 On 10th November, this team of hardy petanque players made the long and perilous trip to Nelson Park to take up the Te Whero challenge. The challenge involves a series of games between the two clubs to help promote the game and keep an eye on what the other club is up to. It was a successful afternoon of competition with the final score being HBLTS 23 – 13. They packed up the trophy and brought it home.
The team:- back row Barry Hunt, Bethne Gardiner, Graham Edmonson, Ingrid Edmonson, Rex Dick, Robin Johnson, and Robert Wilson. Front: - Eddie King, Margaret Harkness, Julie Chambers, Vicky Cox, and Andrea Thompson. Mens Club Champion: John Cornforth Women’s Club Champion: Jess Dean C Grade: Sean O’Connor; Tania Willis D Grade: Gavin Cooper; Dymphi van der Linden E Grade: Marty Gibbs; Rowena Kelly F Grade: Josh Cornforth; Belinda Harper J Grade: Tahlia Kemp Junior Boys Champion: Marcus Moss Junior Girls Champion: Jess Dean Masters D1 and above: John Cornforth Dymphi van der Linden Masters D2 and below: Peter Taunton Rowena Kelly Robin Johnson Trophy of Excellence: Jack Cornforth  John Cornforth is the Men's Open Champion for the second successive year. Eldest son Josh (left) is this year's F Grade Champion whilst Jack gets the Robin Johnson trohpy for his outstanding performance at the recent F Grade nationals in Dunedin.  Our own Colin Hayvice took his third Master's title this year having now moved into the over 75's grade. He has previously held the title for the 70-74 age group twice. One in 2013 and again in 2015.
Colin now spends most of his time on court coaching our junior players and generally passing on the benefit of his wisdom and experience to our club but he has proven, once again, that he has still got 'what it takes'. Long may he continue.  The Season Open Day is the day that we open our club to potential new tennis members, Junior or Senior. We openly invite anyone that may be interested in joining us to come down, get a bit of basic instruction from our Resident Tennis Professional, Simon Winter and get involved in our regular Saturday club day play. It just so happens that it's also a great fun 'day out'.
 Fantastic achievement for this Napier Girls High School squash team. Jess Dean, Libby Dean, Sam Harding and Ally Harding, all very much spawn of 'the Lawn' (plus Sara Dooney from the Niven Street club) took on the top schools/juniors from around the country. Seeded 2nd they came up against 15th seeds first Tauranga Girls College and won 5-0, next up it was 7th seeds Havelock North high and again won 4-1. That put them through to the semi final against 3rd seed Hamilton Girls and a tough match fought by all 5 girls with us coming out on top 3-2 decided by the final match. Finals on Sunday was against 4th seeds Palmerston North Girls (these girls had taken the title previous 4 years in a row but lost their top 3 players for 2018 team) and again it was a 3-2 victory coming down to the final match deciding the winner/loser. Jess Dean was also selected to represent NZ in the secondary schools team vs Australia in a fortnight over in Sydney and we wish her well for this!!
Bastille Day Petanque Triples results: Well what a great day, and everyone who entered came along to enjoy themselves in the theme of the day. Every team had a new player in their combination so the teams could not be stacked so to speak. The competition was close with seven of teams ending up on three wins. This is how every team was placed at the end of five rounds of play. 1st Champagne 3 wins – 16 points 2nd Crème Brulee’s 3 wins – 16 points 3rd Croissant’s 3 wins – 15 points 4th Pinot noir’s 3 wins – 13 points 5th Merlot’s 3 wins – 9 points 6th Beauleaux’s 3 wins – 0 points 7th Sav Blanc’s 3 wins - -4 points 8h Mulled wines 2 wins – 4 points 9th Soufflé’s 2 wins - -19 points 10th Cognac’s 0 wins - -38 points Thank you to Rex for letting everyone have a taste of the mulled wine he made for the day, Ingrid for her olive cake, Margaret for croissants’ plus those that I have forgotten for their contributions to nibbles etc at the end of round 4. The Raffle was won by Eddie King and Ian Hay. We may have to look at it again next year. by Robin Johnson  The very first Petanque shooting competition was held at our club on Saturday 26th may.
14 members had a go at it. It was run the same way as the national event. 4 disciplines being contested at 4 different shooting lengths. This year's winners were Vicky Cox and Barry Hunt (pictured) who are first to get their names onto the brand new trophies.  Due to the ongoing redevelopment of our tennis courts. The Yankee Tournament has temporarily moved to Hastings Tennis and Squash club in Whitehead Road. Tournaments are fortnightly and play commences 6pm. Play is open to anyone who wants join in the action followed by a few sociable drinks and prizegiving. Contact Ron Rench for full details.
Pictured are Craig and Helen Petherick who won the tournament held at Hastings recently. Just a few snaps from the 2018 Petanque Business House competition. Good to see club President Mike Willis taking his petanque so seriously. A powerful serve fires down from above
Leaving you stranded; it’s fifteen-love. Next time your partner hits through the ball To leave them flat footed; that’s Fifteen-all. A drop shot from nowhere (that’s rather mean!) No hope of getting there; Thirty-fifteen. A forehand goes….Out! Hey that’s a close call Nah, missed it by miles mate… so thirty-all A rally goes backward and forward a bit Now what’s the score? Thirty-forty isn’t it? A bungled return which isn’t much use Leads to a winner, leaving it deuce. Sudden death; oh, who’s going to receive? Just give it a belt as though you believe That you are The Fed with an evil backhand Which slashes a cross court just as you planned But instead it’s a softie; she gives it a whack It’s all you can do to just get it back And rattle the net cord but over it pops They’re desperate to get there before the ball drops But do so! and cleverly knock it back short So you’re sprinting in from the back of the court And…just fail to get there, oh what a shame, But that’s tennis for you, a hell of a game! After the previous week's downpours, we had glorious weather for our annual tournament rescheduled to Saturday 17 February 2018. Here are some of the participants and most of the winners
 New Zealand Petanque - National Doubles tournament – Kapiti Robin Johnson went to the national event. He teamed up with a lady from the Wanganui East club, Sheryl Parslow for the weekend tournament. They managed to take out the plate section which was a great result. There were plenty of New Zealand representatives there vying for selection for the NZ petanque team at the tournament who they meet some of them along the way. A great result from our solitary club member at this event.
With the forecast a few days out from the weekend of the HB Lawn Junior Open looking very dodgy we did great to get through the whole weekend’s event largely untouched by bad weather. There were 68 entries with players travelling from Taupo, Rotorua, Wairarapa and Wellington. We had a good number of our local juniors who picked up various titles with some going to our visitors. The courts were at an absolute maximum with all ten courts being in full use from 8.30am until 5.30pm on Saturday and again on Sunday from 8.30am to 3pm. I would like to thank the club for shifting the regular Club Day to the Sunday which is appreciated and certainly does help me run a full fun event. All the visitors commented on the fantastic venue and viewing the club offers for such junior events. Some parents were also glad to be able to catch the All Blacks test match on the Sunday morning in the club rooms! 10s Girls Singles Winner Francesca Wells Wairarapa 12s Girls Singles Winner Scarlett Dowland Rotorua 14s Girls Singles Winner Ruby Roberts Hawkes Bay 16s Girls Singles Winner Sophia Nash Hawkes Bay 10s Girls Doubles Winner Sophie Hansen/Libby Windhager Hawkes Bay 12s Girls Doubles Winner Alex Cave/Scarlett Dowland Hawkes Bay 16s Girls Doubles Winner Olivia Shannon/Ruby Peirre Hawkes Bay 10s Boys Singles Winner Tom Weston Taupo 12s Boys Singles Winner Cristiaan Bull Hawkes Bay 14s/16s Boys Singles Winner Boaz Mellor Taupo 10s Boys Doubles Winner Otis Hoggard/Freddie Hunter Hawkes Bay 12s Boys Doubles Winner Charlie Nash/Cristiaan Bull Hawkes Bay 14s/16s Boys Doubles Winner Luke Winter/Henry Isaacs Hawkes Bay An extra mention should be made of Luke Winter who won the Waikato Intermediate school champs last Friday. Due to this win he now travels back to Hamilton next week to compete in the North Island National Finals top 16 Intermediate School players. Simon Winter Director of Coaching This has been written by one or two members of your hard working committee as a guide to future action. It is not set in stone, handed down on high to club members as a fait accompli. Comments are welcome and free
 This time of year is always hectic for the Tennis Club Captain. On top of the planning the calendar for the new season in conjunction with tennis committee, Simon, Tennis Eastern, HB Veterans and other clubs, there are teams and managers to organise for interclub competitions (some arm-twisting skills needed), Business House to get underway, membership initiatives and issues, and Season Opening Day to cope with. It would also be nice if all this were not at the expense of actually playing some tennis! Tony Denton is into his second year of Captaincy and he's still accomplishing all with his characteristic grin. Here he is on Saturday 14 October at Season Opening Day (delayed - dealing with fickle HB Spring weather is another of his responsibilities!), and he is even sizzling the sausages! Good on you Tony, and thank you very much - the club cannot function without volunteers such as you.
99 visitors (13 Teams) to HBLTS from Thursday through to Saturday last week-
most newbies to the sport and this is their first experience at SuperChamps and what it is all about. The best of each region coming to a central venue to compete to be the champion team of their particular grade. If you were lucky enough to come down and watch there were some fantastic matches....And we were lucky enough for our Havelock North ladies to play and win the Women's title. Our own HBLTS men finished to seeding - 4th and had some tough competition along the way against some young players. Celebrated after all the games were done with a Jungle party and Naked Gun band to party the night away - enjoyed by all who stayed. Each Wednesday evening for the next 12 weeks up to Christmas, the tennis courts will be full with teams battling it out in our Business House competition, kindly sponsored by Speight's Ale House. It's a sociable as well as sporting event, with a lively bar and BBQ, so well worth participating in. If you're a club member who would like to play but does not have a team, please contact Antony Steiner. 
Support your club! Distribute this link by email to your colleagues, family and friends!   The winners of the interclub Yankee Tournament played at HBLT last Friday were: Mens Winner: Tony Denton Womens Winner: Satomi Yamaguchi This tournament has now come to close for the year. Well done to Satomi and Tony who will hang on to their respective trophies until the resurrection of the competition next year. It has been great to see some old and new faces come in from different clubs to compete in the Yankee Tournament. Thanks for taking part and I look forward to seeing you all again next year. Ron Rench (0274) 570173 |
|||||||
