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!

​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.