The competitive season is over and everyone finally has a moment to stop, take a deep breath and let it all sink in. It is still hard to fathom what has happened to Tennis at Royal Holloway this year. If someone had told me a year ago about all that we would achieve this season, I would have called the paramedics or sent him back to the propaganda mills of North Korea. To say that our Club has seen a revival would be unappreciative of the great work done in previous years. Rather, it was as though someone had blown a veil off our eyes to show us what we could do, taken us by our collective shoulders, spun us round until we faced the right direction and then given us a good kick in the behind to get a move on. And boy, we sure did. But let’s start at the beginning.
Maybe it was the great summer of British sport, and especially British tennis (Murray won not only an Olympic gold medal but also the US Open), that inspired almost 300 current and new students to sign up to our mailing list during Welcome Week. Or maybe it was our fantastic promotional video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8VOUCDYROc) that sparked the interest. Either way, we doubled our paid membership this year to reach more than 60 Club members!
We also had around 30-40 people showing up to each of our team trial sessions on the first weekend of term and the high standard of players was immediately apparent. For once, we could select teams that not only starred a few outstanding players, but that boasted high quality up to the very last player. To accommodate the rising number of good athletes, we fielded a Mixed Team in the London University Sports League (LUSL) alongside our traditional two Men’s Teams and one Ladies’ Team in the British University and College Sports (BUCS) leagues and cups. These teams, of course, went on to achieve mind-boggling success this year, fuelled both by valued old veterans and some fantastic fresh blood. All three BUCS teams won their leagues and are to be promoted next year, while both the Ladies’ and the Men’s first Teams won their respective BUCS cups! This breaks all of our previous personal records. The LUSL Mixed team also showed a solid performance in its first year, coming out in 4th position. Overall, the Club gained the most BUCS points out of all the sports at the university. We are immensely proud of all our competitive athletes and thank our Coach, Craig Thompson, for his brilliant work.
But a university sports club is not just about leagues and cups but also about making new friends and being a community. So we held a taster session for players more interested in recreational rather than competitive tennis, followed by our first evening Social: a BBQ at the Armstrong Gun, our partner pub. This first Social was the first of many evening gatherings (to replace the more applicable but less appropriate word ‘piss-up’) that occurred on most Wednesdays, often preceding a joint outing to dance until we dropped at the Student’s Union. Top socials this year included the Team Initiations, our Christmas Dinner, Initiations 2.0 and our joint Social with the Dance Society.
We also continued our work to provide opportunities for students to play tennis recreationally. Every Monday and Friday, we held recreational sessions during which the courts were open to all members to meet up and hit some balls. These were enriched by the offer, another first, of professional coaching for recreational players, both at beginner and intermediate level, by our Coach Craig. Because of the harsh winter, it was understandably difficult to encourage people to come out and play on the outdoor courts and hopefully we can catch up on some court time during the third term. We are also looking into alternative activities we can do recreationally as a Club when the weather does not allow us to play outside.
In addition to all this, we also organised some other superb events and trips, and my special thanks go out to the Committee for doing a great job on these, on top of all the fantastic work they do day to day. In November, we took about 15 members to see the ATP World Tour Finals in London and were privileged to watch tennis greats, including Federer, Murray, Djokovic, Tsonga and others. Some of our team players braved the cold to take some nude pictures on the courts in December for RAG’s Naked Calendar. To continue our list of firsts, in Term 2 we organised a charity tennis tournament over a weekend in aid of the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust. Despite the rainy and snowy weather we had up to 20 players, both competitive and recreational members as well as students who had not played with us before, compete for the trophies in singles and doubles and managed to raise more than £120 in the process. We also contacted local schools to offer 20 children the chance to come and play some tennis with us one afternoon but due to the elements we had to postpone the event until the third term.
To duly celebrate an outstanding two terms some of us attended the annual SU Colours Ball, a chance to dress up snazzy and party at a 5-star location, and brought home lots of awards to add to our silverware. Tatiana Zheleznyak won a Freshman of the Year award, Michael Pedersen and Robbie Cameron received their half colours, yours truly was humbled to be recognized with a Crest Award and, to top off the evening and a phenomenal season, the 1st Men’s Team were named the Team of the Year!
Towards the end of Term 2 we elected our Committee for the next year and a variety of exciting ideas were voiced, which make me confident that the next year will be even more memorable. Throughout exam term we will meet and exchange ideas and hand over the running of the Club to these new volunteers.
Phew, lots has happened already but I am looking forward to a fun third term, which will hopefully bring more forgiving weather. I encourage everyone to come out to the courts and shake off some stress during exam season. We shall also update you on our End-of-Year BBQ at the end of the year.
Good luck with exams!
Jason Michalski
President
RHUL BEARS Tennis
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