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?

A cyclone the night before and a beautiful 25 degree Napier day, made for a perfect mix for our Easter Tournament.
This year, we incorporated "The Willie Kuku Memorial Trophy".
We also had a new section for "over 65's", which we called the Golden Oldies.  This was a success, but room for more entries next Easter.

​The winners:
Champions of the Willie Kuku Memorial Trophy:
A Hokai and K Nash
Runners Up:
N Robinson and C Rowsell

Special Plate:
B Simonsen & A Dennehy
Runners Up:
M Thompson & M Mabey

Plate:
P Hincho & H Hosford-Brown
Runners Up: 
Fly and S Shannahan

Consolation Plate Winners:
Saeng and A Hokai
Runners Up:
M Roberts & I Heretaunga

Golden Oldies Winner:
Diane Gregg
Runner Up:
Ledlie Goom

This tournament was proudly sponsored by the "Sausage Sizzlers" Ron Rench and Johnny Maxwell.
Thank you to everyone who made this such a successful day.  See you all again next year. 

Thanks to Jeanie and Tom, our kitchen is back in operation, regularly on Friday evening and for tournaments and other special occasions. As well as a staple menu of steak, sausages, fish and burgers, Jeanie intends to cook weekly specials. This Friday 7 April, she tells me that it's a Kiwi curry with rice. So head on down there; they're serving from 6pm onwards. Please contact Jeanie with your praise, comments. requests etc.

Thanks to our own Triviamaster extraordinaire Bethne Gardner, two good local causes are due for a boost by holding Quiz Nights at the Club. Please make a note of:

Thursday April 27th @ 7pm - a KIDZ NEED DADZ trust venture by Shayne Jeffares

 Friday June 16th @ 7pm - in aid of sensory equipment for 'challenged' children at Fairhaven School

For more details contact Bethne on 843 4632 or  027 2610954 or club@hblts.co.nz

HBLTS Tennis Club Championships will take place this year in the 10-day period Thursday 23 March to Saturday 1 April 2017. The rules for the Championships are below; please read them carefully before entering. 
Carroll Haseltine will once again act as Tournament Controller. Thank you very much Carroll for volunteering to run the competition. 
To enter, contact Carroll (836 7158, 021 208 9385) or Tony (021 773 683), email club@hblts.co.nz, or add your names to the sheets that will be displayed on the Club notice board.
Although these are the Senior Club Championships, entries are welcome from Junior members who are good enough to compete, and of these we have many! 
The more entries we have, the better event this will be for the whole club, so please do consider putting your name in. Each year, many players compete for the first time, and really enjoy taking an active part, win or lose. 
Let’s make our Club Championship the spectacle that it deserves to be!

Congratulations to our Men's teams in Senior Tennis Interclub this season. We entered two teams in both Premier and Reserve grade and ended up winning both competitions. HBLT Premiers 1 were captained by Ra McFarland whereas Mark Mahoney captained  HBLT Reserve 1. Thanks to Ra and Mark and also Allen Hokai and Tony Denton for stepping up to organise and lead our teams.

Despite blustery conditions, 36 pairs battled it out on Saturday 29 October in the club's annual doubles tournament. 58 games were played between 9.00am and 4.30pm, the end time predicted by Club Captain Tony Denton in his opening speech! The credit for that, and our thanks are due to event controllers Peter Sutherland and Paul McAuley. Elaine and Javaan deserve special mention for serving food all day as do Ron Rench and John Maxwell for their sausage sizzle.

Thanks to all the participants, to our sponsor Langley Twigg Law, without whom we would not be able to give such generous prizes, and congratulations to the winners, namely:

Men's A                      
Winners:    Russell Broughton & Luke Donovan        
Runners up:    Zac Atkins & Andrew Shand        
Plate:   Allen Hokai & Shane Aitchison        
                      
Ladies' A            
Winners:   Carole Rowsell & Louise Reynolds            
Runners up:    Victoria Kerrison & Stacey Skilton         
Special Plate:   Cathy Clarkson & Linda Brown            
Plate:     Helen Roper & Alison Timms        
Consolation:    Sophia Nash & Rileigh Knapp        
            
Men's B            
Winners:   Hamish Stewart & Mark Mahoney            
Runners up:    Ross McDonald & Thomas McDonald         
Special Plate:   Stephen Underhill & Mike Roberts            
Plate:     Greg Margerison & Tony Verry         
Consolation:    Tom Carey & Andrew Hooper            
                     
Ladies' B            
Winners:   Joan Matherson & Marcia Mabey             
Runners up:    Mandy White & Annie Dennehy         
Plate :    Jane Davison & Kristen Nash         

Marie Karl and former Lawn Tennis member Fiona Moody with the Davis cup in Worthing, UK. 

On 19 October, we hosted ​the HB Primary and Intermediate Schools finals; a great way to promote HBLTS and its facilities.
It was also a great coup for us, and in particular our coach Simon Winter that all four singles finalists came from HBLTS.
The two finalists in the Primary School division were River Apatu and Charlie Nash
The two finalists in the Intermediate School division were also from HB Lawn: Luke Winter and Ben Hansen.
Congratulations to all juniors from HBLTS who took part, to their parents for their support, and a special word for River and Luke who took the prizes.