A new Court Booking System will be rolled out on 01.08.2022. The new system is provided by Tennis NZ and powered by Club Spark. More details will follow in a news letter.
Kia ora e te whanau,
Nāu mai, hāere mai Welcome everyone to our 2022 AGM, a particularly warm welcome to our life members. This is my first report as President of Koru and with the follow on from Covid it’s been an up and down year. Within 3 weeks of being voted in President I disappeared off to the UK and within 5 days of my leaving Tamaki Makaurau was in lockdown – honestly there was no connection! But my plan to ensure I didn’t miss out on anything came to fruition! So, I would like to start by acknowledging one of our previous members, David Bell, who sadly passed away since our last AGM. David was a previous life member and former President of the club in the 1990’s. I would like us to acknowledge his wonderful contribution to tennis at Koru. Our club is prospering well as we come out of Covid, with just over 200 members across the different sections and we are in a strong financial position with around $60.000 in the bank. All sections of the club are running smoothly, with Chick, Elizabeth and Ann running a very busy Super Seniors play twice a week and people coming from far and wide to enjoy a socially competitive game. Steve is frequently being challenged on a Wednesday club night to get 40 people onto 5 courts and we have a growing junior section, particularly of 5–7-year-olds and of course a steady group at mid-week ladies. Thanks to those on the committee who run the board on club days and to those who are not of the committee such as Pete, Kevin and Tania who also volunteer to take the flack by running the board! Competitively we entered 8 senior teams in interclub and 3 junior teams with some good results. Of particular note was the Ferrier Cup team which came 1 st (the 3 rd time in the last 5 years) and our junior 12 and under Saturday team which also gained first place in their section. This year with our new coaching arrangement with Gabriel from Sunnyhills we have been able to offer more junior winter coaching options and a well subscribed holiday programme at Easter. There have also been options for senior singles games across the 3 local clubs so our links with our local clubs and increased opportunities for our members continues to be something we are developing. Around the club there have been some significant repairs and maintenance undertaken, notably the LED flood lights upgrade which Jim worked very hard on, improvements to the court fencing, a new deck and water blasting of the courts courtesy of Dean, 2 new nets and 3 new posts – thanks to Gelu for his kind donation and a refurbishment of the furniture in the club rooms. Next on the list might be a revitalising of the carpet and who knows….! Although social events have been limited this season, we did manage to hold both a junior and senior prizegiving with good attendance at both. Congratulations to all winners. We also held a junior family pizza night which was well attended and will be a regular feature going forwards. A particular mention at this point would be Chick Dubber who, this year received a Koru Service Award for his many, many years of service to Koru Tennis Club. Chick was a foundation member back in 1968 and held many positions on the committee and with his wife Jenny supported many fundraising initiatives. Since he returned to the club in the 1990’s following a break he has diligently run the Super Senior days. On behalf of all Koru members thank you Chick for your contribution to Koru Tennis club. Three other members of Koru - Jim, Elizabeth and Dean deserve significant recognition and thanks. They will be recipients of Gold badges from Tennis Auckland for over 20 years of active and outstanding service to Koru Club administration. In addition, I would like to mention that we have Raz and George who have given over 10 years of outstanding service to Koru Club and will be receiving silver badges from Tennis Auckland. Well done to each and everyone of those. I would also like to make special mention of another humble Koru member who we acknowledged at the prizegiving with an Extraordinary Achievement Award – Dick Garratt. Dick has been a member of Koru for around 13 years and has worked tirelessly behind the scenes assisting, supporting, and advising us, providing design and signwriting services, driving our funding applications and managing our Premier Ferrier Cup Team. Dick has had a bit of a roller coaster year. He started the year being made Vice President of Tennis NZ. In April he spent some weeks in hospital for knee surgery, which knocked him around. Unfortunately for us, Dick and Desrae have now moved to Tauranga, and although our bar takings may suffer, he will still manage the Ferrier Cup team and visit periodically. To cap off the year Dick was recognised in the Queen's Birthday honours with a Member of the NZ Order of Merit award, for services to tennis and Māori sport. We sincerely acknowledge and thank Dick for his huge contribution to Koru Tennis Club. As we go into the 2022-2023 season we can look forward to hopefully more social events and continuing to improve our facilities and opportunities for our club members. Finally, I would like to thank a few key people. Firstly, I would like to thank all Koru members for choosing Koru for your tennis. You are what makes Koru the friendly thriving club we are today. I would like to sincerely thank all those on the committee for volunteering their time and energies to support Koru and for all the work they do behind the scenes. I am indebted to some of the ‘senior guys’ – in experience not age!! Steve, Jim and Raz who have supported, guided, and advised me in all the new learning I have had this year – thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you. It truly is a joint effort, and I am proud to be the current President of Koru Tennis Club. Thank you for listening. Sue Hamilton |
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