By Tania Phillips
Warwick and District Tennis Association is gearing up for a big rebuilding year which will include a major upgrade to their courts.
The Association got their year off to a busy start at the weekend holding an Open/Come and Try Day aimed at attracting more players.
Former Association secretary Nathan Costello, who became treasurer at the recent AGM, said the day will be emulated at tennis clubs across Australia this weekend.
“Tennis Australia are holding an open day this weekend to coincide with the Australian Open but we did it a week early just basically because Warwick has an Australia Day Cricket Carnival,” he said.
“We knew such sporting events take up both parents and players potentially, we didn’t want to clash with another significant sporting event in the region. So we held it a week early and Tennis Queensland basically provided prizes and we put on a sausage sizzle for anyone that turned up.
“We had about 16 children and about 12 adults turn up. Basically it was also to promote coaching and other activities in the club so we can attract some new members.
“We have 60 to 80 playing here on a regular basis.”
He said the competitions are mainly social and while the games are competitive no scores are kept and there is less need for a regular commitment.
“There is Wednesday night tennis for men, Thursday and Tuesday morning there’s some ladies tennis, Thursday and Saturday senior men’s tennis,” he said.
“There’s also some ladies tennis on Monday night – some of our events are semi privately-run, semi privately run. There are definitely options for all different categories and age groups.
“There’s also coaching for kids on a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.”
“Our facebook pages is probably our prime place for information – Warwick and District Tennis Association or most people find my mobile number.”
The Association has 10 courts, eight synthetic courts and two hard courts.
“We are about to get five of them replaced due to flood damage caused in 2022,” Nathan said.
“When we get the new courts we will have an opening and another open day or something when we get the courts operational.”
He said the association had been low on volunteers but hoped to revitalise the group’s website and attract more players especially once they had the courts refurbished and ready to go.
