By Val Leafe

BUDE Tennis Club’s 2024 has been a busy and successful year.

The year began with the resurfacing and repainting of the courts and replacement of damaged fencing in April and May to provide us with great looking courts – special thanks to BHRG for all of this.

In June, we were very pleased when we appointed our new head coach, Inga Ziemina, who has a Level 4 Accredited Performance Coach qualification. Inga offers sessions for a range of abilities and any age and for members and non-members. If you are interested in receiving some coaching, please contact Inga at [email protected]

As well as the courts receiving a makeover, the clubhouse also had a spruce up with a re-paint, a new floor (thanks to Couch Flooring), new tables and chairs and recycled kitchen cupboard doors. It is now a much more welcoming and comfortable space.

We held an Open Day in July which saw over 70 people try out sessions with our coach Inga. We have had quite a few people join the club off the back of this day.

There have been many tournaments for all abilities whether in mixed, men’s/ladies doubles or singles format. This year also saw the inauguration of two tournaments: the mixed doubles over 65s and the ladies doubles over 65s which proved to be very popular and will definitely be played again next year.

Parent/play continued on a Tuesday evening to help the development of our juniors, and it is very pleasing to say that all of them have improved their skills and understanding of the game immensely.

Several of our members represented the club playing for teams in the Cornwall leagues where there was mixed success; the Men’s A team won the County Division and will return to the Premier Division next season.

The Men’s B side finished in the middle of Division Two East, while the Ladies’ A team were successful in gaining promotion to the Premier Division last year but struggled against the much stronger opposition so will return to Division 1 East in 2025.

The Ladies B team won Division Two East by a clear 11 points and will join the A team in Division One for some inter-club battles.

The Ladies’ C team used a selection of players but unfortunately finished bottom of Division Two.

Numerous social events have been held throughout the year including three quizzes – one walking around Bude to find the answers, a friendly match against a ladies team from Birmingham, supporting the Big Breakfast for Cancer Research at The Brendon, a photo competition with 73 entrants and the annual Christmas meal at The Brendon.

Bude Tennis Club is a very friendly and sociable club that is always on the lookout for new members of any ability and any age.

So if your New Year’s Resolution is to get fit or you just feel like giving tennis a go, please contact us at [email protected] or for more information, check out our website at www.budetennisclub.uk