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!

​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.

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.

​














​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

A Yankee Tournament was held on Friday 26 May to precede the winter season of our popular Friday night mixed doubles competition. The winners were Mike Roberts of Clive and Judy Brown of Hastings. Afterwards saw the long-overdue prizegiving for the summer mixed doubles competition. Judy Brown (again) and our own Tom Carey were voted the most improved female and male player of the season respectively. The Champions Trophy was shared equally by Clive Simonsen and Hastings with The Lawn in a credible third place.
Thanks to all the competitors and of course to the indomitable organiser Ron Rench!

Mike and Judy with their splendid Yankee Tournament trophies

Whenever she is able to, Satomi Yamaguchi will say yes to a game of tennis, and that persistence and dedication pays off. On 23 April at Clive tennis club, she became the first ever female to win the Robin Trophy two years in a row. Here to prove it are the photos with Brent (last year) and Fly this year. Look closely and you'll see what a lovely carved trophy it is.
Well done Satomi!

Yankee Tournament on Friday, 26 May at 6pm at HBLTS

This is aimed at anyone wanting to play in the "Ron Rench Mixed Doubles Interclub Tennis Tournament",  which starts the week after Queen's Birthday weekend (Friday 9 June)

This year, to accommodate those people not wanting to commit themselves to every Friday night, and to support club kitchens, home games at HBLT will be played on Friday nights and home games at Hastings will be played on Thursday nights.  When Clive and Havelock North home games will be played, will be decided on the Yankee tournament night on the 26th of May.

So, either get a team together, or come on your own, and see if we can put you in a team.
If you want friendly, fun and competitive mixed doubles tennis, this is for you.

Teams may include juniors.

Interclub competition continues each Tuesday and Wednesday nights: results are as follows
Womens
LT1 Lawn Carers       currently sitting 6th
​LT2 Lawn Moas         currently sitting 5th
 
And in the Mens/Mixed competition
Div 1   LT1 are sitting 3rd
Div 2   LT2 are 1st
Div 3   LT3 are 1st and LT4 are 6th
Div 4   LT5 are 6th
Div 5   LT6 are 6th
Div 6   LT7 are 5th

What a fantastic effort by the organisers, volunteers and players last weekend that made this tournament another success for the club. To Tania and her squash committee, bar volunteers and Jeanie and Tom in the kitchen our thanks, and congratulations to all the successful Lawn players – it was great to see the juniors and well as some seniors coming away with prizes!
Namely:
Ally Harding – Runner up of the Women’s Open Division, Bethne Gardner (Miss FoFF for those of you who support our Trivia evenings) – Plate Winner in Women’s Div 2, Alarna McKie Winner of Women’s Div 3, Elaine Thrupp-  Runner Up of Women’s Div 3 and Tegen Willis - Special Plate of the same division, Brooke Rowe – Runner Up of Women’s Div 4.
Mike Moss – Winner of Men’s Div 1, Sam MacDonald-  Runner Up of Men’s Div 2, Max Moore – Plate Winner of Men’s Div 1, Shane Aitchison – Consolation Plate in Men’s Div 1, Lance Thompson – Plate winner Men’s Div 3, Logan Willis – Special Plate in Mens Div 4

Entry forms are available on Simons board outside the club rooms or simply contact Simon on 021 776 107

Thanks to Tania Willis we have an expanded choice of bottled beer at the club

Front HBLTSC  A team: Robin Johnson, Bethne Gardner, Peter Horgan
Rear HBLTSC  B team: John Maxwell, Vicki Cox, Robert Wilson
Thanks to Bethne and the customers for her delicious BLTs for the smart team shirts

One more tackle like that, and you're off, little lady. Who do you think you are, Beauden Barret?