to the Club and the Road to Wimbledon event brought memories flooding back for one of our members David Rothera. It reminded him of his youth in Newcastle in the late 1940’s and being inspired to follow his own Road to Wimbledon. His plan involved developing his game, in particular a big service, joining the first team of his local club and becoming
Northumberland Junior Champion which he did in 1948 and 1949. He also reached the third round of Junior Wimbledon in 1949. In 1952 at the age of 20 he joined the Northumberland sen- ior county side eventually becoming captain. He became the County No 1 in 1954 and retain this position until he moved abroad six years later. He entered the Wimbledon qualifying tournaments in 1957 and 1958 and narrowly missed out after three consecutive match points in the fifth set against the eventual qualifier.
Life took a new turn for David when in 1960 work took him to Peru for three years. By coin- cidence Alex Olmedo from Lima had won Wimbledon the year before. The first and only South American to do so. David continued playing tennis during his stay in Peru and took part in the National Championships playing with Olmedo’s brother in the doubles where they were runners up twice. David returned to England via Belfast for two years, settling in Cam- bridge where he was County Captain for 5 years. He came to West Worthing in 1972. His most fond memories are of the 1950’s when the top players (all amateurs) came to Wim- bledon and then stayed on in Britain touring county championships. He competed against British and international players and in particular remembers beating the Australian Mal An- derson and his partner in straight sets. Anderson went on to win the US Singles Champion- ship two years later. David is a great advocate of ‘serve and volley’ and his advice for ambitious young players is to develop as big a service as they can. It worked for him.
Pictures: Top—David left meeting Dan Maskell. Centre—David left on his Road to Wimbledon. Bottom—David left playing in the National Championships in Peru.
News from Squash Sussex Squash County Leagues With the new season commencing in September, West Worthing will have 3 teams competing in the county leagues.
West Worthing 1st Team in Division One West captained by Graham Manser West Worthing 2nd Team in Division Two West captained by Sy Phillips West Worthing 3rd Team in Division Three West captained by Rob Brockwell
The Club has chosen not to field a team in the Premier League this season, de- spite having won the league last year. This is due to some players having long term injuries and a loss of players to university or experiencing either work or do- mestic pressures. We have also lost 2 players, Pete Higgins and Chris O'Neill to our rivals Middleton, and whilst we wish them success, we hope they will return to West Worthing for next season! If any one is interested in joining a team, please let Andy Kelly know. The Ladies Team captained by Kelly Eastment is also competing in the Sussex La- dies squash league, and is able to field a strong side. They play Corals Ladies in Hove on 14th October. See the Diary of Events for other home match dates. All members are welcome to come and support their teams, watch some great squash, and to enjoy a drink or meal in the bar
Junior Squash Coaching With the aim of introducing youngsters to squash and boosting the membership of the squash sec- tion, free squash coaching has been offered to juniors (7-9 year olds and 10-15 year olds) during September. Junior coaching sessions will contin- ue every Saturday morning during October and beyond and additional sessions held if demand grows. The club are due to welcome back squash coach Laura Wright from maternity leave towards the end of October and she will join Liam Nolan in coaching junior squash players and promoting squash in local schools. Continued on next page Squash News continued
Squash Box Leagues
There is still healthy competition within the squash box leagues at the club with over 60 players currently active in the10 leagues, administered expertly by Martin Quinn. Any members wanting to join should contact Martin direct. If Racket Ball (squash 57) is your preferred game, then let Martin know, as we may re-introduce some racket ball leagues depending on the amount of inter- est.
Squash Club Nights
Club nights, where members can just turn up and play, take place on Wednes- day evenings 5 -8 pm for doubles squash and on Saturdays 4.30 - 7pm.
Sussex Squash Business Leagues
West Worthing Club hosts a number of clubs playing in the Sussex Business Leagues such as Findon, Digitel, Blood Sweat and Beers, and Durrington. The club will also host the Finals night for the third year running at the end of April 2017.
Squash Facebook site
The squash section also operates it's own Facebook site, where members can keep up with the latest news and arrange matches. To join contact Andrew Kelly or one of the team captains. https://www.facebook.com/groups/wwcsquash/ Andy Kelly’s email address: [email protected] West Worthing Croquet Players Runners up in a Regional Tournament
In early August a team from West Worthing went to the Sussex County ground in Southwick to enter the South East Croquet Federation Teams Day. The event was in two parts with a doubles competition in the morning. The main event was the singles competition in the afternoon and West Worthing were only just beaten into second place by a halved match. The winners were Dulwich Cro- quet Club which is one of the top clubs in the federation. This is the best performance that West Worthing has achieved in an inter-club competition since it was formed five years ago. The team that took part were Stella Russell, Chris Ellis, Derek King, Shirley and Don Jux captained by Andrew Stewart.
SINGLES CLUB PLAYED WON POINTS POSITION9 Dulwich 1 12 8.5 15 1 West Worthing 12 8 23 2 Guildford & Godalming 2 12 8 22 3 Reigate Priory 2 12 8 14 4 Sussex 2 12 8 13 5 Rottingdean 1 12 8 11 6 Sussex 1 12 7.5 15 7 Littlehampton 1 12 7 12 8 Littlehampton 2 12 7 8 9 Cheam 2 12 6.5 -3 10 Dulwich 2 12 6 7 11 Guildford & Godalming 1 12 6 2 12 Reigate Priory 1 12 6 1 13 Cheam 1 12 5.5 1 14 Tunbridge Wells 2 12 5.5 -7 15= Canterbury 12 5.5 -7 15= Rottingdean 2 12 5 -11 17 Preston 12 5 -19 18 Tunbridge Wells 1 12 4 -12 19 Angmering 12 3 -24 20 Worthing 12 2.5 -36 21 Rother Valley 12 1.5 -25 22
PETANQUE UPDATE
Early summer saw Petanque Section hosting the Southern Counties Petanque Association’s Regional Qualifying Se- ries, and Masters. 26 teams entered the Qualifers, whit- tled down to 12 teams who played in the Masters in July. The successful teams went on to represent Southern Coun- ties in the Inter-Regionals, emerging in frst place out of the 13 English Regions. The 2016 Open Doubles took place on Sunday 7 August in brilliant weather. 24 teams entered with the winners being Angie and Lee Jamieson of the Foxdale Club in the Main (Gold) Diana Hollis/Tony Jackson Worthing PC Winner Plate (Silver) and Joan Nightingale/ Diane Slater (Worthing PC) winners of the Bronze. At lunch time ‘Shoot the Egg’ was organ- ised to raise funds for the Junior Squad of the English Petanque Association, to play in the Junior Championship to be held at Monaco in October. The Club held its ‘Sociaboules’ on the 4 September with fve other clubs in the area attending. This is mainly for new members and members who require more experience on other terrains. 3 games were organised in the morning and 2 in the afternoon with a prize, a bottle of wine, handed to the winners from 5 games down to zero. 6-a-side league teams. Trident has completed its matches and is currently second in Division 3. The Elite team, in Division 4, has been unfortunate with cancellation dates from other Club teams so are in the throes of catching up. Jamie Brooks,12, who is an England B Junior has attended the Slovakian petanque training camp, run by the French National Junior and Espoir coaches. Jamie and others also represented England in a doubles competition whilst in Slovakia along with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia Sweden and Ukraine. Jamie has been playing petanque with us for fve years and hopes he to get into the England A squad in the near future. At the end of September internal Singles and Triples competitions took place. Top three in the Singles were Diana Hollis, Jamie Brooks and Bob Ainsworth. Best two Triples Tony Jack- son, Carol Taylor and Mary Etherington, followed by Bob & Pat Ainsworth and Kay Aplin. Wine and tubs of Chocolates were handed out as prizes. Finally, on 30th September the an- nual ‘Battle of the Sexes’ took place on the terrain, with the Men wresting the coveted trophy back from the Ladies, so the blue ribbon once again adorns the cup for another year.
Introducing Striders
made it back-to-back women’s singles ttles at Shefeld Wheelchair Tennis Tournament The club was formed just over 20 years ago when we es- on Sunday as the Worthing 20-yeartablished-old claimed ourselves the at third West senior Worthing ITF Futures Club. The singles club’s ttle of her career. ethos is that running should be fun and a social activity, although we still like to run competitively at races around the county and beyond. We cater for all levels of running
from beginners upwards, and perhaps our most im- portant rule is that nobody will ever be left behind, what-
ever their pace, to run on their own. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. when sessions are between 4 – 6 miles, and on Sundays by arrangement be- tween members, for longer runs. We do organise beginners sessions at various times throughout the year and also have a thriving Pilates class. We organise two races each year, one, in conjunction with the West Sussex Fun Run League, the Highdown Hike which is just under 4 miles long, and the Downland Devil, run under England Athletics rules, which is
9 miles. Each race usually attracts between 400-500 runners. The Highdown Hike is, as the name suggests, run around Highdown with race headquarters being at West Worthing Club. It is an evening run and takes place on the frst Wednesday of August. The Downland Devil replaced our very success- ful race, The Duck Pond Waddle which ran for over 15 years, again based at West Worthing Club, but we regretfully had to call time on this race, as running across the new Water Lane at the back of Highdown was becoming too dangerous. The Downland Devil race, so called as it involves a number of severe climbs over the Downs, is based at Coombes near Lancing and is entirely of road, running along footpaths, some of which are on private farmland and not normally accessible to the public. This race takes place on the frst Sunday of December. If you would like to know more about our club, then please visit our website which includes contact details, at www.worthingstriders.co.uk or visit our Facebook page Congratulations to two of our Junior Members
Charlie Pycroft Amber Sisman Winner of the boys Runner up in the Sus- sex County Closed under 14 singles Championship 9U championship at 2016 RD Devonshire Park in She also came 3 in both the Sussex Open August this year. and the Weald Open.
Profile: Bob Ainsworth Chairman of the Petanque Section of WWC.
Bob kindly agreed to answer some questions for the Newsletter. Is there a diference between Boules and Petanque? Boules is a generic term for the various games of the Jeu de Provence. Petanque is a variant where both feet have to be on the ground, within a circle, when throwing. The word petanque comes from Provençal dialect meaning ‘feet planted’. When and where did the sport start to be played? It started in the town of La Ciotât around 1910. Legend has it that an arthritic boules player could no longer run up to throw, so he invented a version where you stood still. Petanque may be the only sport developed to suit the needs of a less-abled person! Can you tell us how the game of Petanque is played? In principle it is very similar to the British sport of bowls, in that the aim is to get as many as possible of your team’s balls closer to the jack than any of the other team’s balls. It is played with metal balls (boules) and a small wooden jack, often called the coche (from cochonnet, meaning piglet). It is played on a ‘terrain’ of sand, grit, gravel or similar surface. Is the game popular in the UK? Surprisingly so, though obviously not as popular as in France where there are 19m players. There are around 3500 players registered with the English Petanque Association, the governing body in England. But there are many more people who play on a more informal basis. Are there many clubs like yours in the UK? There are 21 Clubs in our Region (Southern Counties), and there are thirteen Regions. Again, that only co- vers EPA-afliated clubs, and there are many more informal clubs and public terrains. There are two other biggish clubs within seven miles of Worthing, at Lancing and Arundel. Is there a national body that runs the sport and are there national and international competitions? The EPA administers the sport in England, and there are Regional, National, and International competi- tions. One of our Juniors represented England in an international competition in France three years ago, and another of our Juniors is in the current England Junior B squad. Continued on next page…. If so, what is the UK’s standing in the game of Petanque?
We are one of the smaller competitor nations. Obviously the French rule the roost, but with strong challenges from countries like Thailand and Madagascar A. Do players have a ranking or handicap as they progress with the sport? No there is no handicapping system Would you say that Petanque is a game for all age groups? Absolutely. Our oldest member will be 97 at Christmas, and was still playing up to about four years ago. Our current youngest is nine. Do you provide coaching for those interested in taking up the sport? We do. There is a National coaching scheme, administered through the Regions. Both Angela Brooks and myself are qualifed coaches. When did you take up Petanque? I started about fve years ago. I was looking for an outdoor sport and, after dabbling with bowls and golf, I saw an advert and had a go. I quickly became hooked as many people do. What is it that you like about playing the sport? Where do I start? First of all, it is played communally so it’s very sociable. It’s relatively cheap, there’s no dress code, you can play all year round, in the open air, and you can compete at a reasonably high level, or just play socially as many of our members do. Had you played other sports before taking up Petanque? I’m retired now, but as a younger man I played cricket in local leagues, and squash. What sports, if any, do you like watching live or on television? I’m a sucker for Test Match cricket, and I generally watch England football Internationals When not playing Petanque how do you like to relax? Petanque is relaxing! But apart from that I enjoy visiting France, drinking wine, swimming and keeping up with the grandchildren.
Diary of Events at The West Worthing Club
Date Time Sport Home Team Away Team
Saturday 1st October 12 .00 Tennis Ladies 1 Weald 2
10.30 Tennis Mens 1 Amherst 1
16.00 Tennis Mens./Ladies Doubles Open Grade 4 made it back-to-back women’s singles ttles at Shefeld Wheelchair Tennis Tournament Sundayon Sunday 2nd October as the Worthing 12 .00 20 - year - old Tennis claimed the SE third Winter senior County ITF Tour Futures 14 and singles under Boys ttle of her career. Monday 3rd October 19.15 Squash WW1 Middleton 2
Saturday 8th October 10.30 Tennis Ladies 2 Angmering
14.00 Tennis Mens 3 Lindfield
Wednesday 12th October 19.30 Squash WW2 Chichester R & FC 2
Friday 14th October 19.15 Squash WW1 Brighton 1
Saturday 15th October 15.00 Tennis SE Winter County Tour 18 and under Boys
Sunday 16th October 10.30 Tennis Mens2 Preston
12.00 Tennis 12 and under Boys/Girls Grade 5
Monday 17th October 19.15 Squash WW3 Midhurst 2
Wednesday 19th October 19.00 Petanque Annual General Meeting
Saturday 22nd October 10.30 Tennis Ladies 3 Wickwoods
Sunday 23rd October 10.30 Tennis Mens 4 Howard 1
Sunday 6th November 12.00 Tennis 18 and under Grade 5 Tournament
Saturday 12th November 10.30 Tennis Mens 3 Pav & Ave
12.00 Tennis Ladies 2 Crawley
Saturday 26th November 10.30 Tennis Mens 2 Sussex County
Monday 28th November 19.30 Squash WW3 Bognor
Saturday 10th December 10.00 Squash Open Doubles Tournament
Subject to change . Check with Club Reception. Continued on next page.
Diary of Events at The West Worthing Club Continued Date Time Sport Home Team Away Team
Sunday 11th December 10.30 Tennis Ladies 1 Saltdean
Sunday 11th December 10.30 Tennis Mens 4 Bognor
Sunday 18th December 10.30 Tennis Mens1 Weald 2
Subject to change . Check with Club Reception.
Do you want to play, improve or learn to play bridge?
West Worthing Bridge Club meets at WWC and offers a friendly environment to do all these things. They have dupli- cate bridge sessions on Monday and Friday evenings from 6.45pm for more experienced players. EBU master points are awarded and the club will do its best to find you a partner if you do not have one already. Contact Pam Graves on 01903 267259, 07833998154 or [email protected] for further details. For those looking to improve their game there is a novice session on Thursday evenings from 7pm when help is given if required. Contact Greg Brown on 07771605706. Greg also runs an improvers session on Mondays 2.30—4.30pm Sessions for beginners are run by Greg on a Tuesday evening. At present the class is full but speak to him about adding your name to the waiting list. Bridge Club website www.bridgewebs.com/westworthing .
West Worthing Club CIC.
Registered office: Titnore Way, Worthing, BN13 3RT.
Company No: 09116716
Telephone: 01903 247270
Comments and suggestions regarding this newsletter to:
Andrew Stewart