Sported & Reported Quarterly Newsletter of the West Worthing Club Autumn 2016 In this Issue ñ Profile of Bob Ainsworth from Petanque ñ Start of the new Squash Season ñ WWC on The Road to Wimbledon ñ David Rothera remembers his own Road to Wimbledon ñ News from Striders ñ Diary of Events CUSTOM SOLUTIONS News in brief ñ 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 ñ 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. ñ 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.