It really was the biggest and most successful HB Lawn Junior Open I have run to date.  With entries coming in from Wellington and Auckland we had record numbers of virtually 100 players and completed 210 matches. The success of the event was contributed to by the support of the key sponsors Regal Furniture, NOW & Napier City Pak n Save.
 
For the first time a Green Dot draw was incorporated. This draw allowed the new younger players to get some exposure to competition for the first time.
 
Freddy Hoggard, one of our HB Lawn  junior members, won the 14's and picked up the $100 first place prize. Oscar Zhao one of our 8 year old club juniors came second in his under 10's division to also pick up a little cash.
 
I wish to also thank the club and the Saturday Club Day players for making all the courts available for this event. It is a genuine two day tournament which seems to get more popular every year. Therefore, I do appreciate your support.
 
                   ............ Head Coach and Tournament Organiser, Simon Winter

​Te Wero Trophy challenge was held last Saturday 9th November 2019. The weather was measuring 28 degrees in the shade and we had none on the piste, so the temperature into the mid 30's.
The Napier City Petanque arrived looking resplendent in their club uniform of red and dark grey tops.
The Hawke’s Bay Lawn Tennis team were Margaret Harkness, Pam Nicholson, Rex Dick, John Maxwell, Julie Chambers, Robert Wilson, Ingrid Edmonson, Graham Bowker, Andrea Thompson, Jonathon Kerr  and Robin Johnson. Our top performer, winning all her games,  was Andrea and the bulk of the team won three games each.
​We played two rounds of triples and doubles in the hot sun.  A lot of the games were close and in only 2 games were the opposition' dickied'.
The trophy came out of the cabinet, got dusted off, realised that it had not been engraved for last year’s event and then put back after winning 12 games to Napier’s 8 games.
We gave everyone a barbequed sausage or two with onions and sauce and they all went home with some food and drink in their belly after a great afternoon of competition and camaraderie.
                     
         .........Petanque Captain, Robin Johnson

It has been a very big year for squash here at the 'Lawn and ​that was reflected in the number of honours that the club collected at this year's Squash Eastern Annual Awards Ceremony, including the award for Club of the Year which is something we can all be proud of.  Our winners were:
 
Club of The Year:    HBLTS
Team of The Year:  HBLTS E Grade Mens Superchamps winners (along with HBSRC Ladies E Grade                                           Superchamps Team) 
Volunteer of The Year:  Mike Moss & Dymphi Van Der Linden
Club Coach of the Year: Colin Hayvice
Most Improved Master Male:  Shaun Thompson-Gray
Most Improved Junior Boy: Josh Cornforth
Masters Sportsman of the year: Shaun Thompson-Gray
Players Series:   2nd Josh Cornforth 3rd Jack Cornforth 6th Shaun Thompson-Gray 9th Louie                                           Thompson Gray
Interclub Winners: Division 3 - LT3 Division 6 - LT7

​The 2019 E Grade teams event champions are HBLTS' Allen Hokai, Jack Cornforth, Chade Bolingford, Sabian Bolingford, Rob Leith, Mark Thompson, Ben Reriti and coach John Cornforth. Our lads travelled to Tawa, North Wellington to compete with 9 other teams from across the country. The large number of entries saw the teams split into 2 pools with the winner of each pool going on the final. As no. 2 seed the boys would head up pool B facing Lugton Park, Ohakune, Mana and Takaka. With the group stage playing out according to plan Wednesday - Friday, the lads would go into battle on the Saturday afternoon against top seeds Tokoroa. It was very close with the first two matches going each way and it was going to go down to which team could hold their nerve in front of a raucous crowd on the balcony. The boys had to work hard and dig deep but with very narrow 3-2 wins in both matches, 3 and 4, it was time to get the party started.

Mother Nature decided one day was enough to Love Tennis here in 'the Bay' and who is to argue with her. We managed to pack a lot of action into Saturday's line up and you can see that everyone in attendance made the most of it. 

The club continues to make significant improvements to its facilities and this week you will notice that we now have newly laid concrete pads by the fence outside tennis court 3 & 4 and by tennis court 1. These pads have been put down in preparation for the new outdoor table and bench sets that Mike Moss has been quietly working away on and which have been purchased, for the club, by its members. The area outside  tennis court 3 will have two new table and bench sets and be covered with shade sails for optimum viewing of the action on the tennis courts and the Petanque terrains.  Another table set will be situated on the grass verge by court 1.

A further four table sets that will also shortly appear on the recently replaced decking in front of the clubhouse and this will coincide with the fitting of the new railings that will safeguard the decking area.

I took three of our HB Lawn Junior Members & Napier Boys High pupils to the NZ Secondary School Champs to compete in the new formatted 3 player NZ Tennis Cup in Christchurch last week.
 
Dan Rowe, Luke Winter & Max Clifford made up the team. Napier Boys High were seeded 3rd. We were in a pool with Burnside High, St Pauls, Lynfield College & Timaru Boys High. We managed to beat the first three schools comfortably. It was then a big match up against the No 2 seeds Timaru who had two S3 players in their line up. Dan Rowe our S2 ranked player had a really good win at No 1. Luke Winter S5 had a very narrow loss against the other Timaru S3 player only losing 10/7 in the third set Super Tie Breaker. So it came down to the doubles where Max Clifford teamed up extremely well with Dan to win the crunch doubles match and allowed us to finish top of our pool.
 
We therefore had a  semi final against Fielding who had two pretty strong year 12 players. Dan gave the team another really good start by winning at No 1 in straight sets. Luke at No 2 then had a tough but competitive loss against a stronger older opponent. Hence we were required to win the doubles to make the final. Sadly it was a nail biting loss in some tricky windy conditions for Max and Dan.
 
We therefore drew St Pauls for the 3rd play off spot in New Zealand. Max played singles for this tie but suffered a straight sets loss. Dan then had a tense three set win to level the tie. Luke teamed up with Dan in the deciding doubles. Our Napier Boys won the first, but lost the second. However, they focused well in the decider to win the match and secure 3rd place for the team.
 
It was a very successful week of Tennis at the newly completed Nga Puna Wai Sports Park. They did well to beat the No 2 seeds and pick up a Tennis New Zealand National Medal.
                                   .....report by team coach, Simon Winter.

This year's Langley Twigg Open Doubles Tournament was well organised, well attended, much enjoyed and a credit to this club.  Thanks to all that took part and congratulations to all the winners listed below.  Huge thanks as usual  to tournament sponsors Langley Twigg and partner of the firm, Brett Conn for taking the time to come and hand out the prizes as per photos below.
Mens A Grade 
Championship Winners Allen Hokai & Mike Hunia 
Runners Up Mike Winkley & Jacob Verhoeven 
Special Plate Winners Nadal Ehayeb & Jack Wardrope 
Plate Winners Rueben Cooper & Gavin Cooper 
Consolation Plate Winners Warren McFarland & Ian Meredith 
Womens A Grade 
Championship Winners Stacey Margerison & Norma Ching 
Runners Up Carole Rowsell & Victoria Kerrison 
Special Plate Winners Sophia Nash & Rileigh Knapp 
Plate Winners Judith Merwood & Marcia Mabey
Consolation Plate Winners Ngaire Hunt & Liz Reid 
Mens B Grade 
Championship Winners Phil Bradey & Rob Cockshot 
Runners Up Jeff Farnsworth & Bruce Taylor 
Special Plate Winners Gary Patton & Mark Hunter 
Plate Winners Mike Roberts & Gary Taylor 
Consolation Plate Winners Andrew Hooper & Nick Robinson 
Womens B Grade 
Championship Winners Diane Gregg & Sue Agnew 
Runners Up Kristen Nash & Michele Gilbertson 

​

 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.

​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.

Just a few snaps from the 2018 Petanque Business House competition. Good to see club President Mike Willis taking his petanque so seriously.

To enter contact Tony Denton on 021 773  683 or email

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!