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Preface
The writing and production of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club history, which has taken about a year to achieve (in hindsight far too short a period), has had its moments of nostalgia for those who have been involved. The researching of information, gathering of photographs, talking to past members about their experiences and learning about former members who have since passed on, has been a fascinating experience.
The early records of the Club from 1912 to the 1960s when it relocated to the Templestowe Reserve are virtually non-existent, and therefore so much reliance has had to be placed on human memory supplemented by Shire Council records, newspaper articles and other histories of the area. Every effort has been made to make this account truly representative of what has transpired overthe last 100 years.
The format of the book is such that a balance has tried to be reached between producing a chronological history of events and at the same time writing about and showing as many photographs as possible of current and past members, including those who have gone before. Some topics are dealt with in decades, whilst others span a longer period.
During the Club's life there have been over 2,000 people, mostly from within the municipality of Manningham, who have been members, some for more than forty years. It is impossible in this short history to mention everybody, and annual membership lists prior to the mid 1960s do not exist.
Likewise, during the course of gathering information, several hundred photographs have been collected from many different sources which have necessarily required the writers to be very selective in keeping the number down to about 150 for inclusion in the book. Our apologies to those people whose photographs missed out.
Welcome to 'A Century of Tennis in Tempy'. We hope that you enjoy reading the book, indulging, if you like, in reminiscing about past players, old glories and the friendships, both past and present that have been made through involvement in the Club and the game of tennis.
Bibliography
Books and booklets:
- Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society et alia. Walk Into History-An Introduction to the Original Templestowe Village, 1994
- Fletchers. A Journey Through Melbourne's East, 2008
- Green, Irvine. Templestowe - A Short History, 1982
- Green, Irvine. The Orchards of Doncaster and Templestowe, 1985
- Green, Judy/Wilson, Keith. Rallies by the River: A History of Warrandyte Tennis Club, 2007
- Jones, Bryn. Advantage Healesville! The 120 Year Story of Healesville Tennis Club, 2011
- Keogh, Graeme. The History of Doncaster and Templestowe, 1975
- Neyland, David. Hawthorn Tennis Club 1905-2005: A History, 2005
- Pertzel, Barbara/Walters, Fiona. Manningham: From Country to City, 2001
- Poulter, Hazel. Templestowe - A Folk History, 1985
- Templestowe Primary School. Templestowe Primary School Centenary 1874-1974, 1974 Templestowe Uniting Church. Fruit of the Spirit, 1995 Uebergang, Eric. Carl Samuel Aumann: The Family History 1853-1993, 1993
Other sources of information:
- Box Hill Reporter 1889-1918 Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society
- Public Record Office Victoria Manningham Council
- Tennis Associations: EDWTA, ERT, HDTA, MEMRLTA Tennis Victoria
- Wikipedia
Acknowledgements
The writing of this history could not have been undertaken successfully without the authors having interviewed and obtained photographs from many past and present Club members and from other people in the wider community. The verbal and written information obtained was invaluable for closing the gaps in the Club history.
The authors are grateful to the following people who have assisted in this research process:
Linsey Aumann, Lorraine Baker, John and Tracey Banes, Beverley Bartholomew (nee Hawtin), Eva Bettiol, Dorothy Blackie (nee Beale), Coleen Bower (nee Beale), Ann Cayless, Bruce Chivers, Ruth Clay (nee Hodgson), Wilma Corfield, Peter and Pat Davies, John and David Dickason, Jean Dundas (nee Williamson), Pam Farrant, Terry Fitzsimons, Yvonne Groves (nee Beale), Joyce Hawtin , Jenny Heath, David Jenkins, Margaret Langtree , Sandham Margaret Mangan , Wendy Maplestone, Ian Martindale, Diana Mayne, Joy and Graeme McGregor, Brian Moore, Lorna Oakford, Barry Orders, Anne Peter-Budge, Carolyn Peterson, Dawn Poole, Bill Ramsey, Keith Read, John Richards (E.T. Richards & Son), Jackie Robinson, Dianne Safstrom (nee Carrick), Albert Schafter, Rob Serpell, Carmel Sheahan, Rodney Smith, Lionel Theobald, Todd Tinker (Manningham Council), Dulcie Uebergang, Eric Uebergang, Maggie White, Aileen Whittley, Verna Williamson (nee Read), Wendy Witnish (nee Petty), Neville and Lesley Wright, David and Beverley Wright
This book was produced through the collaborative effort of the following three Life Members who devoted many hundreds of hours to interviewing, researching and documenting the information obtained from the above people and from other sources, then converting this into a written and illustrated history.
Diana Mayne, Club Secretary, was mainly responsible for researching and writing the sections of the Club's early history dealing with the period from 1912 to the 1960s, and for the Midweek Ladies section.
David Wright, Club President, was mainly responsible for writing the modern history of the Club from the 1960s onwards, and then coordinating and putting together the various sections of the book.
Neville Wright was responsible for the gathering and collation of the hundreds of photographs that were received and for the examination of Club records, Council archives, Tennis Association records and various other paper trails to confirm dates of events, people's names, membership numbers, etc.
The Club acknowledges Sue Stapleton (nee Peter-Budge), a past member, who was responsible for the graphic design and layout of the book, including the cover.
The Club acknowledges Stephen Mayne and Shelley Ryan for their personal stories, Jeremy MacKay, Club Coach for his input, and also James Wong for his work in producing the List of Winning Teams.
Table of Contents
- Preface 1
- Acknowledgements 2
- Echuca Easter Tournament Photographs 4
- 1912 to 1961: Setting the Scene in Templestowe - The First Fifty Years. The Club at the Ruffey Creek Courts and the 'Top Court' 5
- 1960s: The Club's New Home on the Reserve 18
- 1970s The Consolidation Period - A Steady Growth in Assets and Membership 25
- 1980s Boom Times for Tennis - Golden Era for the Midweek Ladies 33
- 1990s Tennis is Played at the Highest Level - A General Loss of Interest in the Game 49
- 2000s The Struggle to Maintain Membership Numbers - Installation of the Synthetic Clay. Court Surfaces 54
- 2010s Towards the Future - 2012 The Centennial Year 64
- Other Tennis Stories of Interest 67
- List of Office Bearers - President, Secretary and Treasurer 71
- List of Life Members 72
- List of Midweek Ladies Presidents 72
- List of Club Singles and Doubles Champions 73
- Winning Team Photographs 75
- List of Pennants won in Various Competitions 77
- Team and Group Photographs for 2011/2012 79
Echuca Easter Tournament photos
1912-1961. Setting the Scene in Templestowe - The First Fifty Years
Templestowe Park Tennis Club, known as Templestowe Tennis Club for the first half century of its existence, has been in its present location at the Templestowe Reserve since 1961, but the origins of the Club go back to 1912.
The Club's story, like that of its co-tenants at the Reserve, the Templestowe Football Club and the Templestowe Cricket Club which are both much older, is naturally closely interwoven with the story of the whole area and its development over the past one hundred years. During this period Templestowe has changed from being a mainly orchard and dairy farming community, well outside the city of Melbourne, to a suburban residential area now within the metropolis and part of the City of Manningham.
The story is a fascinating one, with many of the same people from the prominent orchard and dairy families playing football, cricket and tennis. Some excelled in all three sports whilst tennis, of course, gave women the opportunity to play a community sport along with the men.
They were indeed a sporty lot in this rural community, and what else was there to do? With no television or other forms of modern entertainment, and with difficult and slow transport outside of the area to amenities in Melbourne, they made the most of their recreation time within the area and sport was a large part of it.
Some background on the development of the district during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will help set the scene for the commencement of the Club and the playing of organised tennis.
After the first white settlement in 1835 on the banks of the lower Yarra (opposite the Old Customs House Building in Flinders Street, Melbourne), it was not long before settlers moved upstream to the Wurundjeri tribal lands along the river Yarra now known as Bulleen and Templestowe. The land consisted of low lying flood plain areas referred to as river flats, undulating grasslands and higher ridges with hilly country that were lightly or heavily forested with stringybark, box, red gum and other eucalypts.
Major Charles Newman was the first permanent settler arriving in 1837. He selected grasslands near the junction of Deep Creek and the river Yarra for his sheep and racehorses, and in 1843 built a permanent homestead called 'Pontville' which is still standing. Newmans Road, off the road to Warrandyte, is named after him.
More settlers followed in the 1840s. Farmers leased their land and grew grain crops and vegetables on the river flats but, following frequent floods which ruined their crops, some changed entirely to dairy farming whilst others moved to a mixture of both crops and dairying.
The forests had to be cleared before farming could begin on the higher ground, and the felling and carting of timber employed many people in the district. Timber was carted by horse and dray to Melbourne.
Settlers arrived in increasing numbers during the 1850s, especially after the gold rushes. By the end of 1852, following the devastating bushfires which occurred in 1851 (and for other reasons, which is another story not to be told here), most of the aboriginal people had left the area. The gold discovery at Warrandyte, starting a gold rush in July 1851, brought more people to the district with many miners travelling through Bulleen and Templestowe to get to Warrandyte.
Templestowe township was named in 1852 by surveyor Henry Foote, the name presumably coming from Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels which were popular at the time. The first township was established around the western end of Parker Street and Union Street, the earliest buildings comprising a hotel built by David Bell in 1854, a blacksmith and a few houses. Two more hotels, a post office, general store, church and school soon followed. The records show that the Templestowe Roads Board, a forerunner of our municipal council, was formed in 1856 and first met in Bell's hotel.
By the late 1880s the township had become centred around Anderson and James Street where it remains today.
James Read planted the first orchard in 1855, on cleared slopes on the eastern side of Church Road just north of Serpells Road. Many other orchards followed, with the majority being established from the 1860s through to the first decade of the next century. Fruitgrowing became the main industry ofTemplestoweand Lower Templestowe and with the nearby areas of Doncaster, East Doncaster, Donvale and Warrandyte the district became a world leader in the production of apples, pears and stone fruit by the turn of the century, supplying local markets but also exporting to many countries.
The Templestowe Cool Store, one of several in the district, was built in 1919 on the northwest corner of Porter Street and Fitzsimons Lane, close to the Templestowe Reserve. It was built by a cooperative of orchardists led by members of the Petty, Read and Chivers families, and could hold up to 20,000 cases of fruit.
This then was how the community developed in which the Templestowe Tennis Club had its origins.
Tennis in Victoria in the Early 1900s
Tennis had been played in Victoria since 1878 on asphalt courts laid down by the MCC's Lawn Tennis Committee at the Melbourne Cricket Ground site. In 1884 the first interclub pennant competition was played with ten clubs participating; Bohemians, Kew, Kyneton, Melbourne, Mosspennoch, Ormond College, Trinity College, St Kilda, West Brighton and Windsor. In 1892 the first tennis association in Victoria called the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria was founded. By the turn of the century there were more than fifty clubs affiliated with the LTAV including a number of country clubs. The Victorian Men's Championship had been first contested from 1880 with the Ladies Championship having been played from 1884. The first Australian Men's Championship was contested in 1905.
By the 1900s tennis was starting to thrive in Victoria however the game was still considered to be a sport for the well-to-do. The annual fees to be a playing member of the Melbourne club in 1908 was two guineas, a considerable amount of money in those days equivalent to just under a week's average wage. The two dominant players in Victoria at the time, Norman Brookes and Alf Dunlop both of whom had demonstrated a natural talent for the game, came from wealthy families, seen to be a prerequisite for amateur players who needed to travel interstate and overseas to further their tennis careers. Both players would represent Australia in Davis Cup Competition. Under the auspices of the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, Norman Brookes and Anthony Wilding, a New Zealander would be successful in winning the Davis Cup Challenge match played in Melbourne in 1908 against the USA. In 1912 they again contested the Davis Cup Challenge in Melbourne, but this time losing to the British Isles. Norman Brookes would also go on to win five Victorian Championships, an Australian Championship in 1911, Wimbledon in 1906 and numerous doubles events. Brookes, a left hander with a spinning serve and heavily hit returns was described by the newspapers of the day as a breath of fresh air when compared to the 'chop' (underslice) style of tennis that was currently being played in Victoria in the early 1900s.
Around the Templestowe area tennis was already being played with Warrandyte Tennis Club building a court in 1908 down by the banks of the Yarra, and in nearby Box Hill the tennis club had been formed in 1895 with its first grass courts located on a privately owned paddock near the Box Hill Cemetery. In late 1908 the Evelyn Tennis Association was formed and the following year commenced competition between the Eltham, Diamond Creek, Heidelberg, Summerhill, Upper Diamond and Warrandyte clubs.
The origins of organised tennis in the Templestowe area and the ultimate formation of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club, as we know it today, had its beginnings at two locations, at Parker Street, next to Ruffey Creek, where there were two courts, and at Templestowe Reserve where there was a single court.
The Ruffey Creek Courts
In 1912 the first two public tennis courts were constructed in Templestowe. Two courts with a dirt and gravel surface, later to be asphalted, were built with fencing around them on Crown land adjacent to Parker Street on the east side of Ruffey Creek. This land is now occupied by the Templestowe Bowling Club, which started at the site beside the tennis courts in 1948. There is no evidence on the ground today where the tennis courts were, as they are now covered by a portion of the Bowling Club car park and the western end of the bowling greens which had been extended in the 1960s.
The club does not know exactly who built the courts, but permission would have been obtained from the Crown Lands and Survey Office. It is very likely that it must have been the local community of farmers, orchardists and tradesmen, using their own farming equipment and skills that carried out the construction and grading work in 1912. It could well have been based around a group of locals meeting at the Templestowe Hotel down the road which is still there. Patrick Sheahan was the owner and licensee of the hotel, and it was his son Ted, a builder, who built the tennis pavilion seven years later, after returning from the First World War in September 1919. The photographs below and on the next page show the courts adjacent to Parker Street.
Previously the land had been the site of an ore processing plant for extracting antimony and gold from the quartz that had been mined in the Feathertop Avenue area of Lower Templestowe intermittently since 1858. When the mine closed in 1910 and the processing plant stopped operation, the land next to Ruffey Creek became available. The two tennis courts were commonly referred to as the Lower Templestowe or Ruffey Creek courts, but being on the east side of the creek were actually in Templestowe, and so the club that was formed there was called Templestowe Tennis Club (TTC).
The next information about the early days of the TTC comes from the following photograph showing the pavilion next to the courts and a group of players with other members of the local community. This photograph is in most books about the history of Templestowe with an enlarged version in the Templestowe History Pavilion at Finns Reserve.
The photograph was taken at the opening of the pavilion in 1920 and third from the left in the back row is Ted Sheahan, the builder of the pavilion. The older man with the hat at the back is Robert Searby who was headmaster of the Templestowe Primary School and retired in 1928. The only other people definitively identified are the three ladies on the left in the front row. From left to right, they are Miss Dora Bogle from a Doncaster orchard on the south side of Manningham Road, Miss Olive Williamson (born 1899), from an orchard on the southwest corner of Manningham Road and Ayr Street, and her cousin Isobel (called 'Girlie') Williamson (born 1900) from a High Street orchard. (Notes from Century of Tennis in Tempy)
Mrs Ruth Clay - A Unique Link to the Past
The oldest 'living' memories we have of theTTC are from Mrs Ruth Clay (nee Hodgson) who was born in 1921 at Lower Templestowe. Ruth is from one of the Hodgson orchards on the western side of High Street, and in fact her grandfather's orchard next door bordered on the old antimony mine. (The remains of this mine were still there until the 1960s when the land was subdivided for housing. Ruth remembers throwing stones down the deep mine shafts which in the 1920s were still unfilled, a dangerous place for children!)
Ruth married Alex Clay in 1939 and moved to the Clay family orchard in Church Road, just south of Serpells Road, where she lived until 2010, before moving to a retirement village.
Ruth played social tennis as a teenager at the LowerTemplestowe courts. From her High Street home she walked to the courts, and from Church Road she rode her bicycle. She clearly remembers teams playing Saturday afternoon competition in the Blackburn District Lawn Tennis Association (BDLTA) which had started in 1927.
TTC was well organised with committee meetings and plenty of social tennis as well as competition. The players were well dressed in all white tennis clothes. Those were the days, which persisted into the early 1960s, of turning up to Saturday afternoon tennis in all whites and with freshly cleaned tennis sandshoes that had been coated with 'Kiwi' white cleaner (or something similar).
Ruth confirmed that the court surface was asphalt. The pavilion (pictured on page 8) on the western side of the courts had a small kitchen up one end with a primus stove for heating water. A tank supplied the water. Ruth has memories of the delicious home-made food supplied for afternoon teas including wonderful cakes. This was real country cooking typical of the era.
Ruth and others also remember that, even into the 1950s, 'swaggies' (or swagmen) used to sometimes sleep in a hollow under the back of the pavilion and on one occasion, much to their disgust, found that one of them had burnt the net posts for firewood leaving a hole burnt through the pavilion floor.
Inthe 1930s families belongingtotheClublived mainly inthewestern part ofTemplestoweand LowerTemplestowe. Players that Ruth remembers from this era included members of the Cashen family from James Street (Jed and Molly in particular), Ruth's aunt and uncle, Amy and Bill Hodgson from High Street, Ron Smith also from a High Street orchard, George Lancaster, and Marie Finn from the hotel family after which Finns Reserve is named.
The Other Court at the Templestowe Reserve
The TTC also had its origins in another court, this one on Council land in the Templestowe Reserve on Porter Street less than 200 metres from the present clubhouse and courts. To describe the location it is necessary to provide some details about the establishment and history of the Reserve which dates back over one hundred years.
The Reserve had been gazetted in 1910 by the local government authority of the day, the Shire of Templestowe which took in the districts of Bulleen, Templestowe and Warrandyte. This land had previously been known as Cannons Flat, and was a mostly flat area of 4 3/4 acres on the northeast corner of the present Reserve bordering Porter Street, part of which was opposite Fitzsimons farm. Until 1959 it remained at 4 3/4 acres, a little more than one-third of its present size.
The remainder of the present Reserve was farmland or paddocks and from 1944 to 1959 was in the hands of the Hawtin family who ran the dairy farm called 'Elmvale'. The name was inspired by a line of elm trees along the front (bordering Porter Street), some of which are still there and can be seen today as you enter the Reserve from the main entrance. This farm stretched westward from the current Reserve entrance along the southern side of Porter Street to Clarke Street, south to Atkinson Street and then east to Joe Beale's orchard on the hill which bordered the Reserve. It covered part of the land that was to become Hawtin Street made in the early 1960s and the northernmost section of Williamsons Road which was made in 1972 connecting from Foote Street to Fitzsimons Lane.
After 1910, theTemplestowe Reserve (most commonly called the'Templestowe Recreation Ground' or'Templestowe Recreation Reserve') accommodated the Cricket Club and then the Football Club from 1930 playing on an oval that was smaller than the current main oval, but in roughly the same position. The cricket pitch ran north-north-east to south-south-west, and big hitting batsmen could hit sixes onto Porter Street which was still a dirt track until the mid 1940s. The football goal posts were on the east and west sides of the ground, unlike today where they face north and south. Prior to using the Reserve both sports had previously played their matches on Fitzsimons farm where The Greenery nursery and part of the Templestowe Retirement Village are now situated. Before that matches had been played on land that is now part of Westerfolds and even earlier paddocks around the Finns Reserve in Lower Templestowe had been used.
In 1914 the TTC built a tennis court in the Templestowe Reserve on the 'hill' on the eastern side of the oval with the northern end of the court about 40 metres to the south of the current model car track racing area. The remains of this court can still be clearly seen today, as the original cricket nets were built on the southern end of the court in 1962. Remains of both the old cricket net area and the northern end of the court are still visible although the asphalt has gone.
To construct this court and the other two courts near Ruffey Creek and Parker Street the rural community would have used their orchard and farm equipment, such as Clydesdale horses pulling ploughs, scoops and graders. Initially the ground would have been ploughed, then levelled using scoops and a horse drawn blade and finally rolled to produce a hard surface to play on. In addition plenty of manual labour would have been involved and it is likely that the Shire Council then did the asphalting in the 1920s.
TEMPLESTOWE TENNIS CLUB
The Templestowe park tennis club held a ‘basket picnic’ in the recreation reserve on Friday afternoon October 30, the occasion being the official opening of the new court, which ceremony was ‘performed ’ by Lady Best. Residents ofthe district attended in large numbers, and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was passed. The club president (Mr. W. J. Ross) introduced Lady Best, who unfurled a large Union Jack presented to the club by Mr. Ross, and as the colours were hoisted to the head of the flagstaff, the gathering joined in the National Anthem. In welcoming the guests present and referring to the events which led up to the possession of a tennis court by the residents of Templestowe, the president contended that not only those residing in Lower Templestowe, but the whole of the district should recognize that they had an interest in the park and should try to improve it. Lady Best in declaring the court open for play, apologised for the absence of Sir Robert Best (Federal Member for Kooyong 1910-1922), and congratulated the club on being in possession ofsuch a valuable adjunct, hoping that the court would conduce to the enjoyment of the residents. She then untied the blue and white ribbon, being the club colours, suspended across the court, which was received with three hearty cheers. The popular secretary of the club, Mr. E. P. Sheahan, on its behalf, thanked Lady Best for her attendance. Several games were played during the afternoon, and the court promises to become a centre of healthy enjoyment for the members.
Source: The official opening of the court was reported as follows in the local newspaper of the day, the Box Hill Reporter, in its edition of 6 November 1914.
The court at the Reserve was referred to by the players as the 'Top Court' or as the 'Recreation Reserve' court (sometimes shortened to 'Rec Reserve'), but several articles in the Box Hill Reporter show that the Council referred to this court as Templestowe Park Tennis Club as opposed to Templestowe Tennis Club which applied to the other courts at Ruffey Creek.
Social tennis was in full swing in the 1920s as evidenced by the following photographs taken during this period, supplied by former tennis player, Eric Uebergang, from the Aumann family collection. (Eric's mother was Bertha Aumann and he and his family played on the court).
Ethel Aumann, sister of Fred and Bertha from the Carl Aumann orchard in Rd.
George Beale (from Serpells Road orchard). Note the players' clothing, surface of the court, the shed at the right, Joe Beale's house in the back left corner.
An unknown lady in black tennis clothes. Joe Beale's house is in the background, where the top of Niland Rise is today.
Tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s,
Miss Ethel Aumann (1900-1994). A good player, she always looked elegant on and off the tennis court.
Players using the Top Court came mainly from the orcharding and dairy farming families in the eastern part of Templestowe and Doncaster. As can be seen from the photographs, there was a shed which functioned as a pavilion, and the court was at that time in the 1920s a rough dirt surface. The long dresses being worn in the previous photographs indicate the early 1920s but within the decade the dresses and sleeves had been shortened.
Jack Dempster in 1950, showing the 'Top Court' tennis shed in the background. Jack, a local football legend of the day, was a prolific goal kicker. The shed was a humble affair compared to the pavilion at the Ruffey Creek courts.
The photograph (above left) taken in 1947 at a social 'picnic day match' (a friendly match) between theTemplestowe orchardists and Diamond Creek orchardists, shows the Top Court with a good asphalt surface, and the ladies dressed in shorter dresses with short sleeves, the fashion that came into vogue in the late 1920s. (Below or above the knee varied from lady to lady. Did they agonise over this decision?) From right to left the Templestowe team are: Mavis Rasmussen, Howard Smith, Eric Uebergang (part hidden), Dulcie Uebergang, Linsey Aumann, Ellen Smith, Reg Crouch and Verna Chivers. The remaining seven on the left are from Diamond Creek.
Other members of the above families used these courts from the 1920s right through to the 1950s and they were joined by members of the Carrick, Fitzsimons, Jenkins, Mundy, Read, Roth and Serpell families.
Further players remembered, especially from the 1930s, include Ethel Aumann, Doris Beale, Joe and Vera Chivers, Percy Rasmussen and Ernie Roth. Several teams were entered into competition tennis during the 1930s, presumably in the BDLTA, but this stopped during the war. After the war this was not resumed, and a number of players in the late 1940s moved to the Ruffey Creek courts in order to play competition.
Keen players remembered from the 1940s (apart from those shown in the 1947 photograph) include Joyce Aumann, Dorothy Beale, Dorrie Carrick, David Jenkins, Ivy Smith, Jim Svanborg and Betty Tatterson (nee Jenkins).
The Top Court continued to be used for both organised and informal social play and for casual hitting especially by the teenagers and young adults.
Amongst the 1950s players in alphabetical order were:
Max and Joan Aumann Beverley Hawtin
Evelyn Blobel David, Graeme and Margaret Jenkins
Robert Brain Maurie Lancaster
Craig, Bruce and David Chivers Barry Orders
Peggy Crampton Bill Ramsey
Bernadette and Brendan Fitzsimons Gordon Rieschieck
Edna Flett Lionel Theobold
Physically separated from the two courts at Ruffey Creek, this court was always considered part of Templestowe Tennis Club, although the players here may not have been formally members of the Club. For example, an excerpt from Eric Uebergang's book on his mother's family, Carl Samuel Aumann The Family History 1853-1953 refers to Ethel Aumann, shown in the previous photograph as being 'a playing member of the Templestowe Tennis Club'.
Anyone could play on this court, as it was not kept locked. It was a real community tennis court in a rural setting where theft and vandalism were not a threat. Joe Beale who lived on the hill above the court acted as the court's 'caretaker', and a net was kept in a shed on his orchard.
The Top Court was a valuable social asset to the community, especially for the young people. Stories have been told by people who today are in their seventies and eighties, of what good times they had in the 1940s and 1950s. Apart from the desire to play tennis it was a place to socialize, not necessarily to meet new friends as people were mostly already acquainted, but tales are told of how new dancing steps were introduced in the shed and of various other activities that possibly (and did) occur behind the shed.
After the Second World War
The Second World War naturally impacted on tennis and other sports, with people being away in the armed forces, petrol rationing restricting travel and with a shortage of most commodities. Most sporting competitions ceased as did the BDLTA which ceased in 1942 until September 1945.
After the war, tennis resumed with great enthusiasm and the TTC at the Ruffey Creek courts again entered teams in the BDLTA Saturday afternoon competition. Eric Uebergang has a teaspoon engraved with 'BDLTA' for being in the Club's winning 'C'Grade team in the summer season of 1950/51. Another premiership team recalled by members comprised Barry Orders, Bill Ramsey, Wendy Petty and another lady playing in the 1958/59 Summer season. Both these winning teams, amongst others, are listed in the Club's 'List of Winning Teams' honour roll at the back of this history. In those days presentations to the successful teams were made at the Box Hill Town Hall.
The Club is fortunate to have obtained a list of players who are remembered from the post-war period, some who are still around today. Apart from those names mentioned above, listed below are some of the players, and their names are sure to stir up memories for some readers. Apologies to those who have been left out or forgotten as the information available cannot be considered complete. In alphabetical order the names include:
Tony Adams
Wally Affleck (from the Post Office)
Mary Cashen (formerly Mary Glasscock)
Ruth Clay & daughter June
Eric & Kath Dickason & sons David & John
Marie Finn
Edna Flett
Ian King
George & Molly Lancaster & son Maurie
Dorothy McNicol
Albert & Win Petty & daughter Wendy Eric Ross
Edna Smith (nee Mahoney)
Ron & Beryl Smith & daughter Brenda Jim Svanborg Bernie Thompson Dulcie Uebergang
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the development and subdivision of orchard and farming land into residential blocks starting to occur, the population in the Lower Templestowe and Templestowe areas began to grow rapidly. More people in the area wanted to play tennis; subsequently there was a need to provide the TTC with more tennis courts and to replace the two existing asphalt courts which had been in place at the Ruffey Creek site for nearly 50 years. These courts were now in poor condition with the Club having made a request to the Shire in 1958 for them to be repaired.
The Ruffey Creek site was nowalso being shared with theTemplestowe Bowling Club which had come into existence in 1948. The bowling surfaces originally laid were a mixture of earth and sawdust which proved unsatisfactory, then three years later they were converted to malthoid with shredded rubber on top (sarcastically referred to as 'bowling black'), but again this proved unsatisfactory and then finally they were converted to proper lawn greens in 1953. Like the provision of the tennis courts at Ruffey Creek and the Reserve, all of the work to provide the earlier bowling surfaces was carried out by the local people, mainly orchardists, using lots of initiative, energy and determination.
With no space for additional tennis courts and off-street parking for players of both sports already limited, it was time for the tennis club to find a new home.
During 1959 the Templestowe Reserve was extended to about 12 acres by the acquisition of 8 acres of the Hawtin dairy farm. A number of new developments to the existing sporting facilities on the Reserve took place soon after. A second oval was provided and the reconstruction of the existing oval to a much bigger main oval for football and cricket occurred. A new pavilion and facilities for the football and cricket clubs were built. Two asphalt netball courts (later to be converted to tennis courts) were installed. The 1st Templestowe Scout Group made their home at the Reserve in 1960 as did the Girl Guides in 1963. Playground equipment was installed in the early 1960s. The enlarged Reserve had indeed become a most valuable and versatile recreational asset for the rapidly growing suburb.
2008 Aerial photograph with surveyor's lines showing the original Reserve.
Annually on Melbourne Cup Day, from 1937 to 1967, a Gymkhana was held on the main oval and two photographs taken on Cup Day 1961, from the south-east hill, looking north and west across the Reserve, show the newly constructed tennis courts and scout hall.
Melbourne Cup Day 1961 - Gymkhana is being held. The two TPTC tennis courts built in 1961 are behind the Scout Hall at the left. The sports pavilion is in the centre with the oval to the right.
Melbourne Cup Day 1961 showing the Cool Store in the centre with the two TPTC tennis courts behind the scout hall and the sports pavilion in the bottom right hand corner. Land that is now part of Westerfolds Park can be seen in the background.
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1960s
The Club's New Home on the Reserve
Once the larger Reserve had been established and gazetted both the tennis and bowls clubs were approached by the Shire to relocate to the Reserve. For the tennis club this was a most appropriate time given its need to replace the existing asphalt courts and have space in the near future for additional courts. Agreement was reached with the Shire to re-locate and an amount of 1,840 pounds was set aside in the 1960 Shires capital works budget to construct two porous courts on the Reserve. In February 1961 these courts were constructed on the North West boundary of the Reserve with Court One being only 6 metres from the Hawtin Street boundary. Court One today also partially covers the site of the original Hawtin family home.
Construction of the First Two Courts
These porous courts (referred to as 'en-tout-cas' meaning all weather) which were constructed by E. T. Richards & Son (Allen) at a cost of 1,217 pounds, were the state of the art surface for tennis courts in those days in Melbourne, as the only alternative tennis court surfaces at that time were traditional lawn which was a seasonal surface suitable only for play for 6 or 7 months of the year and too expensive to install and maintain, or asphalt. In any case during the 1950s the LTAV, the governing body of tennis in Victoria had declared that its winter pennant competition, the most elite competition in the state, could only be played on porous courts, thus precluding asphalt.
Porous courts throughout Melbourne had become the norm since their introduction in the late 1920s and nearly all existing clubs had moved to using this surface. In the 30 years since these courts had been first introduced to Melbourne the term 'porous' had become a somewhat generic name really referring to an all weather surface which would drain quickly after rain and be playable all year round, subject to being properly maintained and watered. By the time this club's five courts had been built, various different types of draining and sub-base materials had been used such as ash (a by-product from the production of coal gas in gasometers), various aggregates of rock, stone, scoria and crushed brick dust.
With all these different materials having been used one can only be bemused by a report in a newspaper of the early 1930s about the first porous courts being constructed from 'very special' porous clay (sourced overseas), mixed and baked in accordance with 'secret' formulas. Other comments in the same newspaper article talk of a resilient surface, firm to the feet, a true and even bounce, nearly everlasting, very little wear on the tennis balls (even after five sets) and very little upkeep. For those members who have grown up playing on this Club's porous courts, particularly during the many drought years with water restrictions, and who have been involved with the regular maintenance, top dressing and rolling of the courts one wonders if the above comments could be considered relevant to what the playing surface was really like.
The construction of new porous courts and the establishment of new tennis clubs in and around the municipality were at a peak with Doncaster Tennis Club having porous courts built in 1950, Warrandyte in 1961 (next to an existing asphalt court), Bulleen in 1962 and Donvale in 1965.
John Richards, the grandson of E. T. Richards, who today continues the family tennis court construction business which was started in 1929, provided a detailed account of what was involved and the time frame required to construct these two courts at Templestowe Reserve in 1961. His account is summarised as follows:
It would have taken about three weeks to turn a green field site into two porous courts. The process involves removing the vegetation, excavating to get a level surface with a fall of 5 inches per length of court and 2 inches across, digging drains by hand, laying clay pipes, covering this with a 4 inch layer of ashes (derived from burnt coal) obtained from the gas works at Williamstown (about 100 tons per court), sealing this with 2 layers of different grades of scoria, then spreading 8 tons of crushed brick dust per each court, obtained from a brickworks at Camberwell Junction. The surface was then broomed, watered and compacted by using a motorised roller.
In the meantime, the fencing, the edges of the court surrounds (usually brick to hold the brick dust top surface), and the net posts were installed at appropriate stages. Towards the completion of the compacting and rolling process the nylex plastic lines were installed using galvanised nails. Another month of watering and rolling, carried out by club members, was necessary before the courts were ready for use, and a further three months before heavy competition play was advocated.
The First Use of the New Courts
From Shire Council minutes the new courts were declared ready for play in April 1961, and suffice to say that the forty or so members of the Club were quick to take up residency with competition matches and social tennis being played there immediately after the courts became available. The old Ruffey Creek site was vacated by the Club and quickly converted into a car parking area for the bowlers. This was later followed by expansion of the bowling greens. The pavilion was not dismantled until after the death of its builder, Ted Sheahan, in 1967.
It appears that one of the new courts was not made fully ready for play until June 1961, following a series of working bees held by Club members to complete surface rolling and other works. On the Queen's Birthday holiday an Opening Day Tournament in aid of the Box Hill Hospital was held. Forty-four players took part in a very enjoyable day, using both courts, and the Ladies Committee provided an excellent luncheon and afternoon tea. Club President, Mr Albert Petty, presented the trophies to the winners Mrs Dorrie Carrick and Mr Ron Smith.
As there was no tennis clubhouse yet provided for club members and visitors, they were required to make use of the existing Reserve pavilion and toilet block adjacent to the main oval, for afternoon teas and other necessities.
From the time of its occupancy at the Reserve the Templestowe Tennis Club changed its name and became known as the Templestowe Park Tennis Club (TPTC) with its address given as Templestowe Reserve, Porter St, Templestowe, 3106.
The First Members at the Reserve
Newcomers soon joined the forty or so players who had transferred from the Ruffey Creek courts. Membership of the tennis club in those early days at the Reserve had become an interesting mix of people, such as Albert Petty, who was President of the Club from 1952 to 1965, the Dickasons (Eric, Kath, sons David and John who were to have a big part in the establishment of the Club at its new home), Mary Cashen, the Clays, Lancasters, Mundys, Edna Smith, the Uebergangs, and others from the 'old' families, plus the 'newcomers' who had come to live in the area in recent years such as the Proudfoots (Jack, Gwen, son Leigh and daughter Heather), Ian Martindale, John and Pam Greve, Geoff and Bev Armstrong, Ralph and Brenda Yorke, and Aileen Whittley who is still a member today.
In addition, some of the players who had been using the Top Court on the North East side of the Reserve started to use the new courts and also became members of the Club. This old asphalt court was removed in 1962 after the reconstruction of the main oval had been completed and the cricket nets installed.
Building the Clubhouse
It became obvious, with the inconvenience of using shared facilities on the Reserve, that the Club needed to do something about building its own clubhouse, and it looked internally to its own members for assistance. In 1962 Mr Ian Martindale, an architect by profession, prepared a set of drawings for the construction of the first stage of a clubhouse of about 50 square metres in size.
The building was to be of concrete block (Besser brick) construction with open web steel joists built on a concrete slab and was to have a flat galvanised iron roof with a 'stramit' modular type ceiling. Sliding glass doors were to be provided along the front facing the courts. This type of low cost construction method was similar to that being used for schools and other public buildings at the time. Being restricted by the limitation of funds available, the kitchen, change rooms and toilets were not included, although a bench and sink were located at one end of the proposed building. The kitchen and change rooms were not added until 1972. Toilets and showers came later.
The building plans were duly submitted to the Council, firstly to get specific approval to use the Besser bricks and then for overall planning approval. Funding was obtained by getting a bank loan which was guaranteed by Council and supplemented by member contributions.
Work commenced in March 1963 and was quickly completed by July. Club member Eric Dickason who was a Building Construction Manager by profession took on the role to project manage the construction and to carry out some of the building works, ably assisted by his two sons David and John and other Club members. Subcontractors were engaged to carry out other specific parts of the project such as the roofing and plumbing.
This first clubhouse remains as the central section of the current building. A table tennis table took pride of place in the centre on the bare concrete floor.
Membership Growth
And so during the 1960s with the Club at its new home, membership gradually increased from around 50 in 1961 to 100 members at the end of the decade. The Club's records on membership numbers reveal, however, that there were only about lOjuniors throughout this period. Precise membership numbers throughout the 1960s and 1970s area little unclear for some years, but nevertheless the chart'Annual Membership Numbers ofTPTC' shown later in this history provides a trend on the rises and falls in membership over the last fifty years.
In front of the new Clubhouse on the Queen's Birthday Club members at Alexandra. L:R John Greve, Geoff
weekend in 1964. L:R Harry Rooney, Jack Proudfoot, Armstrong and Pam Greve.
Kathleen Dickason, Peg Parker, Trevor Parker, Wendy Proudfoot and Eric Dickason.
Competition Tennis
During the transfer of the Club from the Ruffey Creek location to the Reserve, the Club maintained its affiliation with the Blackburn District Lawn Tennis Association which was subsequently renamed the Eastern Metropolitan Region Lawn Tennis Association (EMRLTA) in 1961, taking in other Associations covering a wider area. Each year mixed and men's teams were entered in the Summer and Winter Saturday afternoon competitions, whilst the first ladies' team was entered in the Midweek Tuesday competition in the summer of 1961/62.
The Club does not have records on the number of teams that competed in each competition, but we do know that a number of pennants were won during this decade and these are listed in the 'List of Winning Teams' honour roll at the end of this history. All past and present members are invited to go through this list to remember the winning teams they may have been involved in, to reminisce and to bask in old glory where appropriate.
Building of Two Additional Courts (Courts 3 and 4)
Within three years of moving to the Reserve, and as the membership had grown rapidly, there was a desperate need for more courts. In 1964, in a letter sent from the Club President Albert Petty and Secretary Ian Martindale to the Town Clerk of the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe, the Club lobbied for additional courts to be provided. The letter indicated that they had been forced into limiting the intake of members to only those of an acceptable playing standard, that use of the existing courts at the weekend was very heavy and that there was simply no capacity to train juniors to improve their playing standard.
The letter was favourably received, and in 1965 two additional courts, fully funded by the Shire, were built by E. T. Richards and Son adjacent to and directly in line with existing Courts 1 & 2. Obviously the new courts became known as Courts 3 & 4.
The extra courts were well received as there was an immediate need to accommodate more senior and junior teams for competitive play. Also a very active social tennis group was playing on Sunday afternoons, when it was not uncommon, even with the four courts now available, for members to wait for one or two sets before getting on a court for a game. Sometimes sets were limited to half an hour or eight games, and court captains were selected to organise matches and even ring a bell at the end of the half an hour set time. For Saturday competition team tennis, only one court was available all afternoon and sharing of a second court was usually not possible.
Social Activities and Fundraising
During the latter part of the 1960s a great amount of Club social activities, apart from the regular competition and social tennis, started to take place. A very active Social Committee consisting of Lesley Wright, Maggie White, Brian Moore, Ted Minogue and Geoff Armstrong organised a number of well attended functions. There were Crazy Whist card nights held on a regular basis, theatre nights to some of the great live shows of the period, car rallies, ten pin bowling outings, picture nights and informal BBQs held at the Dickasons.
Interclub social tennis days were occasionally held in conjunction with the Koonung Park Tennis Club and played on grass courts at Kyneton and Creswick, enabling members to return to the grass roots of traditional lawn tennis where the game began.
Table Tennis
There was also an enthusiastic group of male table tennis players who played at the clubhouse for a number of years from 1965. The Club entered a night team in the Diamond Valley Table Tennis Association (DVTTA) with Eric Dickason, Brian Moore, Neville Wright and others playing. It is not certain whether the tables or lighting at some of the venues in those days were really up to competition standard, but the advice from those who participated was that a lot of enjoyment was had, particularly playing doubles in the narrow confines of some venues. In 1975 the Club won the "A" Grade pennant in the DVTTA competition. It is no coincidence that there has always been a table tennis table in the clubhouse over the last 50 years which even today gets regular use by the juniors between tennis lessons and sets.
Easter Country Tournaments
During this decade a great tradition was started which has continued to this day, that is of Club members and their families playing in country grass court Easter tournaments. The first tournament played in was at Yarrawonga where members stayed in the caravan park adjoining the courts. Amongst the families attending in the early years were the Dickasons, Armstrongs, Greves, Wrights, Larcombes, Proudfoots and Patti Serpell. John Dickason usually took his speed boat and a number of members learnt to ski on the Murray River or alternatively came to grief there. Caravans were available for hire, and the word is that on one occasion two families shared a caravan leaving it spotlessly clean only to be told in no uncertain terms the next year, when they returned, that they had left an ice-cream block in the freezer which subsequently melted and ended up all over the floor.
It was due to an encephalitis outbreak around the Murray River in the latter part of the 1960s that members stopped attending the tournament in Yarrawonga.
On another occasion a group of members played in a tournament at Alexandra, camping on the local oval. On the second day of the tournament a storm blew up, flattening and flooding the tents and annexes. The tennis club secretary took pity on the group and organised temporary accommodation in her large country house. During this decade club members also played in country tournaments at Bacchus Marsh, Warrnambool and Geelong, all with a fair share of success.
By the mid 1970s Club members started going to the Echuca Easter grass court tournament, and without exception every year since then some members and their families have been in attendance. The Club history of this Easter event still continues today and over a thirty-five year period of playing at Echuca, two families, the Wrights and the Davies have had three generations of players represented.
The number of TPTC members playing in the Echuca tournament peaked during the mid 1980s with 33 members playing in 1983. During this period members either took their caravans or camped in the caravan park adjacent to the park where the tennis club is located. Many families stayed in motels in Echuca and Moama and when no accommodation was available there, at Rochester and Kyabram. It became the norm for members to book their caravan sites and motels a year in advance to avoid missing out. And so began the tradition of always being available for the 8.30 am call from the tournament box on an Easter Saturday or Sunday to play the first match of the day and to literally clear the court of the overnight dew with slippery wet runners and soggy tennis balls.
In recent years during the 2000s another group from TPTC has returned to play the Yarrawonga tournament and in many ways playing at Easter tournaments has become an extension of the Club's social life.
Midweek Ladies
Midweek Ladies interclub competition started in the Tuesday Ladies division of EMRLTA, when a team consisting of Mary Cashen, Kath Dickason, Peg Parker, Gwen Proudfoot and Aileen Whittley was entered for the Summer season 1961/62. The team was a mix of players from old established families and from so called 'newcomers' who had moved into the area in the late 1940s and 1950s. Maggie White joined the club soon after, and by 1964 there were enough players for a second team to be formed. This had increased to six teams by the end of the decade.
Among the new players who joined during the 1960s (in chronological order) were: Pam Greve, Bev Armstrong, Beryl Larcombe, Brenda Yorke, Wilma Fitzgerald, Lesley Wright, Lorraine Baker, Dawn Poole, Sandra McPherson, Jackie Robinson, Judy Moore and Judy Bannerman, amongst many others. There were some strong players among these ladies, and the Club had two Section 1 teams for a while during the late 1960s and won the flag twice.
Late 1960s L:R Dawn Poole, Peg Parker, Lesley Wright, Aileen Whittley, Mary Cashen.
As the Club grew rapidly in the late 1960s and 1970s the Midweek Ladies' group expanded to include teams competing in the Eastern District Women's Tennis Association (EDWTA) Wednesday competition from 1973, as all available four courts on Tuesday were filled with up to eight teams playing EMRLTA. This grew to six Wednesday teams by the end of the decade.
It is interesting and pleasing to note that the ladies playing in teams are more often than not referred to as 'girls', even those admitting to being over sixty. This is still the situation today! (So is this politically correct?).
Coaching and Juniors
The first coach in the 1960s was Mr Warren (recalled as 'an older gentleman'), and he was succeeded by Mr Barry Collinson who was appointed in March 1966. The committee wanted to attract more juniors to become members of the Club, and courts were made available for coaching on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Juniors who were coached by Barry included Yvonne Beale, John and Julie Martindale, and Julie Serpell.
Later in 1966 the Committee discussed with the coach the possibility of entering a Junior Mixed team in the EMRLTA Saturday morning competition and subsequently a team was entered in the 1966/67 summer season.
Barry continued as coach until 1972 when he resigned due to work commitments. Some thirty years later he rejoined the Club, played Saturday competition for several seasons and is still currently playing socially.
Club Administration and New Constitution
The various committees during the 1960s were kept busy with the administrative functions of the Club, with negotiations with the Shire for its relocation to the Reserve, with building the new courts in 1961 and 1965 and with construction of the first stage of the clubhouse in 1963.
In 1965 a new Constitution was written and approved to replace the previous one of 1959. Of interest in the new Constitution were the Club colours designated as Oxford blue and white and that the Club logo was to be in the shape of several pine trees. The pine tree design was based on the many groves of pine trees planted by the early orchardists in the Templestowe area as wind barriers. A number of these pine trees can still be seen today throughout the municipality.
The Annual Subscriptions for 1965 were set by the Club Committee as:
Seniors: 4 Guineas ($8.40) (Note a Guinea = IPd/ISh or 21 Shillings)
Midweek: 3 Guineas ($6.30) (In today's currency a Guinea = $2.10)
Juniors: 1 Pound/10 Shillings ($3)
Whilst it is unrealistic to compare the equivalent dollar figures of today's subscriptions rates, the Seniors annual subscription of 4 Guineas would have been about 13% of the average weekly wage in 1965. This compares to the Club's current subscription for 2011 being $190 for a Full Member which is about 15% of the average weekly wage today. This indicates that over the last forty-five years the Club has maintained its subscription levels in line with inflation and cost of living increases, but it should also be noted that the current subscription of $190 is a much more inclusive one for members covering ball money and other incidental costs that would have not been included in 1965.
When comparing the Club's fees imposed in 1965 with other suburban clubs of comparable size at that time, its fees were considerably lower by about 30%, but it has to be said that in those early days at the Reserve the clubhouse facilities still needed to be extended to include the kitchen and toilets, further courts were yet to come and court floodlighting was still some way off.
Life Member
In 1967 Albert Petty was made the first recorded Life Member of the Club for his many years of service, particularly as President from 1952 to 1965, during which period the Club had relocated to its new home at the Reserve.
It should be noted that 'Alby' Petty, an orchardist from the east end of Porter Street, was a remarkable sportsman (football, cricket, tennis, bowls and golf) and a major contributor to the community. He was President of Templestowe Cricket Club as well as the tennis club, and Secretary of the Memorial Hall Committee. He was one of the main organisers of the annual Gymkhanas, and very involved in the fundraising Auxiliary of Box Hill Hospital of which he was made a Life Member. In his younger days he was also known to appear on stage at the Memorial Hall in theatrical productions.
Court Maintenance
The Committee was very conscious of the need to properly maintain its new courts to ensure the playing surfaces were kept in top class condition and to extend their longevity, and the usual regimes were put in place to bag the courts after each set and during the warmer months to water the courts before play commenced and before each set. As a matter of course large diameter hoses were located between the courts and the water was literally poured on the courts to keep the top surface damp. On particularly hot windy summer days, even without tennis being played, there were members who attended the courts and watered them to keep the top surface from being blown away. In later years a water sprinkler system was installed which was operated for hours during the night to keep the courts damp and ready for play. Regular working bees were organised to top dress the courts with additional brick dust delivered to the club in 20 kg bags, and to carry out watering, rolling and any other repairs to lines, fences, etc.
In 1968, because of drought conditions, water restrictions came into force and tennis clubs were limited to watering their porous courts with only watering cans. The Club procured a number of metal watering cans to hand water the courts, but this was really quite useless as generally the courts became bone dry before the set hit-up had finished or after the first couple of games had been played. This was the worst possible condition for playing on the courts from a player comfort perspective and for court damage.
Clubs had been advised that sprinkling Calcium Chloride granules on the court surfaces would keep them damp, as the moisture in the night air would be absorbed by the granules as would also the water applied from watering cans. This process was carried out but it was not very successful, as the first time a summer thunderstorm with heavy rain occurred the Calcium Chloride granules were washed away or disintegrated and became ineffective. It was a great relief for tennis clubs when the drought ended.
Private Courts in Templestowe
Towards the end of the 1960s and onwards into the next decade the proliferation of private tennis courts in the Templestowe area started to occur, as more one acre housing development lots became available and orchards and grazing land were subdivided. By the end of the 1970s Templestowe had the reputation of being, arguably, the municipality with the highest density of private tennis courts in the world. This certainly had an influence on the growth of Club membership during the next fifteen years. Fortunately with a number of members having their own private courts, the Club was able to call on their use at various times when there were more junior and senior teams entered in competition than its own courts could accommodate. This was not always ideal, and from time to time created some logistical problems with visiting teams needing to be notified of venues in advance and some people getting lost.
The Close of the Decade
The 1960s had been a momentous period for the TPTC with its major achievement of getting established at the Reserve. At this stage in its history, however, the Club was not ready, without the necessary change room and shower facilities, to enter teams into the LTAV winter Pennant competition which was played across the entire Melbourne metropolitan area and as far away as Geelong. As a result a number of the TPTC's better competition players left the Club to pursue their careers elsewhere at bigger clubs in the municipality such as Bulleen and Donvale. It would not be until 1979 that TPTC entered teams in Pennant.
1970s
The Consolidation Period - Assets and Membership Growth
Coaching and Juniors
With the resignation of Barry Collinson, the Club coach, in early 1972 the Committee immediately began the search for a new coach and was fortunate to obtain the services of Mr Jim Reddoch who was appointed in June of the same year. During Jim's tenure until he resigned in 1983 due to ill health, the number of juniors becoming members of the Club increased and junior teams were entered in Girls, Boys and Mixed competitions. Within several years as many as eight teams and in excess of forty players were participating. As a result, under Jim's guidance, the standard of junior tennis improved and on many occasions when opportunities arose Jim would arrange for some students to be given additional coaching from advanced coaches.
From 1971 Maggie White took on the role of Junior Convenor to select and manage the teams for EMRLTA competition. This required her to be in attendance at the tennis courts from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm every Saturday morning during both the summer and winter seasons. This was in addition to her other involvement with various committees and Midweek Ladies tennis. There are members of the Club today who were juniors or parents of juniors back when Maggie ran the show who fondly remember the amount of effort that she put in to the juniors program. It reminds us all how suburban tennis clubs (and other local sporting bodies for that matter) usually always have had to rely on a small group of volunteers to manage and administer Club activities.
From 1971 on, the Club had a core group of juniors who played together over a number of years and were the start of thriving junior tennis at TPTC. This group included, amongst several others, Michael Browne, David and Jenny Heath, Shelley Langtree, Howard Masters, Rene Vanllnen and Greg White. By 1975 the number of teams had grown to five, and to seven by 1980.
1977/78 Summer Junior Girls Section 5 Premiers.
L:R Shelley Wright, Alison Platts, Marsha Rosenbaum, Julie Cingovski. Not in picture Melinda Treacey.
Club Membership
Towards the end of the decade the Club's membership had doubled in size from just under 100 to nearly 200 and this was putting increased pressure on the number of courts available at weekends for junior and senior competition tennis. By 1977 and 1978 the Club had reached the maximum number of teams it could field on Saturdays for its four courts. In those days there was no such luxury of using two courts per team or sharing a second court for match play. In addition social tennis on a Saturday was simply not possible due to the lack of courts.
Also, a number of young adult and teenage players now wanted to test themselves in the elite LTAV Pennant competition which played both singles and doubles matches in the 'best of three set rubbers' format. For this to happen the clubhouse facilities would have to be upgraded to include toilets and showers to meet the entry requirements into Pennant.
The increase in membership came mainly from people who resided in the Templestowe and Lower Templestowe areas with some of the families who joined the Club in the 1970s living close by in adjacent Hawtin Street. Within a stone's throw or perhaps a miss-hit lob from Court 1 lived Ken and Faye Greenhill with their sons Darren, Vaughan and Matthew, all of whom were to be active members for the next two decades, playing in Pennant and EMRLTA teams, and with Ken serving as President in 1981 and 1982. Ted and Marlene Minogue with their sons Andrew, David, Peter and Mark, who lived a couple of houses away from the Greenhills, were also all active playing members during the 1970s and 1980s. Living so close meant that these families were considered by many as the caretakers and guardians of the courts and the clubhouse during this period, providing court keys for members and arranging court hire for visitors when required.
Selection Committees
With increased numbers of players wanting to play competition the role of the Club's Selection Committee became more important, with its three main tasks being, to determine if an applicant seeking to join the Club could play at an acceptable standard, to select players for the various teams and to nominate who would be the captain for each team.
Being selected as a captain of a team was considered, by some members, to be avoided at all costs as it required distributing fixtures to all team members, organising playing rosters, organising emergencies, collecting and chasing up team ball money, collecting player performance statistics, and probably the most onerous task of all being required to organise team players to umpire finals matches. It was amazing how so few players would be available to umpire after the home and away season had finished. This was a requirement of EMRLTA which thankfully was abolished in later years. There was a real incentive to not finish at the bottom of the ladder and have to umpire.
Players who were not used to playing in matches that were umpired could become quite cantankerous if they felt that line calls had gone against them or had been warned for continuously foot faulting. In one final played at the Club which took three Saturday afternoons to complete due to rain interruptions, one of our umpires who had to be in attendance and 'front up' for the three Saturdays was threatened that his 'lights would be punched out' over a contentious call. Umpiring could be a thankless task.
Life Members
In the early 1980s the Club farewelled the Dickason family when they left the Templestowe area to retire to Queensland. Eric Dickason had been made a Life Member in 1972 for his long service to the Club in various committee roles including being President from 1966 to 1972. The Dickason family had made a major contribution to the Club for over twenty years, both on and off the court.
The Dickasons: Kath, David, John and Eric.
Edna Smith became a Life Member in 1969 for her service to the Club over twenty years, particularly with her involvement in the running of the Midweek Ladies. This was to continue for another twenty years until her retirement from tennis in the late 1980s.
Maggie White became a Life Member in 1978 for her service to the Club on the General, Midweek Ladies and Social Committees for many years, and for her outstanding contribution as Junior Convenor since 1971. Maggie's involvement continued into the early 1990s when she left the district.
Ken Johnson became a Life Member in 1979 for his long service to the Club, including serving on the General Committee, helping with maintenance, and as a delegate to EMRLTA for many years.
The Clubhouse Extension and an Additional Court
In 1972 the clubhouse was extended to the west by a further 20 square metres to include both the men's and ladies' change rooms. The building construction was similar to that of the original clubhouse. The installation of toilets had to wait another five years until the MMBW had put in the sewerage connection to the Reserve. In early 1979 a second toilet and showers were added to each change room, which met the requirements for entering teams into Pennant.
A Century of Tennis in Tempy
27
The long awaited fifth porous court was added in 1979 to the east side of the existing four courts. This court which was built by E. T. Richards and Son required a considerable amount of filling at the northeast corner where the area occupied by the court had been part of the embankment down to the adjacent car park which was sited at a much lower level. This court was completed by October 1978 but, due to the mandatory six to eight weeks of rolling and watering for the court to settle and to avoid the worst summer months of dry weather, it was not used until early 1979.
Floodlighting and the Commencement of Night Tennis
It was during the late 1970s that nighttennis started to become popular with summer and winter night competitions commencing at 7 pm, attracting players who had a preference for competition during the week after work rather than at weekends. With the completion of Court 5 in 1979 the Club erected flood lighting on Courts 4 and 5. This installation consisted of four nine metre tilt poles (which are still in use) mounted on a concrete plinth at each corner of the two courts with a single floodlight fitting containing a 1500 watt metal halide lamp on each pole (these lamps would be later upgraded to 2000 watt). This lighting, which was considered state of the art at the time, was very well received by members. Within a year or two the Club was entering teams in the North Eastern Night Tennis Group (NENTG) competition played on Tuesday nights.
A mixed social group organised by Ruby Bishop and Sheila Cooper commenced playing on Wednesday nights. A group of male members, initially organised by Ernie Chin, began playing regular social tennis on Thursday nights. This men's social group has continued to this day, some thirty years later, playing on a Thursday night starting at 6.30 pm. With such longevity it is appropriate to mention some of the early members of this group from the 1970s still playing. Neville Wright, Brian Moore, Max Brewer and Peter Davies are amongst this group of stayers.
All of the above works required the Club to fund its share of the costs, as by the late 1970s the City of Doncaster and Templestowe had established a funding arrangement with tennis clubs (and other sporting bodies) which in most instances required the club to fund 50% of the capital works involved with building works, court construction and floodlighting. To this end the Committee was conscious of this funding requirement and had been prudent throughout the previous ten years to put away its share of the funding for the additional tennis court and the floodlighting.
Men's Night Tennis Group and their spouses socialising.
Changes to Administration of Tennis in Victoria
Whilst 1979 was probably the most progressive year for the Club to date in terms of its additional court, the floodlighting for Courts 4 and 5 and the change room improvements, major changes also occurred in the administration of tennis in Victoria and also at EMRLTA level which would have an impact on this Club, and indeed most tennis clubs in Victoria, in regards to competition tennis and their players.
After a protracted and at times acrimonious battle fought between the 'Kooyong for its Members' group and the LTAV over the use of the tennis courts and associated clubhouse/stadium assets at Kooyong, most of the 53 delegates from the clubs and associations who effectively had made up the bulk of the LTAV's 74 member council had been voted out of office at the LTAV annual meeting in 1978. As a result Kooyong became a private tennis club with its focus on its own members' requirements.
The old LTAV council took on the status of being in exile and after several meetings with the delegates of the expelled Victorian clubs and associations decided in 1979 to form the Victorian Tennis Association (VTA), the new state body to manage and run tennis in Victoria including the winter Pennant competition.
During the late 1970s the number of teams competing in EMRLTA competitions had grown significantly, and by the summer season of 1978/79 there were 325 senior and 385 junior teams entered in competition. The winter season of 1979 had over 383 senior and 371 junior teams playing. A number of new clubs that had just been established in the Waverley area also wanted to affiliate with EMRLTA and submit teams. The TPTC was geographically the furthermost North-West club in EMRLTA and clubs as far away as Wellington and Bennetswood were now also part of the Association. In 1979 EMRLTA decided to support the establishment of a new Waverley District Tennis Association, roughly with the borderline between the two Associations being the Burwood Highway. The new WDTA which commenced in the Summer season of 1979/80 had the effect of reducing the overall size of EMRLTA by about 30% and shortened the distances needed to be travelled by away teams.
In 1979 EMRLTA revised its by-laws to permit players to wear coloured outfits. Up until then tennis clothing had been restricted to predominantly white with the addition of pastel colours only. A ban on tracksuits during competition play still remained. Team and player photographs of the early 1970s (see below) show wooden racquets strung with gut were still in use but were starting to be replaced by metal racquets with synthetic strings. In line with the international tour tournaments, yellow tennis balls had been introduced at club level and a wider range of racquet and ball manufacturers had started to compete with the traditional suppliers Dunlop, Slazenger and Spalding. Clearly since the introduction of Open tennis in the late 1960s and with the Australian Open returning permanently to Melbourne in 1971, interest in what equipment the top players were using and who was sponsoring them continued to grow. The changes that had occurred during the 1970s in the range of tennis equipment and clothing now available to the club player were enormous.
EMRLTA 1973 Mixed Section 6 - Premiers. L:R Back: Dick EMRLTA 1975 Men's Section 2 - Premiers
Holroyd, Brian Moore, Ted Minogue. L:R Front: Gail L:R Trevor Habel, David Wright, Les Heath, Ron Baker. Ellis, Margaret Walder, Dianne Secombe, Judy Moore.
A Century of Tennis in Tempy
29
The Introduction of VTA Pennant
The VTA (successor of the LTAV and predecessor of Tennis Victoria), has long hosted Australia's strongest inter-club tennis competition. Known simply as Pennant and played in the winter months, the Victorian competition is the envy of other states.
Up until 1985 the VTA used an alphabetical seven level grading system for Pennant - A, B Special, B, C Special, C, D Special and D. In 1986 a numerical system was introduced starting at State Grade and then moving down from Grade 1 to, in some years, as low as Grade 16. The changes meant less teams were entered in each grade, but premierships still remained highly sought after with some grades still featuring more than 5 sections with 8 teams in each. To win a Grade premiership could require winning five or six finals matches.
With the Club now qualified and able to enter teams into Pennant, a women's team and two men's teams were entered in 1979, our inaugural year.
Of the two men's teams entered, one was a C Grade team which included Peter Davies, Robert Mascitti, Howard Masters, Lance Masters and David Wright, the other a D Grade team with a number of the Club's promising junior players participating.
With a continuing number of promising younger players coming through the ranks, the Club in its second year of Pennant entered a women's team in D Grade with juniors Nicole Masters, Julia Mayne, Sally Mayne and Shelley Wright participating. After an epic series of finals the team finished Runners Up in a competition which started with more than 70 teams.
It was novel in those days to see players running around playing singles and with each team using two courts all afternoon for their matches. In some quarters there was a resistance to what was regarded as being an extravagant use of the Club's limited court capacity. Little did the Club know then that in 1991 and 1992 we would enter teams in Mens State Grade, Grade 1 and Grade 2, being at the highest levels of Pennant competition.
Also playing in the early Pennant years was the Club's most promising junior, Ian Peter-Budge, who was to commence his senior playing career. After winning the Club's singles championships in 1982,1983 and 1984 Ian would go on to play at the highest level and tour overseas, firstly winning a number of satellite tournaments including the Goldtown Open in 1988 (played at Warrandyte Tennis Club). Ian made the main draw of the Australian Open in 1991 and 1992 and, after finishing touring overseas, he played State Grade at a number of clubs including Donvale, Dingley, Dendy Park and MCC for fifteen years. Today Ian is a successful coach on the Melbourne tennis scene.
Ian Peter-Budge playing at Warmambool in 1986.
30
The History ofTemplestowe Park Tennis Club 1912-2012
Ian is the son of Alan and Anne Peter-Budge (and Sue's brother), one of the early Templestowe orchardist families actively involved with the Club throughout the 1970s, together with other orchardist families such as the Jenkins, Smiths, Chivers and Aumanns, all of whom had one or more of their family members playing competition or social tennis. The connection with the old orchardist families remained strong during this period.
Throughout his early playing career Ian was coached and mentored by Leo Ware who was a teacher at Templestowe Primary School and a well known tennis player. Leo was a member of the Club in the 1980s and early 1990s, playing Pennant and Club championships during that period. Leo also successfully coached a number of other promising junior members at private courts throughout the Templestowe area, several of whom were to go on and play at high levels of Pennant.
Club Championships
Club singles and doubles championships commenced in 1976. The inaugural winners of the senior singles championships were David Wright and Diana Mayne, and in doubles the men's winners were David Wright and Brian Moore with the ladies winners being Aileen Whittley and Lesley Wright. It is interesting to note that thirty-five years later David Wright and Diana Mayne are the current long term serving President and Secretary of the Club. All of the doubles winners in 1976 are still involved in the Club.
Senior mixed doubles championships were commenced in 1977 and junior singles in 1978.
The championships were to be a successful annual event that continued throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, but all events were to fizzle out in 1994 due to the dramatic drop in membership at that time, and a general lack of interest from members. However, with the support of our current coach Jeremy MacKay, the junior championships were revived in 2005, the senior men's championships in 2007 with the ladies in 2009, and all have been contested since then.
Lists of our Club champions in singles, doubles and mixed categories have been included at the back of this history (the mixed doubles and junior singles unfortunately are incomplete).
Social Activities and Annual Presentation Nights
During the 1970s, whilst the competitive side of the club was growing with more teams competing for pennants and club championships now underway, social tennis played on Sundays continued to be strongly attended with Round Robin tournaments being held, sometimes using a handicap format and generally with a time limit on sets as all four courts were in demand. Other off court social activities during the 1970s were an Art Show held in the Guide and Brownie Hall (now demolished) which was next door to the clubhouse, a Dinner Dance held at the Veneto Club in Bulleen, a Tivoli live theatre show, pool parties and ice skating nights at the Ringwood rink. It also became the tradition at the end of each season for the weekend competition players to celebrate with 'bring your own everything' BBQs including meat, salads, bread, drink and any other largesse considered appropriate.
Annual Presentation Nights commenced in December 1980 at the Templestowe Memorial Hall. These were to become a tradition for the Club to award prizes to its Club Championship winners. These functions were subsequently held at a number of different locations including the South Warrandyte Hall, Bulleen Tennis Club, Templestowe Hotel, Park Orchards Chalet and the Templestowe Football Club.
After Club championships had lapsed in the mid 1990s, the format of the annual function changed, focussing on all age groups getting together on the first Sunday in December to play some social tennis and to celebrate Christmas with a spit roast and lots of prizes. This function has continued every year and is always well attended. Its success has been due to a dedicated group of ladies who have made up the Club's Social Committee, Lesley Wright, Pat Davies, Faye Tse, Shirley Launder and Beverley Wright all ably supported by their husbands. This dedicated group have organised the catering, decorated the clubhouse, prepared the tables, provided afternoon tea, gathered the prizes from local businesses, organised the social tennis and invited Santa. This was done every year until in recent times when Club coach Jeremy MacKay took on the organisation.
At Kooyong 1971. L:R Sylvia Boon, Judy 1976/77 EMRLTA Summer Section 5L:R Barbara
Bannerman, Lorraine Baker, Ruby Bishop. Treacey, Betty Riseley, Joy Hopgood, Marg
Langtree, Eva Bettiol.
L:R Margery Doidge,Pam Farrant, Margaret Russell,
Aileen Whittley, Lesley Wright.
L:R Marjorie Hofman, Aileen Whittley, Lesley Wright, Diana Mayne.
1980s_
Boom Times for Tennis - Golden Era for the Midweek Ladies
Membership Numbers Peak
The 1980s was considered to be the boom decade for tennis in Australia, with membership levels at most clubs, including TPTC, growing at rapid rates. A look at the membership chart below confirms that numbers grew from just over 200 in 1980 to peak at 406 members in 1987 of which 181 were juniors. Junior membership peaked in 1989 at 196. Such was the demand to become a member that a waiting list was introduced for several years until overall levels started to drop at the end of the decade.
Annual membership numbers of TPTC
The popularity of the sport at the elite level - with Australia winning the Davis Cup in 1983 and 1986 (defeating the Swedes on both occasions in epic contests at Kooyong), the Swedes Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg dominating the Men's event and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert-Lloyd the Women's event at the Australian Open Championships in the mid 1980s, Pat Cash winning Wimbledon in 1987, and the opening of Flinders Park Tennis Centre in 1988--all helped to create an interest in playing tennis at club level not to be matched at any time since.
The TPTC Midweek Ladies featured prominently in this Golden Era for the Club, and it is appropriate to give an account here of how this section of the Club operated.
Life Among the Midweek Ladies
Social tennis was a big feature during the 1970s and 1980s. Monday and Thursday mornings were allocated for social tennis and it was during these days when newcomers were assessed as to when and whether they were ready to play competition. Many ladies came to the club as adult beginners and worked their way into teams in this way through the social tennis with some ending up in high level teams.
For Midweek team selection one had to appear at one or more of the Thursday selection days in February (for winter teams) and again selection days were held in the lead up to the summer season. The Midweek AGM was held for many years on one of the Thursday selection days in February, to ensure the maximum number of ladies would attend. Records show that the maximum attendance at a Midweek AGM was 56 in 1978.
The Selection Committee was carefully appointed at AGMs with nominations received, seconded and voting carried out if necessary, with the aim to ensure fair representation across all standards of tennis. Members of the Selection Committee were required to rotate on a two year basis with some stepping down and others joining each year.
Midweek Ladies AGM 1984 - Is there serious business on the Agenda to attend to?
From the mid 1960s until the mid 1980s when Thursday social tennis was at its most popular, it was normal for players to have to wait to get on a court. Often 40 or more ladies would attend. Court Captains were required to work out who would play with whom, trying to ensure that everyone had good tennis and enjoyable sets. It became easier to do this after one of the organisers, Jackie Robinson, introduced a Ladder Board with the players' names on movable pegs to indicate the next sets to go on.
During the 1970s and the 1980s in particular, with a large and cohesive Midweek Ladies group, there were many social and fundraising functions organised by the Social Committee that was appointed at each AGM. Such was the interest during this period that there were always plenty of women prepared to volunteer to help organise the tournaments, luncheons and outings that were held every year and participated in by many.
Midweek Ladies tennis has been a major strength in the life of the Club since its relocation to the Reserve in 1961 and there has always been a core group of ladies prepared to manage and coordinate this side of the Club's operations. The first recorded Midweek Ladies meeting was held in June 1971. In 1974 a meeting of the Midweek Ladies Executive Committee consisting of Aileen Whittley, Mary Hay, Jackie Robinson and Edna Smith introduced a new constitution (Rules and Regulations) which, after adoption, put the group on a sound organisational basis. Properly constituted meetings and election of office bearers took place thereafter.
The List of the Presidents of the Midweek Ladies since 1971 is provided at the back of this history. All of the Club's female Life Members, namely Edna Smith, Maggie White, Anne Peter-Budge, Lorraine Baker, Diana Mayne and Lesley Wright, were involved in the Midweek Ladies as well as in other areas of the Club. Edna, Maggie and Lorraine contributed hugely to the Midweek Ladies in their own various ways, and Diana has spent fifteen years as Secretary.
The Presidents have included some handcraft 'experts' who have used their skills for the benefit of the Club. Joy McGregor, for example, who at various times was also Secretary, Record Secretary, a Selector and Court Captain, was responsible for the making up of two magnificent patchwork quilts, aided by several Club members with similar needlework skills. These were raffled, making a considerable profit for Club funds. Pamela Molloy, as well as serving as a Selector, Treasurer, Association Delegate and eleven years as President, has donated many of her beautiful machine knitted handcraft items for Club raffles.
Other ladies who have rendered ten years or more of service to the Midweek Ladies in various roles were:
Jaki Beaver - Secretary, Social Committee, Selector, Court Captain and Association Delegate.
Wilma Corfield - Clubhouse Provisioning.
Carol Moule - Social Committee, Selector and Association Delegate.
Marie Poulson - Social Committee, Selector, Court Captain and Clubhouse Provisioning.
Jackie Robinson - Oaks Day tournaments, Thursday social tennis and Committees.
Olive Ryan - Treasurer for 8 years, Social Committee and Clubhouse Provisioning.
There were MANY other members who also made valuable contributions which were much appreciated, as were those mostly same ladies who attended working bees and supported the social and fundraising events. The impression gained from talking to many ladies is that 'a good time was had by all.'
Midweek InterClub Competition
Since 1985 Thursday has become an important competition day as well as Tuesday and Wednesday, with teams entered in the Heidelberg and Districts Women's Tennis Association (HDWTA, which became HDTA in 1991). In this, as in the other Associations, a wide range of teams have been entered over the years catering for all standards, with many exciting grand finals contested.
In particular TPTC has fielded many teams at the highest level in Section 1. During the years 2000 to 2002 there were three Wednesday Section 1 teams in the Club, named by different colours. It was not always diplomatically easy playing against your home club!
On five occasions, in 1981,1983,1999,2010 and in March 2012, Wednesday Section 1 has been won byTemplestowe Park. It is no mean feat to be the best team for the season in this Association! At present the Ladies have three of their seven teams playing in Section 1 of three different Associations.
There are now four Midweek Associations in which Templestowe Park ladies compete:
• MEMRLTA (Midweek Eastern Metropolitan Region Ladies' Tennis Association, formerly EMRLTA Ladies' Midweek Division until 1985) - since 1961.
• EDWTA - since 1973.
HDTA (formerly HDWTA) - since 1985.
• DVTA (Diamond Valley Tennis Association) - since 2005.
L:R Ann Cayless, Bev JenkinsMarlene Deldin, Heather Dunstan, Sue Dyring.
L:R Ailsa Little, Di Hawkins, Carolyn Byrne, Tracey Banes, Diana Mayne.
Midweek Ladies Winning Teams make the Headlines in 1979 and 1980
Templestowe Pari win two titles
Two Templestowe Park midwee k women's tennis teams won titles in the EMIIJLTA. competition.
They were the club’s A5 and A8 teams.
The A5 team comprising Lorraine Baker (captain), Margaret Walder, Bey Jenkins am! Pam Far rant had a comfortable 11-game
victory over a Buileen
Top: Section A5 team members, from left, Pam Farrant, Bev Jenkins, Margaret Walder and Lorraine Baker (captain).
Above: Three section A8 team members* hang up their flag in the clubrooms. From left, Joy McGregor, Eva Bettiol and Pam
Templestowe Park Tennis Club section four premiership
team: from left Joan Tempeny, Margaret Platis, Barbara Shepherd
and Pam Wilosmith. Diana Johnson was absent.
The women Of sort. team defeated Grey-
th« section four The team which thorn Park 47-22 in the
J"® Z Tam' P'3*5 in the Eastern finaL
team Of trie lem- District Women’s Ten- However a team
plestOWe Peak ten- nis Association, com- spokesman said last
nis Club are all prises Joan Tempany week they didn’t go in-
(captain) Margaret to the final over-confi-
Piaffe niana .Inhn.enn riant ae rirauthnrn Part-
team in Uie grand final.
Tile AS team — Pat Davies (captain), Eva Bettiol, Pam Wikl-smlth, Jean Quirk and Joy McGregor — beat Doncaster by five, games.
A club spokesman said last week t h e y were excited about their two flag'.. , , i
"We had eight UabL. In the competition and took out two which isn’t badjft^ ing,” she said.
And they have good reason to be — they were the only club (team to take out a premiership this sea
son.
The team which plays in the Eastern District Women’s Tennis Association, comprises Joan Tempany (captain) Margaret Platts, Diana Johnson and Barabara Shepherd
Emergency for the winning team was Pam Wildsmlth.
The section four
team defeated Grey-thorn Park 47-22 In the final.
However a team spokesman said last week they didn’t go into the final over-confident, as Greythorn Park had beaten them in the first semi-final.
But the girls got their revenge, coming out easy victors.
Left Above: A5 - Pam Farrant, Bev Jenkins, Margaret Walder & Lorraine Baker (Captain).
Left Below: A8 - Joy McGregor, Eva Bettiol & Pam Wildsmith. Not pictured Pat Davies & Jean Quirk.
Right Above: Section 4 - Joan Tempany, Margaret Platts, Barbara Shepherd & Pam Wildsmith. Not pictured Diana Johnson.
L:R Joy McGregor, Lorraine Baker, Sue Dyring, Ann Cayless, Judy Heintz.
Wilma Corfield, Carol Moule, Dorte Green, Glennis Carson, Eileen Buckley, MaryAnn Carnaffan, Marie Poulson.
L:R Pat Davies, Jaki Beaver, Marlene Barden, L:R Niru Breen, Nola Phillips, Dale Steel.
Shirley Capewell.
Midweek Ladies Sharing Courts
From the early days Tuesday competition has always had the most teams competing. Playing on one court all day, but more often sharing a second court, was the norm for many years. During the 1970s and 1980s it seemed as if one could sit around for most of the day waiting to complete a match, not just at Templestowe but at other clubs too.
With the gradual reduction in the number of teams in the MEMRLTA and HDTA competitions in recent years, courts have become available since 2003 for two new teams to come into the Club, playing in the HDTA Tuesday competition and the DVTA Thursday competition. These teams were easily accommodated and the players welcomed into the Club.
Wednesday competition grew to a maximum of six teams, which required some sharing of courts in the 1980s. Thursday HDTA teams which play a rubbers format have never had to share courts as both pairs start each rubber simultaneously. Today Midweek players everywhere are accustomed to having two courts all day for matches and would not welcome going back to sharing courts other than occasionally.
In 1964 the EMRLTA Midweek competition had a maximum of 40 teams competing in 4 sections. By 1979 this had grown to over 300 teams competing in 31 sections. In the 2011/12 Summer season there are 136 teams competing in 14 sections. These figures demonstrate the rapid rise and then gradual decline in Midweek tennis over the last fifty years. The three biggest factors contributing to this decline appear to be more women working, the availability of night tennis as an alternative, and the preference for day competition which takes less time and does not require food preparation and the serving of lunch.
The Effect of Competition on Social Play
Two teams entered in Thursday competition started making inroads into social tennis from 1985, leaving only three courts for social tennis for 28 weeks of the year during the HDTA seasons. An increase in the number of teams to three in 1989 left only one court available every second week, and the thriving Thursday morning social tennis came to an end. This had been predicted when the idea of Thursday competition was first suggested in 1979, but it was the will of the majority of Midweek members who had expressed an opinion at the time. The aim was to give some of the Tuesday ladies a second day of competition during the week, and this was seen by some as more important than social tennis.
The remaining social players eventually transferred to Monday mornings in the 1990s, and linked up with a new group of social players. In the early 2000s this social group had grown to about fifteen players, but in recent times has found numbers diminishing due to the same factors involved with competition players, such as retiring from tennis, returning to work, moving away, travelling on holidays, looking after grandchildren, etc. The Monday social players still have a small but viable regular group and everyone enjoys their tennis and the friendships associated with it.
Midweek Social and Fundraising Events
There have been many highlights over the years in regards to social events, but the most memorable in recent years have been the Christmas luncheons to which past members have been invited. The first was in 2001, and in 2002 sixty past and present members attended. The past members added such a buzz to each occasion and some were incredibly nostalgic to be back at the Club, where they had enjoyed so many good times. It was not surprising to find that so many were still in touch with other past members, thanks to long lasting friendships made through tennis.
Most Midweek Ladies agree that the most unforgettable day was the 'Dress in Bad Taste' Tournament held in 1984. The ladies used an amazing amount of imagination to come up with the most inappropriate and outlandish clothing to play tennis in. They paraded on court to be judged with first prize going to our Life Member Anne Peter-Budge who came dressed as a 'punk rocker' with spiky hair and a half blackened face inspired by the pop group 'Kiss'. She wore, among other unmentionables, a black leotard, black tights with holes in them, football socks and a nappy fastened with large safety pins. Anne was glad to get to the Club without an emergency such as the car breaking down, as her appearance on the day would have been hard to explain! A police car did follow her down Hawtin Street but she was not pulled over. Phew!!
The 'Easter Bonnet' Tournament held in 1985 was also a memorable day with first prize on this occasion going to another Life Member, Lorraine Baker whose hat was a decorated colander. Again the ideas and work that went into making these bonnets were fantastic.
Ladies at 'Easter Bonnet' Day. Kathy Hope and Joy McGregor.
The annual 'Oaks Day' Tournaments with a lunch to rival that of Flemington's and the mandatory sweep were popular for many years, with players from other Clubs invited to make up evenly matched teams for the tennis. Players recall that these Thursdays were always fun.
Maggie blows out the candles. Ladies at 'Bad Taste Dress' day.
The occasion of Maggie White's 60th birthday was another unforgettable day for those who could attend. It occurred on a Tuesday competition day, and while Maggie was on the court playing her first set the clubhouse was completely decorated for her birthday celebrations which kicked on all day.
The last two decades have seen a number of excellent 'Round-Robin'Tournaments, Luncheons and other events organised by the Midweek Social committee. In recent times in 2010 a Cake Stall was organised, mainly by Lisa Makela's team, to raise funds for the Club. This team has now initiated a book borrowing fundraiser at the Club.
The Midweek Ladies Take a Heat Break
Tennis players must have been a tough lot in the old days! Either there was no limit on how hot it could be, or there were ridiculously high match cancellation temperatures such as 35 degrees upwards to 38 degrees.
MEMRLTA was the toughest. Records show that at the 1993 AGM the committee and club delegates voted against dropping the match cancellation temperature which was 38 degrees. A few years later sanity prevailed and it was dropped to 34 degrees and then later to 32 degrees.
HDTA changed from 35 degrees to 32 degrees in 1992.
EDWTA dropped their limit from 35 degrees to 32 degrees in 1976 during daylight saving time, and then fine-tuned the figures several times in subsequent years, both raising and lowering them again. The sting with EDWTA, however, was that until 2001 it was the temperature at noon at the Weather Bureau which counted. Even though it could be much hotter in the northern and eastern suburbs and with the temperature soaring rapidly after midday, the match still had to be completed. For matches starting at midday, which was the custom until the 1980s, and the noon temperature just under cancellation level, this could become a gruelling test of fitness, with only one ten minute break allowed for cramp or heat exhaustion.
Midweek Ladies can recall one appalling Wednesday in the 1970s when the match was finished with the temperature in the high thirties. The only relief from the heat was to carry a table and chairs outside to have afternoon tea under a tree. There was no breeze but it was better than being inside in the stifling clubhouse which at that time had no fans.
Nowadays, even with reasonable heat-out temperatures, some ladies face the hot days with plenty of sports drinks, salt tablets, wet towels and adequate hats (preferably wettable). This situation partly reflects the rising average age of Midweek Ladies across all Associations, however there have always been elderly ladies playing in earlier decades who have coped with temperatures in the high thirties. Was the sun really not as hot then?
Juniors and Coaching
In 1983 Anne Peter-Budge took over the role of Junior Convenor from Maggie White, a role that she was to carry out until 1995. Anybody who has been involved in a tennis club at an administrative level would know that the Junior Convenor role is the most demanding job of all in terms of hours required on Saturday mornings, team selections, organising teams, finding last minute replacements for sick players, replacements for players who do not turn up, transport rosters for travelling teams and in general being responsible for the discipline of the Juniors and sometime their parents during matches. During her tenure as Junior Convenor Anne also gave more of her time at EMRLTA level to support the various junior programs and elite player squads being sponsored and managed by the Association.
With so many juniors involved and quite often with more teams entered than could be accommodated on the Club's courts, outside private courts were required to be used, obviously creating other transport problems and headaches for Anne. It can be argued that it is impossible to please everybody, but Anne seemed to be able to do that due to her hard work and personality. It was during the 1980s that junior membership levels peaked and Anne was at the helm during that busy time. She was made a Life Member in 1991 for her long and dedicated service to the Club.
Anne Peter-Budge with some of her juniors.
1981 EMRLTA Winter Premiers. L:R Joanne Davies, Donna Wright, Allison Green, Narelle Campbell, Vanessa Masters.
1985 EMRLTA Winter Sect. 1 Premiers. L:R Donna Wright, Stephen Mayne, Terry Robinson, Janine Perkins.
L:R Back: Sharon Ford, Fiona McGregor, Marilyn Howes; L;R Front: Narelle Coombes, Jenny Doidge.
1989/90 EMRLTA Summer Section 3 Premiers.
L:R Jane Shannon, Belinda Wright, Jonathan Manton, Jodie Langtree (front), Vaughan Greenhill.
In 1983 Jim Reddoch resigned as coach and applications were sought for an accredited coach to take over the ever growing demand for junior coaching. The Club interviewed a number of applicants and Tracey Creed was appointed. Shortly after Tracey married John Banes, himself an accredited coach, and they both then shared the coaching duties. Both were to coach and be the Club's professionals for the next twenty years, resigning in 2002 when moving their family to Queensland. During their time at Templestowe they had three children, Ebony, Holly and Maverick, all of whom were to become very good players, with Maverick becoming a highly ranked Australian junior.
Netball Courts are Converted to Tennis Courts
With access to tennis courts at a premium the Club decided to approach the City of Doncaster and Templestowe to canvas the possibility of having the two asphalt netball courts at the rear of the scout hall converted to tennis courts. These netball courts had been built in the early 1960s and apart from the first few years when they had been used extensively at weekends there had been little organised use. In 1982 the Council arranged for them to be converted to plexi-pave tennis courts, a hard court surface which had started to appear at a few other clubs, and was directly applied to the top of the existing asphalt like paint. The overall quality of the surface was found to be okay, but because the existing asphalt had a slope downwards from south to north the two courts were always considered to be inferior to the other five.
The courts were to remain under Council control for hiring to the public for casual play and for their upkeep. The Club, however, was grateful that these courts had become available to members and supplemented its five porous courts. Because the surface was harder on the legs and the body, members preferred to play on the en-tout-cas and would only use the plexi-pave when there was an overflow of Saturday teams. In 1994 the Council finally handed the control of the two plexi-pave tennis courts to the Club.
The Clubhouse Extension
With membership numbers well over 300 by 1983, and with cramped conditions occurring both during the week and at weekends trying to accommodate all the teams playing competition, the Committee embarked on a major extension of the clubhouse. Plans were drawn up for a 70 square metre extension at the east end which was to be of brick construction on a concrete slab with continuous windows along the north end facing the courts. The ceiling, three metres above floor level, was to be of 'stramit' panel construction to match the existing ceiling.
The plans were subsequently approved by Council who agreed to contribute 50% towards the construction costs with the Club funding the other 50%, some coming from cash reserves and the rest from borrowings.
Tenders were called, a builder appointed and construction commenced in 1984 with the excavations and concrete foundations poured. Alas, this was when things went wrong as the builder seemed to vanish into thin air! For Committee members at the time this was most frustrating, as no amount of persuasion in the form of phone calls and correspondence to the builder to get construction underway worked. It all went simply unheeded. The long delay of over 12 months after the foundations had been laid to the time when construction was recommenced caused a lot of inconvenience, as the new extension was towards the entry gate requiring people to navigate around the foundation works and the associated earthworks to get into the clubhouse. Pressure was really on the Committee to get things moving, and when finally work was restarted progress continued to be slow, and it was not until 1986 that the building was eventually handed over to the Club. The Club was fortunate to have Geoff Shannon on the Committee at the time, and it was largely through his persistence and experience in the building industry that this project was finally brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
An opening day was held on 21st September 1986 with a luncheon that was fully catered for by the Social Committee and other members. Ward Councillors and their spouses were invited as were representatives of other tennis clubs in the municipality, and past and current members. In all some 110 people crowded into the new clubhouse which was resplendent with carpet for the first time and, seated at new tables and chairs, heard the Club President David Wright invite the Mayor, Vernon Denford, to officially open the new extension.
Social Activities
With the highlight function of the 1980s being the opening of the new clubhouse extension, the Club's Annual Presentation Nights continued at various venues, attracting 90 to 100 members. Other social functions held were a theatre night to see 'Guys and Dolls', a golf day at the Olinda Course, Trots Nights at Moonee Valley, progressive dinner parties, a raffle night, film nights with supper, ten pin bowling and a sportswear fashion parade.
About to tee off at Olinda Golf Course.
Models at Fashion Parade.
L:R Tony Dunstan, Wing Tse, Julie Dunstan, Lynn Evans, Belinda Wright, Lesley Wright.
At the 1989Annual Presentation Night.
L:R Lorraine Baker, Joy McGregor, Ian Launder, Ken 1981/82 EMRLTA Summer Section 3 Premiers.
Greenhill, Nicole Masters, Shelley Wright, Ross Caruthers L:R Lesley Wright, Peter Davies, Shelley Wright, Craig - Grand Final at Heathmont. Launder, Neville Wright, Sally Mayne.
It was also during this decade that Melbourne Cup Day tennis tournaments were introduced. These became so popular that entries to the Round Robin tournament had to be limited. This event included a chicken and champagne lunch, catered for by the Social Committee, with a number of Sweeps held. With so much interest abounding about who the Cup winner was going to be, and the desire to take home one of the prizes for winning the tennis, it can be said that the quality of tennis played in the morning was, up until the time lunch was served (and the champagne), first class, but then a gradual deterioration started to occur up until 2.40 pm when the big race was run and the Sweeps' winners decided. After the race the tennis of some players became abysmal, with the prizes always being awarded to the real stayers. Being held in early November, players were to experience, on occasions, hot weather conditions, and 'heat stroke' was quite often used as an excuse for the drop in standard!
Family Connections
TPTC has always been a club of families where parents have introduced their children to tennis through membership of the Club, resulting in two generations of families enjoying tennis at the Club at the same time. Indeed there have even been families with three generations of members at the Club such as the Wrights (Neville and Lesley) and the Maynes both still currently involved in the Club and playing. In the past the Dyring and the Ruby Bishop/ Hopgood families have also had three generations involved in the Club at the one time.
Listed here from the 1970s onwards are families where one or both parents plus one or more of their children belonged to the Club and have been, or are still, playing members.
From the 1970s and 1980s:
Adey, Davies, Hobbs, Meyrick, Shepherd, Allan, Dickason, Hook, Minogue, Sinclair, Baklis, Doidge, Hopgood, Mitchell (Sue), Smith, Baker, Douglas (Lyle), Howes, Moore, Stuart, Bannerman, Dunstan, Jenkins, Pearce, Tombs, Barbour, Dyring, Langtree, Pearson, Treacey, Bingeman, Fielding, Launder, Peter-Budge, Tse, Brett, Frost, McGregor, Ramsden, Ware, Brewer, Gartland, Mclnnes, Ramsdell, Westaway, Catlow, Gray, MacNeill, Rawlings, Wildsmith, Cayless, Green, McMillan, Ristov, White, Chin, Greenhill, Martindale, Robinson, Whitechurch, Chivers, Hardman, Masters, Rogers, Wright (David), Close, Heath, Mayne, Sanders, Wright (Neville), Hobby, Shannon, Yorke
1990s onwards:
Banes, Febbo, Milella, Patrick, Szoka, Baumgartner, Gordon, Milne, Petridis, Thompson, Birthisel, Halkyard, Molloy/Fahour, Reynolds, Turner, Byrne, Krienke, Montile, Ryan, Verbeek, Chester, MacKay, Palmer, Savage, Wilson, Deriu, Makela, Paolucci, Steel, Wise/Phelan, Diamantopoulos Douglas (Wayne), Mathers, Parakh, Stone, Wong
With over 100 family names listed above just from the past forty years, it is clear that families have formed the mainstay of the Club's long term membership, and many of them have been at the centre of the Club's social activities.
For many families the tennis club had indeed become their sporting and social forum with juniors playing tennis on Saturday mornings, requiring transport to and from their home club or to an away venue for an 8.30 am start and then the parents rushing to be back in time for their afternoon competition starting at 1.15 pm. All day Saturday some were involved in tennis, and sometimes Sunday was also committed to the game. With juniors being coached during the week, midweek and night competitions and other social hits, it was not unusual for members of the one family to attend the Club at least a half a dozen times a week.
It was felt appropriate that Shelley Ryan (nee Wright) and Stephen Mayne, both of whom come from three-generation Club families, be asked about their experiences growing up around the Club in the 1970s and 1980s.
On the following pages are their comments 'verbatim'.
My initiation at the Templestowe Park Tennis Club began as a young baby. Aileen Whittley recalls with amazement my mother's first competition season, where I used to sit in a stroller for the entire match. This continued until I was old enough to play with other children at the Club. The photo below shows me as a toddler with mum on her way to Midweek ladies tennis.
L:R Nicole Masters, Shelley Wright, Julia Mayne,
At about eight years old I started coaching with Jim Reddoch. After a couple of years of coaching my tennis improved and I was playing Juniors on a Saturday morning. At this time Maggie White was the Junior Convenor and we were all petrified of her, but years later we realised that her bark was worse than her bite and that she really cared for us.
I loved tennis so much that at about twelve years of age I started playing seniors as well, often rushing back to the Club from juniors to be given a packed lunch and then straight off with the senior team for the afternoon. I recall many fun times in these early days with Sheila Cooper, Gail Ellis, Joy McGregor, Ken Greenhill, Ted Minogue and many other experienced members of the Club.
I would spend many nights after school practising with the Maynes and Launders. It was after one of these sessions that, as a 15 year old, I started having my first driving lessons with Craig & Ian Launder in the tennis club car park.
On one occasion the Maynes and I were accidently locked in the courts and as there were no mobile phones in those days, we were contemplating who would scale the fence. It wasn't until well after dark, when we were all starting to panic, that finally one of our parents came looking for us.
In 19801 played in the Club's women's VTA Pennant team on Sundays with Nicole Masters, aged 16/17, Julia Mayne 15, Sally Mayne 14 and myself 14. After playing 7 weeks of sectional finals we finished Runners Up, the Club being very proud of us, considering we were so young.
For many years our family devoted Saturdays to tennis. In one Saturday afternoon Mixed team I played with my mother Lesley Wright, David Wright (no relation) and father Neville Wright, so the score card read all 'Wrights'.
I have now gone the full circle, having been at the Club as a baby while my mother played Midweek ladies, to now playing Midweek ladies myself, in a team with my sister, Donna. With all three of my children now being coached at the Club and the older two, Kayla and Georgia playing in junior teams, I spend many hours at the Club each week. /As dad is still playing Thursday Night Social tennis, we now have three generations of our family playing at Templestowe Park Tennis Club.
A Century of Tennis in Tempy
45
Growing up as the youngest child in a family of keen tennis players, I can't remember life before Templestowe Park Tennis Club.
The earliest memory was being dragged around as a 3-year-old whilst mum, club stalwart Diana Mayne, played midweek ladies.
But it wasn't long before we were chasing balls on court.
The progression through the junior, senior and pennant ranks was a big part of our childhood - as were the many friendships and social activities.
I can remember one season playing 4 competitions on Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon.
It wasn't long before assistant coaching for John and Tracey Banes was my part-time job whilst at university.
For a number of years, the tennis club Presentation Night was the annual highlight on my social calendar. Perhaps we needed to get out a bit more!!
Trips to the football with tennis club mates, club outings to the trots, cards and bowling nights, golf days and, more recently, the annual Christmas dinner, all bring back lots of happy memories.
The working bees were a bit of a chore but the courts were always kept in good nick.
Perhaps the fondest memory was when little old Templestowe Park fielded a State Grade Men's Pennant team for two years in the early 1990s.
It was fun writing about their performances for the local paper and the Totally unbiased, of course!
I only got into journalism after producing a copy of the tennis club newsletter I'd written, during interviews with 'The Sun'. Thanks for the career start, Tempy Park!
TPTC is unique in that it serves a community which is part of a Council with an incredible 1400 private tennis courts -more than any other local government area in the world. There are more than 300 in Templestowe alone.
Yet the Club still managed to get people down from their private courts for the community spirit and challenge of social and competition play.
Thanks to all those families who've been part of the happy memories and congratulations to the Club for notching up an impressive century.
Club Administration
With membership peaking at over 400 in 1987 and 1989 the Committee was able, throughout the decade to operate with financial surpluses which were used to boost the cash reserves needed for the clubhouse extension and for future court reconstruction and floodlighting projects. The Committee was also aware that its first four porous courts laid down at the Reserve were now around 25 years old and would eventually need rebuilding. This would require the Club to fund 50% of the costs with the Council funding the other 50%.
Through the work of a Tennis Club Consultative Committee representing all tennis clubs in the municipality and the Council, agreement was reached for a planned fifteen year Court Reconstruction Schedule for the reconstruction of all porous tennis courts. Throughout the municipality four courts would be reconstructed annually on a 50/50 funding basis. Tennis clubs would be responsible for the ongoing upkeep of the clubhouse facilities and courts and in return would only pay a peppercorn rental to Council to lease the land. After this agreement, known as the Tennis Court Reconstruction Strategy', was adopted by Council the Committee was able to develop a long term plan for funding large projects. Under this agreement. Courts 1 and 2 were reconstructed by E.T. Richards & Son in 1988,27 years after they were built.
46
The History of Templestowe Park Tennis Club 1912-2012
A number of changes occurred throughout the 1980s in the way the Club was managed and administered. In 1981 a new constitution was written to replace the old one that had been in place since 1965. So much had changed in the sixteen years that had elapsed, both in the size of membership and the amount of assets for which the Club was now responsible.
In 1986 the Club was incorporated under the 'Associations Incorporation Act of 1981'.
This required more annual reporting to government in regards to the Club's financial position, membership numbers and other administration matters.
Club Newsletter
In July 1986 the first 'Templestowe Park Tennis Club Newsletter' was issued and distributed to members. After a couple of years, however, Stephen Mayne asked the Committee if he could write the newsletter in order to help his job application for a start in journalism. Between November 1988 and April 1992 he prepared six issues. With contributions also from the Junior Convenor and the Midweek Ladies President, Stephen produced a bulletin of Club news which always gave lots of laughs. Jane Shannon did the next issue in 1993 and after that the Committee took over.
The newsletter continues to this day, produced bi-annually by Committee members. In 2007 it was revamped into a bigger and more informative presentation of six to eight pages and renamed 'Your Advantage'.
Life Members
Peter Davies was made a Life Member in 1988 for his service and long association with the Club which had included ten years as Treasurer from 1978 to 1987. Peter also went on to become President in 1991 and 1992, and served another term as Treasurer from 2000 to 2006.
David Wright was also made a Life Member in 1990 for his service to the Club which had included five years as Treasurer from 1973 to 1977 and four years as President from 1984 to 1987. David has also been serving as President since 2003.
A couple of old lifers: Peter Davies and David VTA Pennant 1984 D Grade R/U L:R Lesley Wright, Joanne Wright. Taking the balls off the court to the Davies, Amanda Freeman, Sue
tournament box indicates another victory.
1987 EMRLTA Winter Section 2. L:R Neville L:R Leanne Wright, Peter Davies, Faye Tse, David Wright,
Wright, Max Brewer, Faye Tse, Joanne Davies. Diana Mayne, Matthew Greenhill.
1980 EMRLTA Mixed Section 10 Premiers. L:R Judy Catlow, Kathy Hope, Marj Aumann,
L:R Sheila Cooper, Russell Hobby, Kevin O'Brien, Joy Karen McMillan, Jan Durham.
McGregor, Shelley Langtree, Les Firth.
1990s
Tennis at the Highest Level - A General Loss of Interest in Tennis
Pennant and State Grade
As the Club grew in numbers and with a new generation coming through its expanded junior ranks, the standard being played by teams competing in EMRLTA and the VTA was getting better and better. Our Club champions during the 1980s which included Ian Peter-Budge, David Wildsmith, Stephen Mayne, Sally Mayne and Shelley Wright, were all playing tennis at high grades in Pennant, and to achieve this had had to go to other bigger clubs with suitable high level teams. By the late 1980s the Club began to explore ways of getting them back playing for Templestowe.
The girls were the first to return. A Grade 1 Women'steam was entered in 1989 and 1990 comprising ourformertop juniors, Sally Mayne and Shelley and Donna Wright, together with other new recruits including Brigette McGuire (sister of Eddie McGuire). In 1990 a Grade 2 team was also entered.
As both these teams played on Saturday mornings, this created 'interesting times' in managing the use of the Club's courts. It necessitated some of the junior matches being shifted to as many as three private courts on some Saturdays. The Club was indeed grateful that a number of its members had private courts and were prepared to make them available.
Templestowe Park's highest graded team under the old alphabetical system was a Men's B Special in 1984 which was put together to allow promising junior David Wildsmith to stay at the Club. The next year David went to Hawthorn Tennis Club. In 1989 David played in a Grade 1 team for Watsonia Tennis Club, and after this team won Grade 1 in 1990, he was looking to make the step up to State Grade.
In 1990, Selection Committee member Stephen Mayne began to look at the possibility of forming a men's team that would be good enough to play at State Grade level in 1991, with supporting teams playing at Grade 1 and 2. Given that the Club was significantly smaller in membership and assets than all the other clubs playing State Grade, and recognising that the Club would be required to cover player costs and other overheads, there was a reluctance by some members for the Club to get involved. After advice that a team could be put together that would be competitive, the Committee gave its approval, but on the basis that the team should be self-funded with its own sponsors. The Club was, however, still committed to assist in hosting State Grade as it offered our home grown players, such as David Wildsmith, the opportunity to play at the highest standard and at the same time hopefully attract new members and lift the profile of the Club within the municipality.
The inaugural State Grade team put together in 1991 cost about $8,000 to field and comprised Wayne Davis, Wes Horskins, Wayne Cowley, Greg Skerritt, David Wildsmith and Ricky Jackson. After particularly excelling in the doubles rubbers, the team made the finals on debut, losing to eventual premiers Dingley in the semi-final.
In 1991 Grade 1 and Grade 2 men's teams were also entered, with the players being John Banes (Club coach), Doron Ben-Meir, Chris Carnavale, Gavin Davies, Brent Denison, Stephen Mayne, Anthony Metcalfe, Tim Oliver, Dale Power, Paul Sandells and Paul Taylor.
With the recession of the early 1990s affecting the tennis court industry and other businesses, outside sponsorships were difficult to obtain, and the main provision of funds for the State Grade player payments came from Club members. These included Stephen Mayne (a cadet journalist at the 'Herald Sun' at the time), Martin Symons (building contractor) and Ernie Chin (banana wholesaler), who each contributed $2000 or more towards the player payments.
Ernie Chin also provided a crate of bananas for players and spectators alike to consume during home matches. This was a great advertisement for bananas as they are a highly nutritious food used by tennis players (and other sportspeople) for keeping up energy levels. How often do you see tennis players at the major tournaments eating bananas at the change of ends or between sets?
It was also quite an amusing sight observing most of the spectators munching on a banana as they watched the tennis. The bananas were also well received by the umpires and officials between rubbers.
In 1992, Wayne Smith, who grew up playing at Bulleen, came across to play at Number 2 behind Wayne Davis, after both Wes Horskins and Wayne Cowley retired from State Grade. Disappointingly, Ian Peter-Budge was unable to come back to the Club. Again the team made the finals to lose to the eventual winner North Ringwood in the semi-final.
It was an interesting and busy time in the life of the Club when the State Grade team played its home matches as there were umpires and lines-people around, visitors from the opposition teams, Club members and other various officials from the VTA who all needed to be catered for and looked after. The courts had to be prepared ready for play at this level with net-straps, singles posts, umpires and players chairs, bagging and line sweeping at the end of each set, watering, etc. In addition food and drink was available with a BBQ in operation each afternoon to raise funds to help cover the costs of hosting State Grade. A home match would usually attract up to 100 people and, as is usual with a Club of this size, all of the work was carried out voluntarily by a group of dedicated members. Templestowe also regularly got a plug in Stephen Mayne's Pennant tennis reports to the Herald Sun and the local paper.
In 1993 after the two moderately successful years at TPTC, the State Grade team shifted to Vermont Tennis Club for a season there, before going their separate ways.
Photographs of the teams are non-existent - they were too busy playing tennis!!
Many of the young players who during the 1980s and 1990s had represented Templestowe or other clubs in Pennant teams achieved fine individual results. Ian Peter-Budge, Sally Mayne and David Wildsmith became our three home grown junior players to play at State Grade level (formerly called A Pennant). A number of players of this era became accredited coaches registered with theTCAV namely: Ian Peter-Budge and David Wildsmith, who have spent many years as full time professional coaches, and Stephen Mayne, Shelley Wright, Donna Wright and Gavin Davies who coached part time. Some of these players assisted John and Tracey Banes, as a way of earning pocket money whilst doing their university studies and also their tennis coaching apprenticeships.
At the end of 1992 after the venture into State Grade had finished, little did the Club realise the difficult times it faced ahead with a drop in membership from 317 to eventually bottom out at 153 in 1996. However improvements to the clubhouse and courts continued.
In 1993, the kitchen was completely modernised with new cupboards, a new refrigerator, hot water unit and new vinyl flooring.
Floodlighting of Courts 1 to 3
In 1992 floodlighting was installed on Courts 1 to 3 using the new low profile type fittings that were installed lower to the courts and were able to concentrate and provide a higher standard of lighting at player level and on the court surface. The Club was able, from its accumulated cash reserves, to fund 50% of the total $40k cost with the Council funding the balance. The work was carried out by local electrical contractor Gary Dyring whose family were all playing members of the tennis club, with Gary himself being a Life Member of the Templestowe Football Club after having had a long playing career.
Using the new floodlighting for the first time players, particularly the older brigade, were surprised at the much better lighting levels on these courts when compared to the high pole lighting on Courts 4 and 5, even though these floodlights had also recently been upgraded from 1500 watt to 2000 watt lamps. The new floodlights were well received by the regular Thursday night men's social group, some of whom had been playing under the old lighting for nearly fifteen years. With all five courts now floodlit it became the norm fortheClubto enter six teams into the Tuesday night men's competition, one or two teams playing Ladies competition on Wednesday night and Mixed teams on Thursday night.
Not all teams were made up from members of the TPTC as other clubs or groups would hire the courts for their teams to play. During these years when the membership dropped the court hire charges became a useful source of revenue. Having all five courts floodlit was also a much needed asset for the coaches in the winter months, enabling more classes after 5 pm.
Social Tennis in the 1990s
Regular Sunday afternoon social tennis had regrettably declined, but the night social tennis on Wednesdays and Thursdays continued to thrive. With all the courts now floodlit there was room for both social and team tennis. Both groups of social players used two courts and aimed to have a rostered eight players attend. The Wednesday players in the early 1990s included (among many others) John and Niru Breen, Les Firth, Marg Langtree, Wing Tse and later in the decade, Leanne Bodilly, Geoff Boyle, Andrew Browne, Melinda Catlow, Charles Cayless Jnr and Gary Szoka.
John and Wing transferred to the Thursday night men's group when that group needed more players. Both groups played throughout the year, even on the coldest winter nights.
Social Activities
Throughout the 1990s the number of organised social events was beginning to decline, and the Melbourne Cup Day tournaments and Annual Presentation Nights ceased after 1993. However a number of events were held such as Trivia Nights, a Dutch Auction, a theatre night to see 'French Kiss', Crazy Whist Card Nights and a golf day at the Emerald course. As a generation of players had grown up in the Club and were now in their twenties and thirties, the social side had became more informal with many of the teams staying on after Saturday tennis to have a few drinks and use the brick BBQ that had been built at the front of the clubhouse. A number of people in this age group were to develop romances with other members of the Club, and in some instances they were to become long term and permanent. Tony Dunstan and Joanne Davies met and married, Stuart Lawson married Robyn Hanna, Ian Launder married Trace Hanna and Charles Cayless (Jnr) married Donna Seymour. Also in a much earlier era (1960s) Ian McGregor met and married Patti Serpell.
Romantic developments aside, there was a bright spot on the horizon in the 1990s with social activities, namely the annual Christmas functions which began in December 1994, the successor to the Annual Presentation Nights. The first one was unforgettable and a huge success.
Several ladies and their co-opted husbands organised the event: an afternoon of social tennis and a spit roast in the evening. A few players fronted up for the social tennis in 39 degrees heat, and around 60 attended from late afternoon. Everyone let their hair down and had a wonderful party on such a hot evening. Even Santa magically appeared and gave presents to the children.
This style of Christmas function has taken place every year since (the tennis rained off one year only), and around 100 have attended in recent years. With good weather all seven courts are usually occupied all afternoon.
Club Membership Decline
By the mid 1990s the Club was really in the doldrums with its membership having fallen to as low as 153 (with only 16 juniors) and then remaining under 200 for the rest of the decade. It was inconceivable that in the 1995/1996 summer season, and the following season, the TPTC would not field one junior team. A few years later in the 2002/2003 season the Club did not enter a senior team either.
The Club drew some consolation from the fact that the lack of interest in tennis and drop in membership was being felt by all clubs in the municipality, whether large or small. A change in demographics had occurred which was due to the children of those young families that had moved into Templestowe and the surrounding areas in the 1960s and 1970s having grown up and moved on with their lives.
In the latter part of 1996 John and Tracey Banes took over the role of Junior Convenors and revived Junior competition at Templestowe. Three teams (including Ebony and Holly Banes) were entered in Summer 1996/97, followed by eight teams in the 1997 Winter ERT season. ERT (Eastern Region Tennis) which had now replaced EMRLTA introduced Sunday morning junior competition which enabled the entry of more teams than previously was possible. In 2001/02, seventeen teams played competition, eight on Saturday and nine on Sunday. This was a remarkable turnaround and a credit to John and Tracey's enthusiasm.
With the rapid drop in membership and due to a lack of interest, the Club Championships were not played from 1994 until 2005, apart from the year 2000 when Junior Singles were contested.
1996 ERT Winter Section 13 Runners-Up.
L:R Sebastian Durand, Marg Langtree, Liz Batrouney-Sutherland, Paul Spencer.
1990/91 EMRLTA Summer Sec 11
Premiers L:R MaryAdey, Leanne Bodilly, Dean Williamson, Marg Langtree, Geoff Boyle, Aldo Scodella, Marj Aumann.
L:R Adrian Chin, Dean Williamson, Andrew Whitechurch, David Minogue, last two unknown.
L:R Tamara Tse, Joanne Davies, Shelley Wright and the chef in apron Peter Davies.
Anyone for a Burger? L:R Unknown, Cathy McCutcheon, Lisa Pearson, Jacquie Fielding,
Donna Wright.
Juniors at Break up Party.
A Coaching Clinic in the late 1990s.
2000s
The Struggle for Members - The Synthetic Clay Courts
Men's Veterans Competition
In 2001 a Veterans Men's Thursday afternoon team was entered into the Metro Masters Tennis Association (MMTA) competition for the first time with the inaugural team members being Arthur Newnham, Oriano Giovannetti, Matt Merola, Tony Renehan and Laurie Sparks. This team performed well in its first season winning Section 3 and then being promoted for the next season. The only qualifying criteria to play in this competition is that you have to be 50 years or over. Oriano, Tony and Laurie are still playing in this competition and they have, since 2001, been joined by David Wright, Robert Mann, Bruce Turner and David McNamara.
The team has won the pennant on four occasions in different grades and has played a few seasons in Section One where it is highly competitive tennis and tough going for those who admit they are over sixty. An independent female member has observed that the men appear to enjoy both the tennis and the socialising and that the matches are played in great spirit. At times some foreign language is used (mainly by the opposition players) and a beer or glass of wine is particularly enjoyed at the end of season celebrations.
2002 - John and Tracy Banes say Farewell.
Thursday Afternoon Veterans Team. L:R David Wright, Laurie Sparks, Tony Renehan, Robert Mann.
Coaching and Juniors
In 2002 with the resignation of John and Tracey Banes, the Committee, on advice from John Banes appointed Jeremy MacKay to become the new Coach and Junior Development Officer of the Club, starting in October. He took over the Banes' coaching business 'Tennis Works'.
Since 2003, Jeremy MacKay has played a pivotal role in the welfare of the Club. As well as Club Coach and Junior Convenor he took on the additional roles of being Convenor of both the Pennant and Senior ERT teams, fitting this in with coaching five or six days a week. Not long after Jeremy took over the coaching role he married Jodie and they have a family of three children, twins Summer and Chase born in 2007 and Hugo born in 2011. Jeremy has also made a significant contribution to the organisation and running of many of the Club's social and fundraising events during his tenure as coach.
Exciting innovations have come into tennis coaching in the last few years, in particular the MLC (company name) Hot Shots program for children and Cardio Tennis for adults. The essence of the Hot Shots program is that young children are taught with smaller, lighter racquets, and play with low compression balls which do not bounce so high, on smaller courts with low nets. This gives them the basic skills for moving onto full sized equipment and progressing to full size courts by late primary age.
Another innovation is Cardio Tennis, a fun, social, 'group tennis' fitness program for people of all ages and abilities, consisting of high energy tennis-related activities. The focus is on having fun, getting fit and improving tennis skills. For some, this leads on to seriously playing tennis. For anyone participating it at least improves their fitness.
Special clinics have been run by Tennis Works through the school holiday periods to provide additional coaching for budding players, continuing the tradition started by the Banes.
Coaching classes for groups or individuals range from children as young as four, through to adults of any age, at any level of skill. The success of these programs has seen many juniors and ladies progress from beginner level to becoming members of the Club and playing a good standard of competition tennis.
Many of the keen, improving juniors and young adults participate in squad training as well as their individual or group lessons, including some working as Assistant Coaches. Supervised by elite coaches, squads are in operation most evenings after 5 pm, and in daylight saving months, on some evenings across all seven courts.
The Assistant Coaches, so important to the success of the coaching program, range from high standard players who have come up through the Club (having been trained by Jeremy as well as doing the TCAV coaching course), to other elite Advanced Coaches, mostly from outside the Club. Recently these have included Sam Groth (now back on the Pro. Tour), Dave Moore (one of Ashley Barty's coaches in Brisbane), Jason Stoltenberg (in an advisory capacity) and Rachel Jones.
Home grown Assistant Coaches include or have included, Jarrod Savage (now head coach at Heatherdale Tennis Club), Chris Guy (has an Exercise and Sport Science degree), Danielle Geschiet (has an Exercise and Sport Science degree and is now working for Tennis Australia in player development), Emma Stone (Tennis Australia), Michael Parakh, Mitchell Birthisel, James Hill, Riccardo Perri and others.
It seems that coaching today requires using a mix of the well proven established techniques for older juniors and seniors but with the new methods being used for younger players which Jeremy has introduced. Throughout the 2000s the growth in the number of juniors and adults being coached at the club by Jeremy and 'Tennis Works' has enabled the Club to stabilise its membership numbers at around 200, with the numbers now starting to increase.
Some of the coaches with Santa - Dec 2011. L:R Chris Guy, Riccardo Perri, Sam Groth, Jeremy MacKay, James Hill, Mitchell Birthisel and in separate photo, David Moore.
Junior Competition
Saturday and Sunday morning Junior competition has remained strong with the number of teams again peaking at 17 in Summer 2004/05. Around this period for a few years, 6 or 7 teams playing at home every Saturday made for a great atmosphere, with one of the mothers, Nikki Montile, running a sausage sizzle, and lots of parents watching the tennis. Quite often, however, some teams could not complete their match with only one court available and a compulsory finishing time of noon.
Life became more difficult with the water restrictions reducing the number of courts available. Some teams were sent to play on private courts. Seven courts were not in use again until Summer 2009/10 when the synday courts were ready.
Since 2010, the Junior Convenor's role has been carried out by Pilar Simon, a committee member and mother of three current juniors, James, Matthew, and Emma Wong, all promising players. On Saturday mornings Pilar also manages a canteen providing packaged food and drinks which is available to all the players and visitors.
The juniors have won more than their fair share of pennants during the 2000s which are all shown in the 'List of Winning Teams'. One successful team that requires special mention was the Winter 2009 Saturday Girls 4 team which went through the entire season, including finals, undefeated.
Over the past few years Jeremy has steered many promising juniors into weekend afternoon competition -Senior ERT in Summer and Pennant in Winter - as an alternative to playing in the Junior competition. This has helped them develop their tennis and move into senior ranks.
Winter 2009, ERT Junior Saturday Girls 4 Premiers undefeated. 2002 ERT Winter Boys Section 6. L:R Back: Kelly
L:R Georgia Douglas, Renee Milic, Lucy Douglas, Kayla Ryan. Mathers, Chris Tsapatsaris, James Hill, Emilio Mercuri.
L:R Front: Mitchell Birthisel, Maverick Banes.
TPTC 'Hot Dot' kids working out at the Australian Open with Jeremy MacKay and Jarrod Savage.
The Renewal of Saturday Afternoon Competition Tennis
Having not entered one team in the 2002/2003 Summer Season of the ERT Senior weekend competition, Jeremy MacKay decided to revive the Club's involvement by entering teams in the 2003 Winter Season. He took on the role of Senior Convenor and entered a number of scratch teams to get people on the courts at the weekend.
Once again the clubhouse and courts started humming with life on Saturday afternoons. Some unlikely combinations of people were put together in teams, some parents of juniors and their friends were roped in and it all seemed to work remarkably well.
In 1995, with a view to arresting the general decline in weekend tennis, ERT had introduced a new format of competition called 'Open Sets' which allows for any combination of men or women to make up a four person team. This new format was a great help in making up teams as there were always more men available on Saturdays than women.
In the first season of the Open Sets format, a TPTC team consisting of all females was entered in Section 1. The team comprised Kylie Jones, Sally Mayne, Shelley Ryan, Lisa Vass and Donna Wright. It was common for the team to come up against a four man team who were usually surprised and a little smug to see four women up the other end of the court. These macho teams soon realised however they were up against some very strong opposition. The girls went on to have a convincing win in the Grand Final.
Overall, it is an interesting social and tennis experience playing in this type of competition. Ages range from 13 to late 70s, and a wide range of styles are encountered, from the powerful male players who try to hit the ladies off the court to the more consistent players, some of whom have amazing court coverage in retrieving balls. It is not uncommon to come across former elite sportsmen from a range of sports such as football, cricket, basketball, hockey, squash, badminton, etc. who play an average game of tennis but with great athletic ability.
Afternoon teas can vary from the conventional sort of food, nicely served with a cup of tea, to eating hot chips off a piece of paper with a beer or soft drink. The conversation varies enormously according to the age and sex of the players, but sport tends to be the common thread. In winter the conversation invariably turns to AFL football with the usual vigorous debates about different players, teams and the prospects of making the Finals.
The Resurgence of Pennant (now called Tennis Victoria Pennant)
Under new coach Jeremy MacKay, the Club returned to the higher grades with entry of a Grade 1 men's team in 2005. Following on, in 2006 and 2007 Grade 1 and Grade 2 teams were entered with the Grade 1 team being led by Jarrod Savage, an assistant coach at the Club. From playing in these seasons of Pennant Jarrod would go on to play State Grade at Donvale and become the coach at Heatherdale Tennis Club. The 2009 Grade 1 team was headed by Nathan Thompson, Club Champion in 2009 and a highly ranked junior.
After the high level Pennant teams in the early 1990s, lower graded teams continued to be entered. A Sunday afternoon women's team continued until 2003. In 2007 a new women's team consisting of our promising girls was started, also playing on Sunday afternoon. They began in Grade 7 and rose to Grade 4. Twice they have reached the Semi-Finals. In 2009 they were undefeated until coming up against a team of nerve-proof experienced girls in the Semis who surprisingly were a few years younger than them!
Over 32 years of competing in Pennant a few of the Club's teams have reached Grand Finals, which is in itself an achievement given the number of teams playing in each grade and the number of finals required to be won before the Grand Final. They are also grand occasions and can be a little awesome as they are played over two weekends, with umpires supplied by Tennis Victoria.
Only two Club teams, both consisting of Junior boys in their early to mid-teens, have actually won the premiership. The first was in 1999 when Jarrod Savage, Adam Wilson, Sebastian Goff and Michael Fittolani won Grade 10. The second was in 2008 when the team consisting of Anthony Abiad, Christian Aliferis, Daniel Patrick, George Vitinaros and Charles Grounds won Grade 14.
2001/02 -ERT Summer Section L:R Jamie Vankerkhof, John Banes, unknown, Ricky Costa, Maverick Banes, Kelly Mathers.
1999- VTA Grade 10 Champions. L:R Adam
Wilson, Michael Fittolani, Jarrod Savage, Sebastian Goff.
More recently, in 2011 the Club's Grade 11 Pennant team consisting of Mark Dawkins, Chris Patrick, James Wong, Matthew Wong, and Peter Yaacoub were Runners Up following a hard contested finals series, in which the first three played were each won by a handful of games, then to lose the Grand Final.
Conversion of Courts 6 and 7 to Artificial Grass
In 2004 the two plexi-pave courts, their surfaces badly cracked by tree roots and the top coating completely worn away, were converted to an artificial grass court surface called 'Tigerturf' at a cost of $25k which was again funded 50% by the Club and 50% by the Council.
This was the first tennis court reconstruction project in the municipality carried out under the new 'Manningham Tennis Strategy' agreement which all tennis clubs had signed by early 2004. The agreement was the culmination of four years of negotiations and consultation between the clubs and Council to which our Club President, Craig Launder, had contributed a significant amount of time including his legal and negotiating skills to bring about a successful outcome in what turned out to be a complicated exercise.
Like all artificial grass court surfaces this new surface, which is a polyurethane carpet material with a durable ultraviolet resistive pile of about 12 mm in length, was rolled onto the existing asphalt base and then filled with white sand to just below the top of the pile. The new surface, as expected, was much more comfortable to play on and easier on the legs and feet. It was also much cooler in the summer than plexi-pave. The Monday morning Ladies social group immediately made these courts their new home.
There were a few members who gave the courts a mixed reception, finding the new bounce difficult to adjust to and the slope of the existing base a bit disconcerting, however a lot of casual players (non members) who hire courts prefer to use this surface. These courts are invaluable for the overflow of Saturday teams, and during the water restrictions were used by all competitions.
An Opening Ceremony for the artificial grass courts took place on Wednesday 21 April 2004 with Ward Councillor Julie Eisenbise, Council officers and a number of members present. Club President David Wright invited Julie to officially open the courts, and this was followed by some social play and a light lunch.
Above left: Serving up hill on the old plexi-pave surface. Right: New artificial grass surface.
Paving Around the Clubhouse
In 2006 the existing grass and paved area in front of the clubhouse and at the main entry was extended and given a makeover with additional paving installed to replace the grass areas and with labour provided by Club members. This work was carried out at a cost of $5k.
Drought Brings about a Change of Surface
The water restrictions in place from the beginning of 2007 severely limited tennis clubs in how many porous courts could be watered at any time and therefore how many courts could be used. This Club, like most, had considered the possible use of tanks to store recycled water and even drilling a well to make use of the subterranean water which was known to be in the area where the Reserve was located. After careful investigation both these options had to be ruled out.
Pressure was mounting to find a solution, as inadequate watering was already resulting in the deterioration of the surface of both the used and unused courts. Furthermore, in the 2008/09 financial year the Club was scheduled under the Council's Tennis Court Reconstruction program to have two of its porous courts reconstructed. With the continuing water restrictions other surfaces had to be investigated. The range of surfaces now available fitted into three general categories: artificial grass surfaces, artificial clay surfaces and hardcourt surfaces which included plexi-pave and plexi-cushion.
Tennis Australia was offering significant financial assistance to clubs if they would convert their courts to plexi-cushion, the surface used at Melbourne Park for the Australian Open. With this offer in mind, two courts were hired at Melbourne Park for a group of members to test this surface. The older members, especially, were not impressed with the surface; it was too hard on the feet and legs, very hard if you slipped or fell over, and hard on the tennis balls with them not lasting a set before becoming fluffed up and worn. It was considered by most members as being not suitable for club level competition or for social tennis trying to cater for all age groups.
The Club then decided to look at the range of artificial clay surfaces, preferring these to artificial grass. Three types of clay were tried at different clubs, and synclay was selected as the most suitable for all levels of competition and social play. The Club was about to embark on the biggest project in its history!
Conversion of Courts 1 to 5 to Synthetic Clay Courts
Due to the layout of the five porous courts, all being in a row next to one another and undivided by fencing, it was necessary that they be reconstructed at the same time. To only reconstruct two courts would have required moving the courts to provide separation and fencing which would have created substantial extra expense.
Eventual agreement was reached with Council that all five courts would be reconstructed and that the Council would fund 50% of the estimated cost of $180k. This left the Club faced with finding $90k, yet at that time only $25kwas available in Club funds. After discussing obtaining a loan of $65kfrom a bank the Committee abandoned this idea as being too expensive and decided to approach its members. In a matter of 24 hours of phoning around to loyal members the $65k was raised in the form of loans in blocks of $5k each, repayable in instalments over five years at a moderate interest rate.
Tenders were called by Council and an offer from A.S. Lodge was accepted using the 'Synthetic Clay' product. The playing surface is in the form of a carpet laid onto a 30mm thick base of open grade porous asphalt. The carpet is then filled with terracotta coloured sand to a level of 1mm above the top of the carpet pile. Players are meant to run around on a thin layer of sand rather than the carpet pile.
For the technically minded the carpet is specified as 16mm pile, UV stabilised twisted Polyethylene; Denier 8,800; material width of 3.66 metres; Terracotta; Primary Backing 24 x 16 UV stabilised, high density woven Polypropylene; Secondary Backing High density, carboxylated styrene co-polymer emulsion. The lines which are woven into the carpet are of the same material as the playing surface itself.
The reconstruction works started in early June 2009, and to everyone's relief the new courts were completed in six weeks. They were officially opened on the 2nd August by Ward Councillor Grace La Vella at a function also attended by our other two Ward Councillors, Stephen Mayne (a member of the Club) and Geoff Gough. Over 100 members and visitors attended the luncheon with the clubhouse full to overflowing.
It is now nearly three years since these synthetic clay courts were installed. In that period they have proven to be a truly all weather surface, being comfortable to play on in the summer in hot, dry or windy conditions (with no watering necessary), and in wet conditions where they drain very well and usually can be played on within 15 minutes of the cessation of rain. It is fair to say they have been well received by both the members and visitors alike. The only remaining issue to be confirmed is whether they will stand the test of time and durability. The Club is expecting a life of no less than 12 years providing proper care and maintenance is continued.
The Girls Pennant Team that played the last match on the porous courts in 2009. L:R Stacey Rowell, Mary Vitinaros, Danielle Geschiet and Amy Pascoe.
2001ERT Winter L:R Unknown, Ricky Westgarth, Unknown, Maverick Banes, Jamie Vankerkhof, Mitchell Birthisel.
Life Members
Lorraine Baker was made a Life Member in 2000 for her long service to the Club, particularly with the Midweek Ladies, and for her involvement with Social Committees and other activities of the wider Club.
Wing Tse became a Life Member in 2001 for his service to the Club as Secretary from 1988 to 1992, for his work on the Social Committee and his dedication in looking after the courts and clubhouse facilities for more than fifteen years.
Craig Launder, long serving President from 1993 to 2002, during probably the Club's most difficult time when trying to maintain and increase membership numbers, was made a Life Member in 2004. Craig has the honour of being the youngest Life Member in the Club's history, being only 43 years old when given Life Membership. During Craig's period on the General Committee in the 1980s he was responsible for the Club's Incorporation and for many years organised and ran the Night Tennis and Pennant teams.
Diana Mayne, the Club's long serving Secretary since 1996, was made a Life Member in 2007 for her dedicated service to the Club including work with the Midweek Ladies.
Neville Wright was made a Life Member in 2010, after over forty years of membership, including being Treasurer from 1969 to 1972 and serving in various other practical roles and on Club committees over many years.
Lesley Wright also became a Life Member in 2010 for her long and dedicated service, starting in 1968 when she began on the Social Committee, organising or helping to organise the majority of social and fundraising events held by the Club, including especially the Christmas functions in recent years. Lesley has also served on both the General and Selection Committees.
Brian Moore, appointed Life Member of the Club in 2011, has been a member for forty-five years and has, at some point in time, served on the General Committee, Social Committee and Selection Committee, including being President in 1975 and 1976.
Pamela Molloy will be awarded Life Membership at the 2012 AGM. Pamela has been a member for thirty-six years and during this time has contributed significantly to the Midweek Ladies and to Clubhouse improvements.
All of these Life Members have been active playing members over most of their long years of membership (some still are playing) and they have all readily given their time, in an honorary capacity, to serve the Club in many different ways. All sporting clubs at the grass roots level have to rely on people of this calibre to keep operating, and the TPTC has saluted them by awarding Life Membership in gratitude for their commitment.
Life Members - L:R Peter Davies, Wing Tse, Lesley Wright, Diana Mayne, Lorraine Baker, Brian Moore,
Neville Wright, David Wright and separately on the right, Craig Launder and Pamela Molloy.
There are over 350years of membership shared amongst this lot.
Tennis Club Hosts the Football Club
During the late 2000s the Council had been planning for a significant (nearly $3 million) redevelopment of the buildings on the Templestowe Reserve and for major ground improvements. This involved a new Pavilion, Meeting Room and Change Room complex for the football and cricket clubs and an enlargement of the car parking areas. It required the demolition of a number of existing buildings before work could commence and this effectively meant the football club would be without most of its accommodation facilities during the 2009 season.
The TPTC was approached by the Templestowe Football Club to see if it was possible for the tennis clubhouse to be used on Thursday evenings for after-training team jumper presentation dinners, and on Saturday home match days, for coterie luncheons and afternoon entertaining. The TPTC was happy and willing to oblige, and with the cooperation of the football club management this occurred throughout the 2009 season without any major problems or hiccups. It was a most unusual group and mix of tennis players and footballers, both past and present, spending time together talking about the current status and future of their respective sports. Surprising to some, but not others, was how much synergy was shared between the two sports.
The football club returned for the early part of the 2010 season until their facilities were complete at the end of May. During all of this period good relations were established between the two clubs to their mutual benefit.
Social Activities in the 2000s
The main social function each year has continued to be the annual Christmas Break-Up held on the first Sunday of December, with a mix of senior members, families, juniors and a few past members coming together to enjoy the spit roast dinner. The eagerly awaited raffle prizes are provided by the local business community, our coaching team Tennis Works, and others connected with the Club. Given good weather the courts are busy all afternoon and into the evening.
Christmas Function 2011.
2011 Santa with friends.
Santa arriving by Motorbike.
There have also been a number of successful special fundraising events held during the 2000s including a Trivia Night organised by Jeremy, a Poker and Pizza Night, two Chocolate Drives, a Cake Stall (previously mentioned in the Midweek Ladies section), and a Sunday all-day Sausage Sizzle in 2009 held outside the Bunnings store in Box Hill which was organised by Jill Douglas and manned on the day by the Douglas family and other rostered Club members.
Some of the Finals days for the Club Championships have also been great social occasions, with up to 80 people watching some exciting matches, enjoying a sausage sizzle and being there for the presentation of prizes late on a Sunday afternoon.
2010s
Towards the Future - The 2012 Centennial Year
A New Roof at Last
In 2011 the Council was approached to consider whether it could, under its building maintenance program, replace the oldest sections of the galvanised roof that had been installed in 1963 and 1972. There had been several incidents of roof leaks which had to be repaired during the previous ten years and something needed to be done urgently.
The Council agreed to carry out this work in June 2011, which was also timely given that the Club had been adopted by a number of possums who had decided to call the clubhouse home. It was a most luxurious abode for them and a number of attempts to remove the possums came to no avail; they simply reappeared sometime later (usually sooner). They did have some amusement value though, appearing at night meetings with tails hanging down through gaps in the ceiling and causing jokes about helping to make up a quorum.
With the new roof installed, more secure under-eaves panelling and with new ceilings in the change rooms, all provided as part of the Council roofing works, the Club was able to dispense with the services of a couple of well known local pest removalists who over several years had given of their expertise in "all things possum" and had carried out sterling service free of charge. Both gentlemen were relieved to happily retire immediately from their duties. The clubhouse cleaners, especially the Ladies' teams, were also more than pleased to see the back of the possums which are not renowned for their clean toilet habits.
Finances
The last 15 years have been a difficult time for the Club in trying to sustain the membership level at around 200. This has been the constant focus of the General Committee over this period as they balance the Club's reduced revenue from the drop in membership against the need to increase annual subscriptions to cover some of the shortfall. This was much exacerbated in 2009 by the need to borrow funds from members for the reconstruction of the courts to be paid back over five years. Any drop in membership numbers in the future would significantly impact on the Club's ability to put aside and build its cash reserves for future court reconstructions and other projects.
This tennis club currently operates on an annual turnover of about $35,000. This is a very small amount for the quality of the services it provides, particularly considering the new court surfaces and the low Annual Subscription fees that include the provision of tennis balls and the affiliation of members with Tennis Victoria for insurance purposes. Unlike many other clubs, the TPTC also does not separately impose a maintenance levy to cover court upkeep. For normal members there is no limitation on the number of times they can play during the week, either in a team or socially.
When compared to the costs of other outdoor organised sports, tennis is by far the least expensive. On average if a member was to play once a week, in a team or socially, their costs for use of the courts and facilities would equate to less than $4 a week. Moreover for Club members, the tennis courts are available all year round whereas other outdoor sports such as cricket and football are seasonal. Golf, the sport that a lot of retired tennis players move to, is a far more expensive sport, but understandably so with higher overhead costs for assets, course maintenance and upkeep. Bowling Clubs also impose higher overall annual charges on their members with daily green fees (around $5 or more) required to be paid each time a member plays and these charges are on top of the annual fees. Unlike the TPTC's fee structure, the more times bowlers play each week the more they pay.
The Club's annual subscription fee in 2011 for a full member was $190. This has to be considered remarkably low (as are the fees for most other suburban tennis clubs) when compared to the cost of attending finals week at the 2012 Australian Open, with some individual day or night sessions being greater than $190. Other cost comparisons can be made with other forms of entertainment, such as the costs to attend live theatre or concerts or for many, just simply dining out.
The Future
And so we come to the year 2012. Whilst a history book such as this is all about reflection, it is time to look ahead to the next century for the Club and tennis playing, taking into account the enormous changes that have occurred in court surfaces, racquets and other equipment now in use. Significant changes in coaching techniques have also occurred, and in general the playing styles of our younger players continue to evolve in line with the elite tournament players.
In the past, when playing competition tennis, one could have reasonably assumed that all home and away matches would have been played on a porous court. Today, during the course of a single season, players could find themselves playing on porous, artificial grass, synthetic clay, plexi-pave and even plexi-cushion, with some variations of most of the above being possible. Some courts are slower than others and players have to adapt to all these different surfaces.
Regarding membership, soon after the Club started at the Reserve it had 53 members, peaked at 406 in 1987, and then after a drop to 153 in the mid 1990s, has since hovered around the 200 mark. It is now growing again. Jeremy MacKay views the future with optimism, especially with recent innovations in coaching methods and the elite coaches now on the scene. Here are his thoughts on the future:
Hot Shots
I believe the MLC Hot Shots program is a great platform for both building increasing participation in tennis and developing future champions. It provides a clear pathway to get young players actually PLAYING the game of tennis with the use of modified equipment, as opposed to just hitting balls and learning skills in their lessons. Colour coded balls are used to distinguish bounce height and ball speed, different sized courts allow for good footwork patterns to be established and better tactical awareness, and children are able to rally and play points at a much younger age.
Enabling younger players to enjoy the game of tennis brings a new generation into the Club, thus getting them involved in the Club atmosphere. On Friday nights Templestowe Park has become a club where young players participate in modified competition, which is a bridge into ERT competition, tournaments and challenge days.
Tennis Works
Over the past year or so Tennis Works has widened its focus to become more than just a club-based coaching business. For the future improvement of tennis within Melbourne, Tennis Works is networking with specific industry people to further the professionalism and quality of our coaching product.
With the collaboration of people such as Jason Stoitenberg (current coach of Ashley Barty -2011 Junior Wimbledon Champion), Sam Groth (ATP 220), John Roddick (Head Coach - Oklahoma State University and brother of Andy), Sam Winterbotham (Head Coach - University of Tennessee), Chris Guy (Tennis Works coach with a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science degree), Brian Harper (Sports Director - Yarra Valley Grammar School) and many others, we are confident we are moving in the right direction.
Tennis Works is implementing quality school tennis programs to allow for superior training that fits into an education timetable. Devotion to education and tennis can be managed and still produce professional players by allowing these programs to be implanted into our schools, and for U.S. College tennis to be a real pathway for our children. We aim to assist promising teenagers make realistic choices regarding tennis careers, and to have both the tennis skills and the level of education to do so.
Tennis is a much loved game and we believe that with the introduction of MLC Hot Shots, Cardio Tennis and other exciting programs from Tennis Australia, tennis is in good hands and will prosper for many years to come.
Why Join A Tennis Club?
In the present climate where local tennis clubs are struggling to maintain membership numbers, the question is often asked as to what do our younger players and families want to get from belonging to a tennis club and whether the annual subscription is considered value for money. Despite the many changes that have occurred, both within tennis clubs and in the wider community, the same answers are given today as were appropriate 50 years ago.
To be able to play regular competition tennis or social tennis, as the individual wants, in an environment where social contacts and mutual friendships are fostered and established. This can be done inexpensively, playing on good and well maintained court surfaces with good clubhouse facilities.
Belonging to a club also provides the avenue for junior members of families to learn the game and develop their skills, through coaching and playing competition tennis.
Playing regular tennis with a club provides a healthy lifestyle for those who participate. Tennis can be played by people of all ages, and offers a good social environment for young people to develop their sporting abilities, sportsmanship and other social skills.
In short, tennis clubs are considered a good place to grow up around.
It can be reasonably estimated that over 2,000 people, who generally have lived within the municipality, have been members of this Club at some point during its 100 years of existence. So many matches and sets have been won and lost in good spirit (mostly!). So many friendships have been made, so much enjoyment had, so much sweat expended and so much hard work put in by so many people to keep the Club running. So many children have grown up around the Club to become average players, or good players, or great players - and good citizens. Tennis has been of value to them all, and it is to be hoped that the community continues to benefit from having strong and viable tennis clubs.
Templestowe Park Tennis Club - 2012.
Other Tennis Stories of Interest
Driving at the Australian Open
In 1981 one of our young members, Neale Baker saw an advertisement on the Club's noticeboard seeking people to drive the fleet of courtesy vehicles used at the Australian Open to transport players, their entourages and other officials to and from Kooyong. He made a phone call and was asked to come to the courts ready for work. His first passenger was none other than Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles events. Since then, for thirty years, Neale has been involved with the transport of players at Australian Opens and is currently Head Transport Supervisor. During that time the number of drivers required has risen from 20to 130. Other Club membersto have driven at the Open include Neale's father Ron and brother John, Marlene Minogue and Faye and Wing Tse. This demonstrates one of the many ways that you can become involved and remain in the sport.
Ball Kids
During the Australian Open of 2012 the Club had four of its junior players working as ball kids. Matthew Jovancevski, Edwin Van Ravensteyn, Kayla Ryan and Matthew Wong all came through a number of selection days where hundreds of boys and girls try out to become part of this sought after group. After being chosen, they had to then attend several training sessions at Melbourne Park and officiate at the Grand Finals of the Tennis Victoria Pennant competition. The final training before being 'let loose' at the Open was to officiate at the lead-up qualifying rounds. These four juniors follow in the steps of other junior Club members who have officiated at the Open as ball kids and they deserve congratulations for a job well done in reaching this goal and representing the Club.
Would you want to be an Umpire?
Eva Bettiol, a Club member in the 1970s and 1980s, and a player in a number of our Midweek Ladies teams during that period, has been an umpiring official with Tennis Australia for over thirty years, having just officiated at the most recent Australian Open. Eva became involved in umpiring back in 1981 when, on becoming the 'Ladies Coordinator of Tennis' at the Veneto Club, she decided to become an umpiring official so as to learn and understand the rules of the game properly.
Since 1981 she has officiated as a lineswoman, net-cord umpire and central umpire at many tournaments, including the Australian Open. In recent years Eva has become a National Evaluator and Trainer of umpiring officials which has involved her in travelling to tournaments in Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmania as well as throughout Victoria. Since taking up tennis as an adult in Templestowe (own home court), Eva has put an enormous amount of time into playing, umpiring and generally supporting the game she loves.
But would you really want to be an umpire? Eva recalls when acting as a net-cord umpire (in the days before net-cord sensors) she was heavily struck by a wide return, only to be told by the offending male player that if she had not been there the shot would have been a clear 'winner'. Eva cannot recall if any apologies came later, but she indicated that it is not uncommon to be struck by tennis balls when officiating so one has to become trained in dodging the 'bullets' and bearing the pain.
The Friendly Birds
How many Club members have felt threatened by the pair of Plovers (Masked Lapwings) that have, every Spring, nested on the roof of the clubhouse or nearby for the last thirty years? Their swooping and squawking to protect their nest and territory have at times been the bane of players who have been playing on Courts 1 to 3, and even more so for those adventurous members who have climbed onto the clubhouse roof to retrieve an errant ball. It was hoped that when the roof was replaced in June 2011 this may have stopped the cycle, but this was not to be and they have since returned. An ornithologist's advice is that the average life of a plover is around five years, although they can live much longer, so it does raise the question of how many generations of plovers have been involved in nesting and attacking our players over the last thirty years.
A Winning Streak
The best known winning streak by any TPTC team was 23 matches. This was achieved by the Men's Thursday Afternoon Veteran's team in 2009, with 17 matches of the Autumn season (including two finals) undefeated, following on from the previous season where the team had won its last 6 matches. The members who played in this team were (in alphabetical order) Oriano Giovannetti, Robert Mann, David McNamara, Tony Renehan, Laurie Sparks (Captain) and David Wright.
The Breaker
Tennis is a very stable game in regards to the rules and regulations for playing the game. Apart from two rule changes -- one covering the double-hit on a single continuous stroke and the other regarding foot-faults, requiring both feet to be initially behind the service line, but allowing one or both feet to leave the ground during the service action (this rule is very difficult to administer at club level unless the match is being umpired by officials) -- the other and most significant change in the last fifty years has been the introduction of the Tie-Breaker. The 12 point Tie-Breaker, first used at Wimbledon in 1971, was introduced into tournament tennis to decide and finish a set when six games-all had been reached, rather than continue to play until a two game advantage had been achieved. It was obviously introduced to reduce the duration of long sets and the overall match time.
Whilst the Tie-Breaker did reduce the overall match times for tournament players, it had the opposite effect when introduced into local regional competitions such as EMRLTA. Prior to the introduction of the Tie-Breaker most local competition tennis (not including VTA Pennant) was played with sets being decided by the first team to reach six games and then being declared the winner. So even when reaching five-all the player or pair that won the next game would be declared the winner. Other competitions played a similar format, but up to eight games. When the Tie-Breaker was introduced into EMRLTA, sets were then extended to six games all (or to eight games all) before the Tie-Breaker was to be played. This was a much fairer arrangement ensuring that every player would have the same number of service games before the Tie-Breaker was played. It could, however, extend a set by two games (one being the breaker).
How many members can recall finishing a day's tennis having played three tie-break sets? (In ERT Open Sets this would mean 9- 8 for each set). Some players indeed welcomed the opportunity to play more tennis whilst others were not quite as enthusiastic.
The biggest confusion that still exists in the playing of Tie-Breakers seems to be getting them started properly and making sure the correct player (and team) is serving first and that they are serving to the 'deuce' court and that the second point, served by the opposite team is played to the backhand court. Also how many times have players forgotten to change ends after every six points?
The Restringer's Friend - The Modern Top Spin Player
Sixty years ago, if one had to get a racquet restrung or, in some cases, only a couple of strings replaced, the 'Restringer', would first examine your 'wooden' racquet to see if there were any cracks in the frame or significant warping. On advice that the frame was OK for new strings he would simply ask, "how tight would you like the strings, tight, medium or thereabouts", as there was no other choice of string material in those days except natural gut (made from animal intestines). Nylon strings started to appear in the mid 1950s, and the choice was then gut or nylon. Top players stayed with gut.
Today, the situation has completely changed with tennis racquet string manufacturers now offering a range of different diameter strings made from a myriad of synthetic materials and all in a range of colours at varying prices. The diameter of strings can range from 1.14mm incrementally up to 1.38mm, and terms such as polyester, polymeric, nylon, synthetic, titanium, multifilament, softflex, polyurethane, fluorocarbon, and high crystallinity, amongst many others, are used to describe the makeup of the strings available. In all, today, there are over 200 different string types available from at least 30 different suppliers, yet natural gut strings are still available and used by several top ranked players on the circuit. The performance of strings, in a test environment, is measured by the percentage of tension loss (typically between 5% and 10%) that occurs after being held in a constant pull machine (at 60 pounds tension) for a period of 24 hours.
Some years ago small plastic clips called 'string-savers' were introduced to lock strings in place from moving against each other, however these were banned from competition as was the use of double stringing techniques through a single set of racquet holes, both being considered to offer the user too much of an advantage over his opponent, presumably in providing better ball control and spin.
Despite all ofthe above the reality is that 'strings still break'and, forthose who use heavy top spin, fartoo frequently for their liking and their hip pocket. One advanced Pennant player at the Club indicated that he used to get about two hours of playing time out of a restring. This can be an expensive business and during a Pennant season, this player, and others with the same problem, were considered to be very good friends ofthe local 'Restringer'.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, some ofthe lads at the Club, including Gavin Davies, Jonathan Manton, Stephen Mayne and Ian Peter-Budge bought stringing machines and did their own restringing, plus earning some pocket money doing other players' racquets.
Who Needs a Double Handed Backhand?
Over the last 50 years there has been a significant move from single handed to double handed backhands, however one of our members in the 1960s, Geoff Armstrong, did not consider this: he just put the racquet in the other hand and came up with two forehands and no backhand. In those days it was generally accepted that you should serve to the weaker side of your opponent, usually the backhand, but in Geoff's case this was always difficult to work out. One could say he had a tactical advantage and would have been regarded in tennis terms as being forehanded ambidextrous.
Booming Serves
During 2011 Sam Groth joined the Tennis Works coaching team and became part ofthe Club family, coaching both juniors and adults. Having undergone shoulder surgery in early 2011, members have not yet been witness to some ofthe legendary serving power that Sam has generated at a number of tournaments throughout the world on the professional circuit. Sam is credited with having hit the fastest recorded serve at the 2009 Australian Open, recording a speed of 231kms/hour. He reached a career high ranking of 220 in November 2009, won a number of 'Futures' tournaments overseas and was also successful at Bendigo in December 2010.
Sam has been credited with a serve timed at 246kms/hour at a World Team Tennis event in Spain, which is not far behind the all-time record of 251kms/hour held by Ivo Karlovic in a Davis Cup match in 2011.
Club members look forward, sometime in the near future, to watching Sam either 'burn' holes in our court surfaces or make holes in our fences with 'blistering' pace!
Would You Need to Hire a Court?
One way of tracking the level of court availability at the Club is to monitor the annual 'Membership Numbers to Court Ratio'. This is shown in the chart below and it should be noted that during the Club's peak period of membership, when the ratio was at around 75 members to a court, the Club closed its membership and then introduced a waiting list.
Australia, in general, is a most fortunate country with the availability of tennis courts. Spare a thought for a tennis player in China. With the emergence of Li Na who won the French Open in 2011, the first Grand Slam to be won by a Chinese player, much has been made about the growth of the sport in China with now over 16 million active tennis players. In all, it is claimed that there are over 40,000 tennis courts in place with the numbers of courts rapidly growing. These figures equate to about 400 players to a court, a ratio thirteen times greater than currently exists at our Club. So one presumes that in China a player might have to book or hire a court days in advance to get a game for even an hour, let alone trying to play a best of three sets singles match.
<GRAPH>. TPTC -Membership Numbers to Court Ratio
Office Bearers of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| Year | President | Secretary | Treasurer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Albert Petty | ||
| 1961 | Albert Petty | ||
| 1962 | Albert Petty | David Dickason | |
| 1963 | Albert Petty | David Dickason | |
| 1964 | Albert Petty | Ian Martindale | Ian Martindale |
| 1965 | Albert Petty | Ian Martindale | Ian Martindale |
| 1966 | Eric Dickason | Ian Martindale | Ian Martindale |
| 1967 | Eric Dickason | Pam Greve | John Dickason |
| 1968 | Eric Dickason | Pam Greve | John Dickason |
| 1969 | Eric Dickason | Pam Greve | Neville Wright |
| 1970 | Eric Dickason | Ron Baker | Neville Wright |
| 1971 | Eric Dickason | Ron Baker | Neville Wright |
| 1972 | Ron Baker | Maggie White | Neville Wright |
| 1973 | Ron Baker | Maggie White | David Wright |
| 1974 | Ron Baker | Maggie White | David Wright |
| 1975 | Brian Moore | Trevor Habel | David Wright |
| 1976 | Brian Moore | Charles Launder | David Wright |
| 1977 | Les Heath | Charles Launder | David Wright |
| 1978 | Les Heath | Judy Heintz | Peter Davies |
| 1979 | Darrel Hook | Graeme McGregor | Peter Davies |
| 1980 | Darrel Hook | Graeme McGregor | Peter Davies |
| 1981 | Ken Greenhill | Graeme McGregor | Peter Davies |
| 1982 | Ken Greenhill | Graeme McGregor | Peter Davies |
| 1983 | Graeme McGregor | Barry Hardman | Peter Davies |
| 1984 | David Wright | Barry Hardman | Peter Davies |
| 1985 | David Wright | Barry Hardman | Peter Davies |
| 1986 | David Wright | Barry Hardman | Peter Davies |
| 1987 | David Wright | Barry Hardman | Peter Davies |
| 1988 | Bev Shannon | Wing Tse | Barry Dunstan |
| 1989 | Barry Hardman | Wing Tse | Barry Dunstan |
| 1990 | Barry Hardman | Wing Tse | Barry Dunstan |
| 1991 | Peter Davies | Wing Tse | Gary Szoka |
| 1992 | Peter Davies | Wing Tse | Gary Szoka |
| 1993 | Craig Launder | Belinda Wright | Gary Szoka |
| 1994 | Craig Launder | Belinda Wright | Gary Szoka |
| 1995 | Craig Launder | David Wright | Gary Szoka |
| 1996 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Gary Szoka |
| 1997 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Gary Szoka |
| 1998 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Gary Szoka |
| 1999 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Gary Szoka |
| 2000 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2001 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2002 | Craig Launder | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2003 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2004 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2005 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Peter Davies |
| 2006 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
| 2007 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
| 2008 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
| 2009 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
| 2010 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
| 2011 | David Wright | Diana Mayne | Dale Birthisel |
Life Members of Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| 1967 | Albert Petty |
| 1969 | Edna Smith |
| 1972 | Eric Dickason |
| 1978 | Maggie White |
| 1979 | Ken Johnson |
| 1988 | Peter Davies |
| 1990 | David Wright |
| 1991 | Anne Peter-Budge |
| 2000 | Lorraine Baker |
| 2001 | WingTse |
| 2004 | Craig Launder |
| 2007 | Diana Mayne |
| 2009 | Neville Wright |
| 2009 | Lesley Wright |
| 2011 | Brian Moore |
| 2012 | Pamela Molloy |
Presidents of TPTC Midweek Ladies Group
| 1972 | Margaret Walder |
| 1973 | Lorna Bourne |
| 1974 | Aileen Whittley |
| 1975 | Mary Hay |
| 1976-1977 | Betty Hibble |
| 1978-1979 | Pam Wildsmith |
| 1980-1981 | Pat Ward |
| 1982-1983 | Faye Tse |
| 1984-1985 | Pat Mcinnes |
| 1986-1987 | Bev Shannon |
| 1988-1989 | Bev Jenkins |
| 1990-1991 | Joy McGregor |
| 1992 | Shirley Capewell |
| 1993-1994 | Kathy Hope |
| 1995-1996 | Pamela Molloy |
| 1997-2002 | Dale Steel |
| 2003-2012 | Pamela Molloy |
Mens Club Champions of Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| Year | Singles | Doubles |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | David Wright | David Wright/Brian Moore |
| 1977 | Peter Davies | David Wright/Brian Moore |
| 1978 | David Wright | Peter Davies/John Wildsmith |
| 1979 | David Wright | Neville Wright/Craig Launder |
| 1980 | Craig Launder | Peter Davies/John Wildsmith |
| 1981 | David Wright | Peter Davies/Neville Wright |
| 1982 | lan Peter-Budge | Stan Russell/John Wildsmith |
| 1983 | lan Peter-Budge | John Wildsmith/David Wildsmith |
| 1984 | lan Peter-Budge | Leo Ware/lan Peter-Budge |
| 1985 | David Wildsmith | David Wildsmith/Rene VanUnen |
| 1986 | Stephen Mayne | David Wildsmith/Rene VanUnen |
| 1987 | David Wildsmith | David Wildsmith/Rene VanUnen |
| 1988 | Stephen Mayne | Gavin Davies/Stephen Mayne |
| 1989 | Stephen Mayne | David Wildsmith/Vaughan Greenhill |
| 1990 | John Banes | John Banes Doren/Ben Meir |
| 1991 | Wayne Smith | David Wildsmith/Ricky Jackson |
| 1992 | John Banes | Greg Skeritt/Wayne Davis |
| 1993 | John Banes | David Wright/Peter Davies |
| 1994-2006 | Not Contested | Not Contested |
| 2007 | Jarred Savage | Not Contested |
| 2008 | Jarred Savage | Not Contested |
| 2009 | Nathan Thompson | Chris Guy/Michael McKerney |
| 2010 | Mark Stevens | Jeremy MacKay/Steve Allen |
| 2011 | Chris Guy | Not Contested |
Mixed Double Club Champions of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| 1986 | David Wildsmith/Sally Mayne |
| 1987 | David Wildsmith/Sally Mayne |
| 1988 | David Wildsmith/Sally Mayne |
| 1989 | Stephen Mayne/Kirsten Tyrell |
| 1990 | John Banes/Sally Mayne |
| 1991 | Stephen Mayne/Donna Wright |
| 1992 | Stephen Mayne/Donna Wright |
| 1993 | Mathew Greenhill/Amanda Brown |
| 1994-2008 | Not Contested |
| 2009 | Chris Guy/Mary Vitinaros |
| 2010 | Jeremy MacKay/Danielle Geschiet |
| 2011 | Not Contested |
Ladies Club Champions of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| Year | Singles | Doubles | Doubles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Diana Mayne | Aileen Whittley | Lesley Wright |
| 1977 | Lesley Wright | Aileen Whittley | Lesley Wright |
| 1978 | Diana Mayne | Aileen Whittley | Lesley Wright |
| 1979 | Diana Mayne | Po.m Fo..·rra.rit | Bev Jenkins |
| 1980 | Margery Doidge | Diana Mayne | Margery Doidge |
| 1981 | Sally Mayne | Julia Mayne | Shelley Wright |
| 1982 | Sally Mayne | Diana Mayne | Margaret Russell |
| 1983 | Margery Doidge | Sally Mayne | Shelley Wright |
| 1984 | Sally Mayne | Margaret Russell | Margery Doidge |
| 1985 | Shelley Wright | Sally Mayne | Shelley Wright |
| 1986 | Sally Mayne | Sally Mayne | Shelley Wright |
| 1987 | Shelley Wright | Sally Mayne | Julia Mayne |
| 1988 | Ros Pearce | Eva Bettiol | Ros Pearce |
| 1989 | Sally Mayne | Caroline Byrne | Barbara Sandells |
| 1990 | Sally Mayne | Sally Mayne | Brigette McGuire |
| 1991 | Lyndel Tayler | Sally Mayne | Barbara Sandells |
| 1992 | Lisa Nelson | Lyndel Tayler | Donna Wright |
| 1993 | Lisa Nelson | Diana Mayne | Ann Cayless |
| 1994-2008 | Not Contested | Not Contested | |
| 2009 | Mary Vitinaros | Judy Davies | Terri Harrison |
| 2010 | Danielle Geschiet | Danielle Geschiet | Stacey Rowell |
| 2011 | Stacey Rowell | Judy Davies | Terri Harrison |
Junior Club Champions of the Templestowe Park Tennis Club
| Year | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Michael Amore | Julianne Wildsmith |
| 1989 | Jonathan Manton | Jodie Langtree |
| 1990 | Adam Licciardi | Jane Shannon |
| 1991 | David Keenan | Lisa Nelson |
| 1992 | David Keenan | Lisa Nelson |
| 1993-1999 | Not Contested | Not Contested |
| 2000 | M.Peterson | Ebony Banes |
| 2001-2004 | Not Contested | Not Contested |
| 2005 | Mitchell Birthisel | Emma Stone |
| 2006 | Tom Mitrovski | Sinead Barclay |
| 2007 | Mark Kosta | Brittany Boys |
| 2008 | Christian Aliferis | Brittany Boys |
| 2009 | Christian Aliferis | Mary Vitinaros |
| 2010 | Anthony Abiad | Georgia Douglas |
| 2011 | Jack Grigorescu | Olivia Clarke |
<IMAGE> 2011 ERT Winter Section3 R/U. L:R James Wong,
Lucy Douglas, Kayla Ryan, Matthew Wong, Georgia Douglas.
2011/2012 EDWTA Summer Section 1 Premiers.
L:R Laura Cardamone, Nina Socratous, Jody Simpson, Dale Steel, Simone Bermingham, Andrea Sorrenti.
L:R Wilma Corfield, Olesia Shirbin, Leanne Wilson, Jan Tucker.
L:R Ian Peter-Budge, Shelley Wright, Robert Mascitti, Sally Mayneand Sue Peter-Budge.
2000 MEMRLTA Winter Grade B7. L:R Dorte Green, Glennis Carson, Eileen Buckley, Carol Moule, Wilma Corfield.
Juniors with their trophies.
L:R Bradley Fong, Mathew Bethune, Eric Van Den Hout, Nicholas Taranto. Notin photograph: Megan Wearne.
L:R Clare Shannon, Tamara Tse, Anne Peter-Budge, Julianne Wildsmith and Julie Dunstan.
1979 EDWTA Winter Section 9. L:R Judy Catlow, Ornella Fuller, Marlene Hodges, Marg Langtree.
1996/97 ERTSummer Girls Section 8. L:R Kate Watson, Kylie Armstrong, Leah Knight, Kim Gordon.
1996/97 ERT Girls. L:R Back Tracey Johnson, Emilia Mardjetko, Tanya Bobbin, Ebony Banes, Priyanka Natarajan.
1998 ERT Winter Girls Section 2. L:R Shannon Schlotterlien, Holly Banes, Lisa Peterson, Stephanie Conti and Lane Schlotterlien.
L:R Bianca Hutchins, unknown, unknown, Leanne Wright.
L:R Back David Paolucci, Mark —, Christopher Waters, L:R Front Shaun Waters, Tom Mitrovski,
Justin Paolucci.
1999 ERT Winter Section 11. L:R Peter Davies, Mary Adey, Barbara Pearce, GarySzoka, Marg Langtree, Wing Tse.
Templestowe Park Tennis Club - List of Winning Teams 1950-1989
| Year | Assoc. | Season | Competition | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-51 | BDLTA | Summer | C Grade Mixed | Prem. | |
| 1955-56 | BDLTA | Summer | A Reserve Mixed | Prem. | |
| 1956 | BDLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 2 | Prem. | |
| 1957 | BDLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1957 | BDLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 5 | Prem. | |
| 1958 | BDLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1958-59 | BDLTA | Summer | C Grade Senior Mixed | Prem. | |
| 1966 | EMRLTA | Winter | Men's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1966-67 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 2 | Prem. | |
| 1968 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1968-69 | EMRLTA | Summer | Men's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1969 | EMRLTA | Winter | Men's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1970-71 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies 7 | Prem. | |
| 1971-72 | EMR | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies 12 | Prem. | |
| 1971-72 | EMRLTA | Summer | Junior's 16 | Prem. | |
| 1972-73 | EMRLTA | Summer | Junior's 14 | Prem. | |
| 1972-73 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1972-73 | EMR | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies 18 | Prem. | |
| 1972-73 | EMRLTA | Summer | Men's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1973-74 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1973-74 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 14 | Prem. | |
| 1973-74 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 2 | Prem. | |
| 1973-74 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 7 | Prem. | |
| 1974 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1974 | DVTTA | Winter | Division A | R/U | |
| 1975 | DVTTA | Winter | Division A | Prem. | |
| 1975-76 | EMR | Summer | Girl's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1975-76 | EMR | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies 15 | Prem. | |
| 1975-76 | EMR | Summer | Mixed 17 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | EMR | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies 5 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | EMR | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies 11 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | EMRLTA | Winter | Men's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 12 | Prem. | |
| 1976 | DVTTA | Winter | Division B2 | R/U | |
| 1976-77 | EMR | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies 17 | Prem. | |
| 1976-77 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1976-77 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 25 | Prem. | |
| 1976-77 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 7 | Prem. | |
| 1976-77 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 21 | Prem. | |
| 1977-78 | EMR | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies B3 | Prem. | |
| 1977-78 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 9 | Prem. | |
| 1977-78 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 5 | Prem. | |
| 1977-78 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 5 | Prem. | |
| 1977-78 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 9 | Prem. | |
| 1978 | EMR | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies C4 | Prem. | |
| 1978 | EMR | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies B2 | Prem. | |
| 1978 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 3 | Prem. | |
| 1978-79 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 7 | Prem. | |
| 1978-79 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 4 | Prem. | |
| 1979 | EMR | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies C5 | Prem. | |
| 1979 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 21 | Prem. | |
| 1979 | HDTA | Winter | Section 5 | Prem. | |
| 1979 | NENTG | Spring | Night Section 3 | Prem. | |
| 1979-80 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies A5 | Prem. | |
| 1979-80 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies AS | Prem. | |
| 1979-80 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mid-Week Ladies A8 | Prem. | |
| 1979-80 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 5 | Prem. | |
| 1979-80 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 2 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies A4 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies A6 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid-Week Ladies A9 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 10 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | EMRLTA | Winter | Boy's 6 | Prem. | |
| 1980 | VTA | Womens D Grade | R/U | ||
| 1980-81 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1980-81 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 15 | Prem. | |
| 1981 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 1. | Prem. | |
| 1981 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 5 | Prem. | |
| 1981 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mixed 13 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EMRLTA | Summer | Midweek C4 | Prem. | |
| 1981-82 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 4 | Prem. | |
| 1982 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 24 | "Prem | " |
| 1982 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 3 | Prem. | |
| 1982 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid Week A9 | Prem. | |
| 1982 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 7 | Prem. | |
| 1982-83 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1982-83 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | Prem. | |
| 1983 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 12 | Prem. | |
| 1983 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 1 | Prem | " |
| 1983-84 | EMRLTA | Summer | Mid-Week A3 | R/U | |
| 1983-84 | EMRLTA | Summer | Midweek B1 | Prem. | |
| 1983-84 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | Prem. | |
| 1984 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid-Week A3 | R/U | |
| 1984 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid Week A2 | Prem. | |
| 1984 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mid Week A10 | R/U | |
| 1984 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 2 | Prem. | |
| 1984 | VTA | Womens D Grade | R/U | ||
| 1984-85 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 21 | Prem. | |
| 1984-85 | HDTA | Summer | Section 8 | Prem. | |
| 1984-85 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 10 | Prem. | |
| 1985 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 1 | Prem. | |
| 1985 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 1 | Prem | |
| 1985 | EMRLTA | Winter | Boy's 10 | Prem. | |
| 1985 | HDTA | Winter | Section 6 | Prem. | |
| 1985 | HDTA | Winter | Section 6 | Prem. | |
| 1985-86 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 12 | Prem | |
| 1985-86 | EMRLTA | Summer | Boy's 7 | Prem. | |
| 1985-86 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 19 | Prem | |
| 1986 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 8 | "Prem | |
| 1986 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 5 | Prem. | |
| 1986 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1986 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Midweek B8 | Prem. | |
| 1986 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1986-87 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1986-87 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1986-87 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Midweek B1 | Prem. | |
| 1987 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 2 | Prem. | |
| 1987 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1987 | EMRLTA | Winter | Boy's 3 | Prem. | |
| 1987-88 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 18 | Prem. | |
| 1987-88 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 14 | Prem. | |
| 1987-88 | EMRLTA | Summer | Jnr Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1987-88 | EMRLTA | Summer | Jnr Mixed 10 | Prem | |
| 1988 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Mid Week A8 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 10 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 7 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EMRLTA | Winter | Jnr Mixed 9 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EMRLTA | Winter | Jnr Mixed 18 | Prem. | |
| 1988 | EMRLTA | Winter | Jnr Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1988-89 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Midweek A7 | Prem. | |
| 1988-89 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1988-89 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 12 | Prem | |
| 1989 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 17 | Prem. | |
| 1989 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1989 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Midweek B7 | R/U | |
| 1989 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 5 | Prem. | |
| 1989 | EMRLTA | Winter | Girl's 2 | Prem. |
Templestowe Park Tennis Club - List of Winning Teams 1989-2012
| Year | Assoc. | Season | Competition | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-90 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl s 2 | Prem. | |
| 1989-90 | EMRLTA | Summer | Boy's 10 | Prem. | |
| 1989-90 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 6 | Prem. | |
| 1989-90 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Midweek A5 | Prem. | |
| 1989-90 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 10 | Prem. | |
| 1990 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Midweek A4 | Prem. | |
| 1990 | EMRLTA | Winter | Grits 2 | Prem. | |
| 1990 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 18 | "Prem | " |
| 1990 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixe•14 | "Prem | " |
| 1990 | EMRLTA | Spring | Women s 20 | Prem. | |
| 1990 | HDTA | Winter | Section 12 | "Prem | " |
| 1990-91 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixes 11 | Prem. | |
| 1990-91 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Midweek 63 | "Prem | " |
| 1990-91 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Midweek 64 | "Prem | " |
| 1990-91 | HDTA | Summer | Section 11 | Prem. | |
| 1990-91 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 6 | Prem. | |
| 1991 | EMRLTA | Winter | Mixed 6 | Prem. | |
| 1991 | EMRLTA | Winter | Boy's 5 | Prem. | |
| 1991 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1991 | EMRLTA | Winter | Men's 3 | Prem. | |
| 1991 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Midweek C7 | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 9 | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed I. | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | HDTA | Summer | Section 3 | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 8 | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 7 | Prem. | |
| 1991-92 | EMRLTA | Summer | kr Mixed 3 | Prem. | |
| 1992 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1992 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Midweek A7 | Prem. | |
| 1992 | EMRLTA | Winter | Prem. | ||
| 1992-93 | MEMRLTA | Summer | A10 Grade | Prem. | |
| 1992-93 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 5 | ||
| 1992-93 | EMRLTA | Summer | kr Mixed 3 | ||
| 1993 | EMRLTA | Winter | Men's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1993 | MEMRLTA | Winter | A3 Grade | R/U | |
| 1993-94 | MEMRLTA | Summer | A8 Grade | Prem. | |
| 1993-94 | HDTA | Summer | Section 3 | Prem. | |
| 1993-94 | EMRLTA | Summer | Girl's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1993-94 | EMRLTA | Summer | inr Mixed 1 | Prem. | |
| 1994 | EMRLTA | Winter | Senior Mixed 5 | Prem. | |
| 1994 | MEMRLTA | Winter | A8 Grade | Prem. | |
| 1994 | EMRLTA | Winter | kir Mixed 8 | Prem. | |
| 1994-95 | EMRLTA | Summer | Senior Mixed 7 | Prem. | |
| 1994-95 | MEMRLTA | Summer | "DI | Grade" | R/U |
| 1995 | NENTG | Spring | Women's 9 | Prem. | |
| 1995 | NENTG | Autumn | Men's 2 | Prem. | |
| 1995 | NENTG | Autumn | Women's 11 | Prem. | |
| 1995-96 | ERT | Summer | Open Sets 1 | Prem. | |
| 1996-97 | ERT | Summer | Gir | R U | |
| 1996-97 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 8 | R/U | |
| 1996-97 | MEMRLTA | Summer | AS Grade | R/U | |
| 1996 | NENTG | Autumn | Women's 7 | Prem. | |
| 1997 | NENTG | Autumn | Mixed 4 | Prem. | |
| 1997 | NENTG | Autumn | Women's 6 | Prem. | |
| 1997 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 1997 | ERT | Winter | Boy' 10 | Prem. | |
| 1997 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 10 | Prem. | |
| 1997-98 | MEMRLTA | Summer | B8 Grade | Prem. | |
| 1997-98 | ERT | Summer | Prem. | ||
| 1997-98 | ERT | Summer | R/U | ||
| 1988 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 13 | Prem. | |
| 1998-99 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 8 | Prem. | |
| 1998-99 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | Prem. | |
| 1999 | NENTG | Autumn | Women's 1 | Prem. | |
| 1999 | NENTG | Spring | Women's I | Prem. | |
| 1999 | ERT | Winter | Senior Mixed 11 | Prem. | |
| 1999 | VTA | Men's Grade 10 | Prem. | ||
| 1999 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 1 | R/U | |
| 1999-00 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 6 | Prem. | |
| 1999-00 | ERT | Summer | Girl s 4 | R/U | |
| 1999-00 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | R/U | |
| 2000 | NENTG | Autumn | Women's 4 | Prem. | |
| 2000 | MEMRLTA | Winter | B7 Grade | Prem. | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 2 | R/U | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 15 | R/U | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Mixed 9 | R/U | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 4 | Prem. | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Senior Mixed 10 | R/U | |
| 2000 | ERT | Winter | Men s 4 | R/U | |
| 2000 | HDTA | Winter | Section 6 | Prem. I | |
| 2000-01 | MEMRLTA | Summer | B9 Grade | R/U | |
| 2000-01 | MEMRLTA | Summer | C2 Grade | Prem. I | |
| 2000-01 | MEMRLTA | Summer | B6 Grade | Prem. | |
| 2000-01 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 4 | R/U | |
| 2000-01 | ERT | Summer | Mixed 10 | R/U | |
| 2000-01 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 2000-01 | ERT | Summer | Senior Mixed 1 | R/U | |
| 2000-01 | HDTA | Summer | Section s | Prem. | |
| 2001 | MMTA | Spring | Veteran's Section 3 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | MMTA | Autumn | Veteran's Section 2 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | ERT | Wnter | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 3 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | ERT | Winter | Senior Mixed 7 | Prem. | |
| 2001 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 10 | R/U | |
| 2001-02 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 2001-02 | ERT | Summer | Girls 2 | Prem. | |
| 2001-02 | ERT | Summer | Boy's 4 | R/U | |
| 2002 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 1 | R/U | |
| 2002 | ERT | Winter | Boy s 6 | Prem. | |
| 2002 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 1 | Prem. | |
| 2002 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 6 | R/U | |
| 2002 | MEMRLTA | Winter | BS Grade | R/U | |
| 2002-03 | HDTA | Summer | Section 5 | Prem. | |
| 2003-04 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | R/U | |
| 2004 | ERT | Winter | Boy's 3 | Prem. | |
| 2004 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 4 | R/U | |
| 2004-05 | ERT | Summer | Boy's 14 | R/U | |
| 2004-05 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Grade B3 | R/U | |
| 2005 | MEMRLTA | Winter | Grade B6 | R/U | |
| 2005-06 | ERT | Summer | Open Sets 12 | R/U | |
| 2005-06 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Grade A6 | R/U | |
| 2006 | HDTA | Autumn | Section 2 | Prem. | |
| 2006-07 | HDTA | Summer | Section 6 | Prem. | |
| 2007-08 | MEMRLTA | Summer | Grade B3 | R/U | |
| 2008 | MMTA | Spring | Veteran's Section 2 | Prem. | |
| 2008 | ERT | Winter | Boy s 6 | R/U | |
| 2008 | TV | Men s Grade 14 | Prem. | ||
| 2008-09 | ERT | Summer | Boy's 1 | Prem. | |
| 2008-09 | ERT | Summer | Junior Mixed 2 | R/U | |
| 2008-09 | ERT | Summer | Girl's 9 | Prem. | |
| 2008-09 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | R/U | |
| 2009 | ERT | Winter | Girl's 4 | Prem. | |
| 2009 | HDTA | Winter | Section 3 | Prem. | |
| 2010 | MMTA | Spring | Veteran's Section 2B | Prem. | |
| 2010 | EDWTA | Winter | Section 1 | Prem. | |
| 2010 | ERT | Winter | Junior Mixed 1 | R/U | |
| 2010-11 | ERT | Summer | Singles/Doubles 3 | Prem. | |
| 2010-11 | ERT | Summer | JDC | Prem. | |
| 2010-11 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | R/U | |
| 2010-11 | ERT | Summer | Singles/Doubles 5 | Prem. | |
| 2011 | ERT | Winter | Jnr Mixed 3 | R/U | |
| 2011 | TV | Grade 11Section 1 | R/U | ||
| 2011-12 | EDWTA | Summer | Section 1 | Prem. | |
| 2011-12 | ERT | Summer | Boys S/D 14 | Prem. | |
| 2011-12 | ERT | Summer | Boys S/D 21 | Prem. | |
| 2011-12 | ERT | Summer | Singles/Doubles 4 | Prem. | |
| 2011-12 | ERT | Summer | Singles/Doubles 6 | Prem. |
L:R Annette McKellar, Pamela Molloy, Aileen Whittley, Diana Mayne.
L:R Donna Oakley, Juli Impey, Andree Wise, Judy Davies, Terri Harrison.
L:R Jill Douglas, Leonie Grundy.
L:R Joy Milne, Janette Coldrey, Lyn Browne, Rosslyn Cotsford, Erica Heim, Margaret Brace.
L:R Above: Liz Baumgartner, Carolyn Giovannetti, Dionnie Fahour, Pamela Molloy.
L:R Above: Brenda Koochew, Dot
Tamburrini, Leanne Wilson, Pilar Simon.
L:R Above: Jenny Caspar, Nancy Reynolds, Eileen Buckley, Lynette Howes, Jan Tucker, Wilma Corfield.
L:R Jackie McHugh, Mira Riddle, Chris Flanagan, Karen Gordon, Leanne Ryan, Emily Gordon, Jo Tsakmakis.
Weekend ERT Teams - Summer 2011-12
L:R John Thompson, Anita Thompson, Steve Montile, L:R Donna Oakley, Carl Paolucci, Paul Petridis, Peter Davies.
Fatkin Wong.
L:R Danielle Gescheit, Stacey Rowel, Amy Pascoe.
L:R Shenay Kurtulus, Georgia Ryan, Olivia Clark.
L:R Chris Patrick, Matthew Wong, Peter Yaacoub. Absent: James Wong, Andrew Tzikas, Mark Dawkins.
L:R Emma Wong, Ebony Cormack, Jacquie Chester. Absent: Julia Di-Blasio, Stephanie Muculj.
L:R James Yaacoub, Stephen L:R Daniel Turner, Joel Harris, Michael L:R William Taranto, William
Bogotto, Christos Lambiris, Thompson, Hugh Bennett. Absent: Ed Fleming. Chester, Matthew Broome.
David Fong, George Siskamanls. Not shown: Tom
L:R Salmaan ATQureshi, Neville Wright, Paul Petridos, Ian Sandham, Max Brewer, Jim Shamos, Peter Davies, Lyle Douglas, Hal Salomon, Peter HolzerTony Voigt, Lance Graham.
L:R Anthony Abiad, Jack Grigorescu, Jack Thiessen.
2011 Tennis Victoria Grade 11 R/U. L:R Peter Yaacoub, James Wong, Matthew Wong, Mark Dawkins, Chris Patrick.
Source: Mayne, Diana & Wright, David, (Editor.) 2012, A Century of Tennis in Tempy: The History of Templestowe Park Tennis Club 1912-2012, Templestowe Park Tennis Club, East Doncaster. A Century of Tennis in Tempy : The History of Templestowe Park Tennis Club - 1912 - 2012. 84 p. : ill ; 29.700 x 021.000 cm. ISBN 9780646575063 First Published in April 2012 Printed and bound by BHI Digital Print Services. Permission to publish online given to DTHS by Diana Mayne Dec2024. View Original Scan
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