December 2015 President Des Shaw [email protected] Morning Teas in January Hon. Treasurer Paul Thomson [email protected] Date set for 60th Anniversary Annual Dinner. Hon. Secretary Angela Hart [email protected] IC Asian Junior Challenge Editor Cecilie McIntyre [email protected] IC Philantrophy Foundation Link to IC Council website www.ictennis.net Davis Cup Drop Shots Morning Teas during both International Tournaments 2016. Monday 4th January and Monday 11th January. The tickets and ground passes will be sent in mid December to those members who replied to Tennis Auckland. Gate entry details will be included for a start time of 10.30. Since the last newsletter Tournament Director Karl Budge has announced more great signings for both tournaments. “It’s amazing. Three former World Number Ones, three Grand Slam champions and two former winners in one year is an incredible result. Our strongest yet,” he says. “Having Ana join Venus and Caroline was something we never thought was possible. The crowds can expect to be wowed by some great on court battles, as well as a good dose of glamour.” Other signings of note include two-time Grand Slam Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova (25) and rising American star Sloane Stephens (30). Our Marina Erakovic is still recovering from the knee injury she damaged again during the US Open. We hope she will be able to play but will need a Wild Card this year. In the ASB Classic Men’s Tournament Former champion John Isner has been confirmed to join Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and a host of top players. Many time champion David Ferrer is the latest possibility, using a Wild Card. There will be some great local battles to be watched prior to that in The 2015 Pascoes NZ Tennis Championships, with the singles winners being given one of the Wild Cards to the International events. It is being held at Albany Tennis Park and the ASB Tennis Arena. Earlier round matches including Quarterfinals will be held at Albany Tennis Park (7-10th Dec) with the singles semi-finals and the finals of both singles and doubles being held at ASB Tennis Centre on the Friday afternoon and Saturday when both singles and doubles finals will be played from 4pm. 1 Our Anniversary Year 2016 The IC of New Zealand was formed in 1956. Ron McKenzie and Jeffrey Robson inspired the formation of our Club after they had been made Honorary Overseas Members by the IC of Great Britain. Jeff has been our Patron since 1994 and still takes a very active part in our activities. To recognise our 60 years we will welcome touring members from 2 overseas IC’s. USA in February and Luxembourg in early April. Details of their visits are being finalised very soon. It is hoped both clubs will visit other parts of NZ although the only tennis matches will be in Auckland. *********************************** We have also finalised the date of the 2016 Annual Dinner which is preceded by the short AGM. Please make a note of this date NOW and join in. SUNDAY 17th APRIL 2016 This will be held at the same venue as this year’s very successful event. The Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club’s new lounge, on the fringes of Cornwall Park, One Tree Hill. We will begin at 4 o’clock with “Have a Go “ bowling for any members and partners. Bowls will be supplied, it was a lot of fun this year. More details will be sent later, but we already know that former NZ Champion Judy Davidson is planning to coincide her visit from Christchurch with this date. Others from out of Auckland will be very welcome. Our News of Members section is a little different this time. Bev Billington suggested many members might be interested in this link. Gail Benedetti was made an Hon Overseas Member of ICNZ when here in January with the IC France team. She is the Vice President of that club and this link is in- teresting. Click here Gail and her sister Carol made 20th Century history by competing against each other at Wimbledon. They are pictured when in Croatia recently for an ITF Seniors event. ***************************************************** As mentioned on Page 1 our Touring Members such as Rubin, Michael, Artem and the younger Finn Tearney will be playing in the Pascoe NZ Tennis Championships next week. We wish them all well and hope they along with Marcus continue the successes they have had this year, particularly in doubles and also the Davis Cup ties. 2 The IC Asian Junior Challenge 2015 27-30th September – Singapore Entrants – IC Israel, IC Japan, IC New Zealand, IC Pakistan and IC Singapore Since hosting the original World Final in the IC Junior Challenge we have only taken part in a couple of the regional play offs (held every second year) due to the cost and not being able to select the top players. However, as the WTA had invited the top 16 and 14 age group girls from around the region to play in the Stars of the Future event in conjunction with the WTA finals in Singapore, ICNZ paid for 2 boys in the 16 and under to take part in the IC Regional Challenge which followed the girls event. IC Member Marcel Vos was the team Manager for both events. We worked closely with Tennis NZ to give these young players the experience of an IC event, with the chance that if they won the regional challenge they would have their expenses paid to play the winners of the other regions in the The Compass Worldwide Finals at the Country Club of Monte Carlo in September next year. Marcel reports : “NZ has finished 2nd in the Asian Challenge of the IC Junior Challenge. Team members – Ajeet Rai, Finn Reynolds, Ashleigh Harvey and Brooke Kenny with coach Marcel Vos. In a very competitive match, IC Japan beat IC New Zealand 4-2 to emerge champions. IC Israel, IC Singa- pore and IC Pakistan were 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. It was a close contest but unfortunately we came up just short and therefore missed out on qualifying for the world final next September. The Boys won 2 out of the 3 matches but the Japanese girls were just a bit too tough for our girls and won all 3 matches. The Challenge (5 countries represented) was well run by Mr Paul Wong from IC Singapore, he reports the New Zealanders did themselves proud and were very well received at the event. There was the issue of the haze from the Indonesian fires while were in Singapore but this did not have any effect on the tennis. The Junior players were also able to watch the Sharapova -Panneta match at the WTA Finals which was on in Singapore at the same time. The players really enjoyed the total experience and gained an understanding of the IC Challenge concept.” Marcel also said “On behalf of the players and Tennis NZ we want to thank the IC Club for giving our play- ers this opportunity even though we just came up short in qualifying for the Finals I am sure they gained val- uable experience moving forward. It also provided the players an insight into the spirit of the IC Club and they were privileged to have had this experience. “ ********************************************************************************************** Five winners through to the Compass IC Junior Challenge Finals The regional events are now complete with Argentina, Spain, Japan, USA and South Africa qualifying for The Compass Worldwide Finals at the Country Club of Monte Carlo Sept 4th-9th 2016. They will be supplemented by a team from the host country. They will all play each other over 5 days of international com- petition with social events in IC tradition for a great week of tennis and a lifetime experience. If you have a spare few minutes I urge you to read the report on the Home Page of the IC Council website. There were so many close matches played around the world, several times the final result hinged on the mixed doubles “ one set super tie break” which was played if the teams finished locked at 3 all after the singles and doubles. Click here It was Heart-breaking for some to miss the chance to go to Monaco if they lost that set in a nail biter. Athol Tills and Frank Sedgman are mentioned in the European Zone Report (won by Spain against G B in a tie break) acknowledging how the IC Junior Challenge was started. 3 Barry Weatherill, past Chairman of the IC Council has encouraged me to report to members on the activities of the IC Philanthropy Foundation. After having spent hours on the tennis court, IC members believe that tennis skills are life skills. ICs run ten- nis programs aiming to transmit these skills to underprivileged children giving them a better chance to succeed in life. Some members may not be aware that as well as enjoying the friendship and competitiveness within the 40 countries which have IC Clubs, several years ago the Council created a foundation to encourage fund raising to help underprivileged children in many places around the world. This is known as ICP to keep it separate from other IC Council activities. Fund Raising ICP’s activities have grown exponentially over the last 6 years. The main vehicle for this has been the Tennis Ball held every second year at a top London hotel. This is run in conjunction with our partners in the UK, Give it Your Max ( GIYM), a charity founded by Michael Stotesbury, a member of the IC of GB and his wife Tara, in memory of their youngest son Max who was killed at a young age in a car accident.