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Victoria Wilkinson meets Andy Murray
I, Victoria Wilkinson of Charnwood Lawn Tennis Club, experienced the weekend of a lifetime a couple of weekends ago (2nd - 4th October) at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. I successfully applied to attend a Young Tournament Organisers Course at the centre, being one of twenty three lucky applicants to be accepted on the weekend. The other youngsters had travelled from as far north as Edinburgh and south as Bournemouth. Whilst there, we were put into three teams and had the opportunity to gain team points at a variety of opportunities. We did many team-building games, spent some time with the footwork/fitness coach and made suggestions on how to improve the current competition system used by the Lawn Tennis Association. However, the highlight of the whole trip was definitely being able to watch Andy Murray on the practice courts and then having lunch with him in the restaurant!
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Mini Tennis Red – September Tournament
Dominic McKaig, James Rennie and Edward Gossage stole the show at the September GSM Mini Red Tournament. Dominic, James and Edward Gossage of Charnwood Tennis Club, all won the three groups to progress to the three way final with Dominic pipping best friend James into second and Edward into third. James (left) and Dominic (right) are pictured.
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 Mixed Champions
Rothley 1st Mixed Team won the Division 2 Title with an unbeaten season. The changing side made up of 11 players managed 5 wins out of 5:
Hamilton | 6-3 |
| Market Harborough | 7-2 |
| Gynsill | 5-4 |
| Kegworth | 9-0 |
| Charnwood | 5-4 |
Congratulations to all the players and good luck in Division 1 next year.
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Charnwood Girls Clean Up at County Finals
Charnwood Lawn Tennis Club is celebrating great success in the Leicestershire County Closed Mini Tennis Events.
In the Mini Red (U8) Evie Lester and Stephanie Addison of Charnwood Lawn Tennis Club battled through the group stages playing each other in the final which Evie won 10-7.
In the Mini Orange event Anna Chesca of Charnwood and Katie Gradon of Charnwood and Loughborough Town made it through to the final which Anna edged in the 3rd set.
In the Mini Green event (U10) Olivia Wagstaff of Charnwood and Ashby Castle played some tough opposition on the indoor and outdoor courts at Loughborough University’s Tennis Centre before winning the title.
A great effort from all the girls! Well done from all the team at GSM!
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 King & Richmond Double Up
Conal King and Matthew Richmond paired up earlier this year and have formed a formidable doubles partnership this summer....
Edgbaston Archery Club: Winning 8 of 9 matches in the qualifying stages the pair then went on to win the title 6-2, 6-4 against the higher rated pair of Kameran Ali (8.1) and Ben Stannard (7.1)
‘Inside out Open’ at Loughborough Town: Winners
Leicestershire Junior Open at Hamilton Lawn Tennis: Club Winners.
West Bridgford: Runners – up.
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Mini Red Double Team
Stephanie Addison and Edward Gossage won the boys and girls Mini Red Events at the Loughborough Town Grade 3 Tennis Tournament in August. Stephanie won 4 out of her 5 matches to win the girls event and Edward won 5 out of 5 to win the boys! Keep an eye out for these two over the winter season.
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 Busy summer for Anna
Anna Chesca of Charnwood Tennis Club has had a busy summer, coming runner up at the Leicestershire Junior Open at Hamilton, winning Loughborough Town's Grade 4 event and finishing third in the Rolls Royce Grade 4 event in Derby. Anna (on the right) is pictured with Katy Gradon of Loughborough Town and Charnwood Clubs.
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New Courts for Charnwood
 
After 6 weeks re-surfacing work, Charnwood’s newly laid artificial grass courts were ready for play on Monday May 11th 2009.
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Summer Camps 2009
This years summer camps are underway. A typical British mix of sunshine and showers has been the norm for the first two weeks. Numbers are good, with all players working on the shot of the day, drills of the day and matchplay. Book online now from the link on the GSM Leisure homepage.
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 Year 4 and below Mini Red Primary Schools Tournament
There was an entry of 39 children for this recent tournament held at the Dan Maskell Tennis Centre, Loughborough University. The standard was high with some very hard fought and close matches. The children all competed for their own school.
The results of the finals were as follows:
Year 2 Boys: James Rennie (St Pauls, Woodhouse Eaves) beat Edward Gossage (Long Whatton) 10-8. Year 3 Boys: Daniel Limb (Mountfields) beat Edward Hefferein (St Barts) 10-7
Year 4 Boys: James Gossage (Long Whatton) beat Riley Cliff (Richard Hill, Thurcaston) 10-2
Year 3 girls: Stephanie Addison (Hilltop, Ashby) beat Aisha El Sayed (Churchill Infants, Thurmaston) 10-3
Year 4 Girls: Katy Gradon (Mountfields) beat Jessica Moody 10-1
Congratulations to everyone on some great play! Pictured are James Gossage (winner, Year 4 boys) and Riley Cliff (runner up)
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 Charnwood Community Tennis Programme
Charnwood Community Tennis Programme held a Year 5 and below Primary Schools Tournament in June. The event was open to all children who live or go to school in the Borough of Charnwood. The event attracted 24 children representing nine schools. Following some great tennis the pairing of Ravi Nathwani & Ashish Trusz (pictured) from Fairfield came out on top. The runners up were Jamie Goddard & Irina Ferapontova from Mountfields Lodge.
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 GSM June Mini Tennis Red Tournament
15 children competed in the GSM June Mini Tennis Red Tournament held at Dan Maskell Tennis Centre. The standard was high, with some excellent play by all. Oscar White of Victoria Tennis Club won group A closely followed by Sam Godrich of Charnwood Tennis Club. Group B was won by Joshua Graves of Stoney Stanton/LFE Tennis Clubs, closely followed by Dominic Willis of Charnwood Tennis Club.
Photo shows Oscar White and Sam Godrich.
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 Thomas Nevill
In the lead up to Queniborough, Thomas had managed to come 5th, 4th 3rd and 2nd in his previous grade 4 events so it was going to be interesting to see if he could go one better this time. If Thomas did notice he was the number one seed he did not comment on it and started confidently against Ashley Nathwani in very windy conditions winning 4-1, 5-3. In fact the wind was to play a part in the whole tournament with Thomas generally adapting a little better than his opponents. In the quarter-final he faced a stylish Thomas Fenner from Warwickshire and won 4-0, 5-3. The weather was no better the following day with the ball almost stopping against the wind in his semi-final match against Tom Fowler. However, Thomas used this to his advantage to hold up his top-spin second serve and came away winning 4-1, 4-0. In the final Thomas faced a much improved Oliver Huxley from the year above, but possibly hit his best form of the event winning 6-1, 6-3. Overall a great event for Thomas with the grade 4 tournament win boosting his confidence and four 9.1 wins along the way to help in his quest to move to an 8.2 rating.
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 Sophie Matthews Storms to Title
Sophie Matthews of Charnwood Tennis Club won the U14 girls singles event at Queniborough losing just 2 games in her final 2 matches! Coping well with the windy and cold conditions Sophie took charge of her matches by hitting hard and getting the first strike in, helping her to power to victory! Good work Soph and keep it up!!
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 Matthew Richmond V Conal King
Queniborough Open Final May 2009
The match started cautiously with both players holding serve. Both were firing deep cross court balls and serving with great accuracy. The match really could have gone either way as there was nothing to separate the two players. Then with Matt leading at 4 – 3, he broke Conal and took the first set 5 – 3. Both players coped well with the very blustery conditions at Queniborough and with a long afternoon of tennis behind them, they started the second set with the same commitment and spirit. Matt served first and held, after battling well. He broke Conal to take a 2 – 0 lead, with some good serving he stretched the lead his 3 – 0 and broke Conal to take the match, winning the second set 4 – 0. Matt Richmond and Conal King are coached by Tom Lewis of GSM Leisure – Well done boys! |
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Charnwood Satellite Performance Club do the Double!
 
 
Sunday 14th June saw the county finals of the Leicestershire Mini Red and Orange Leagues take place at Knighton Indoor Tennis Centre.
Charnwood’s A & B teams had battled through the qualifying heats to reach the Red 8 & Under finals. Captained by Tom Lewis (Head Performance Coach) & Jill Lloyd, Charnwood A consisting of James Gossage, Riley Cliff, Stephanie Addison and Evie Lester stormed through their rounds making the final without losing a match. The B Team of Sam Godrich, Daniel Maud, Georgian Bolton and Aisha El Sayed had a tough first round against title contenders Hamilton which they won by 1 point! They then battled through to the final to face Charnwood A!
The final saw some brilliant tennis played by all but the match of the day was between James Gossage and Sam Godrich, with James coming through 10-8 in the end, playing a brilliant lob on the run at 8-8 to forge ahead.
Well done to all of the players for their fantastic play and behaviour on the day, showing great sportsmanship and fair-play throughout the tournament. You are a credit to our club!
With the red finished, it was time for the Orange team to start. Matthew Howse, Louis Green, Anna Chesca and Katie Gradon played singles and doubles against Victoria Tennis Club and David Lloyd Leicestershire to contest the final. Despite some close matches the Charnwood Team managed to win every match on the day, winning the title. An awesome achievement!
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Rothley Builds Spectator Area!
 
 Rothley Tennis Club unveiled its new spectator area this week. The new decking and pergola gives spectators ample viewing room and some shelter from the often fickle British weather conditions! With league matches going on most nights of the week why not come down and see for yourself? |
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Charnwood players meet the Stars!
 
Charnwood Tennis Club’s performance players had the chance to watch the top women players compete in the Birmingham AEGON Classic Tournament. Tom Lewis & Boris Chesca took Kitty Lester, Olivia Isbister, Elizabeth Mulvaney, Stephanie Addison and Anna Chesca to the tournament and watched top players Maria Sharapova, Maria Kirilenko, Urszua Radwanska as well as British hopefuls Katie O Brien, Melanie South and Naomi Broady play some first class tennis on the grass courts. Anna Chesca managed to meet her hero (Maria Sharapova) and get her autograph. We’ll never hear the end of it!! |
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Queniborough Tennis Club Unveils New Club Car Park
 
Queniborough Tennis Club’s new car park is now open to members, enabling you to park next to the courts! Finishing touches will be completed shortly. Look out for further improvements at the club over the next few months!!! |
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 Rothley Ivanhoe Open Day
Rothley Ivanhoe Tennis Club are holding an Open Day on Saturday 27th June from 2-4pm.
Membership will be half price on the day with further discounts on family membership.
There will also be FREE tennis coaching available, fastest serve competition, beat the players and prizes to be won!
All welcome, just turn up and join in the fun!
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 Doubles Success
Conal King of Charnwood LTC and Matt Richmond of Kibworth LTC (Taught by Tom Lewis – GSM Leisure’s Head Performance Coach) battled through to the final of the 14&Under Boys Doubles at the Dollamore Grade 3 event in Chesterfield before succumbing 6-2, 6-4.
Dollamore is one of the biggest tournaments in the country so this is a fantastic achievement. Well done boys!
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 Sam Godrich takes the title!
Sam Godrich from Charnwood LTC won the 8&Under Mini Red Tennis Tournament at Loughborough University in May by winning all of his 4 matches. Congratulations from all of the GSM Team and good luck in the next one! |
Stephanie Addison
Stephanie has been lighting up the stage this term. Whilst working hard on court, she has also been working hard off-court for her parts in ‘Oliver’. Playing a child in the workhouse and also part of Fagin’s gang, her roles have involved lots of singing and eating gruel! Having rehearsed since last September, she has now taken part in six performances to sell-out crowds performing ‘Food Glorious Food’, ‘Pick a Pocket’, ‘Be back soon’ ‘I’d do anything’ and ‘Consider Yourself’. Congratulations from all at GSM Leisure!
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 Riley Cliff wins first Title
Riley Cliff of Rothley Tennis Club won his first tournament in the Nottingham Mini Red event on 21st March. Coming through the group stages undefeated with four wins he went on to win the final, beating Benjamin Porter 10-6. Keep an eye out for Riley on the rise this summer!
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Matthew Howse wins the Leicesterhire Mini Red Masters Series Finals
Matthew battled his way through undefeated to the Leicestershire Masters Series Title, winning his 3 group matches before beating James Gossage 11-9 in the final! Congratulations to Matt and his coach Tom Kisiel.
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 Mens and Ladies open doubles tournaments
Rothley Tennis Club, April 19th and May 3rd, 10am - 5pm
Prizes, refreshments and buffet. £15 per pair.
Click here for the poster: Men Ladies
Contact Tom Lewis for details on 0789 9994503 or tom@gsmleisure.co.uk
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 East Midlands Performance Challenge
On Wednesday 18th February a team from Charnwood Tennis Club took part in the East Midlands Performance Challenge, a competition comprising a team from each of the 12 Satellite Performance Clubs within the East Midlands. After practising for 2 days before the event our top 6 players (A boy and a girl in Mini red U8, Mini Orange U9 and Mini Green U10) and 4 coaches set off for Nottingham Tennis Centre. The twelve teams were split into four groups of three, with two groups playing on the Tuesday and two on the Wednesday. The top teams in each group would then play off against each other for 1st, place. Charnwood were placed in group B together with Chesterfield Tennis Club and Tennis Buddies from Lincoln.
With a great team spirit in the air we stormed to a 9-0 victory over Tennis Buddies and then went on to defeat Chesterfield 7-2 to finish top of our group. This put us up against David Lloyd Derby (the winners of the other Wednesday group) to see who would finish 1st overall. After a quick team talk all players were on for the 6 rounds of singles, James Gossage (Red) Louis Green & Anna Chesca (Orange) Billy Fieldhouse and OliviaWagstaff (Green) did a fantastic job winning their singles to win us the match without yet playing the doubles. In the doubles James and Stephanie (Red) and Billy and Olivia (Green) won their matches to secure a 7-2 victory and the top spot!
Special mentions are due to: Billy Fieldhouse, Olivia Wagstaff, Louis Green and Anna Chesca who won all of their singles matches throughout the day, often playing older players. To James Gossage for soldiering on despite stomach upsets in the first round. And to Stephanie for helping to lift the team spirits with some terrible jokes but tasty mini eggs!
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Tom Nevill
Thomas Nevill has played for the Charnwood club team in the U10s for the last couple of seasons, as well as having a match for the county at green tennis. He has recently come into good form following his step up to under 12s, winning two grade 5 tournaments at Rothley (November 08) and West Bridgford (December 08) and over Christmas came 5th out of 16 in his second grade 4 tournament. Thomas keeps fit for his tennis by playing football with Leicester City U10s.
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 Kieron Ward wins Nottingham Matchplay
Kieron Ward of Charnwood Tennis Club came through some tight matches during a recent Mini Tennis Orange event at Nottingham Tennis Centre. In the group stages he won two matches 7-4, 5-7, 7-5 and 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 respectively, on his way to winning his group and then the final.
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Evie Lester
6yr old Evie Lester has improved greatly over the last few months, so much so that she was runner-up in the City of Nottingham Mini Tennis Red Tournament. Evie won 6 matches to make it to the final before running out of steam in a close match. Evie’s favourite player is Roger Federer and her aim is to master the chopper grip serve that her coach Tom Kisiel is teaching her.
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 James Gossage
Within the last 3 months James has competed in numerous Mini Red tournaments, moving his rating from a Mini Red 3 to an Orange 2. He won a grade 4 event in Chesterfield and a very strong grade 3 event at David Lloyd Dudley. James was also a member of the Charnwood Mini Red team which won the Leicestershire Mini Red League. He now moves up to the Orange court hoping to match the success he had in Mini Red. Coach Tom Kisiel said "James has travelled around the counties a lot during the last couple of months and the hard work has certainly paid off." Congratulations James from everyone at GSM.
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 Louis Green
Louis Green is looking to continue his form into 2009 having had a very successful end to 2008. His recent achievements include:
October - winner of the GSM Indoor Mini Red Event
November - winner of the Leicestershire Indoor Winter mini red event
December - winner of the Loughborough University indoor mini red event and runner up at David Lloyd Dudley, narrowly losing out 10-8 in the final.
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 Stephanie Addison
Congratulations to Stephanie Addison of Charnwood Lawn Tennis Club for winning her first title on 30th December 2008. Coached by Tom Lewis of GSM Leisure Stephanie won all of her matches at David Lloyd Dudley to win her group and the title. Well done from all at GSM Leisure.
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GSM Dudley Trip
GSM Leisure took seven of its Mini Red players to Dudley on December 30th to compete in a David Lloyd One-Day Tennis Tournament. Louis Green, James Gossage, Sam Godrich, Riley Cliff, Daniel Maud, Matthew Howse and Stephanie Addison all arrived at the pick up point early (7.45am) and together with Tom Lewis and Tom Kisiel set off for the West Midlands.
In the girls event Stephanie Addison shone, beating all of the other girls, finishing first and taking home the trophy! The Boys event was split into three groups with winners going through to semi finals and one lucky loser also going through. James Gossage came top in group ‘Federer’, with Sam Godrich finishing 3rd and Matt Howse 4th. In group ‘Murray’ Daniel Maud narrowly missed out despite playing some brilliant tennis finishing 2nd in his group. In group ‘Nadal’ Louis Green won the group with Riley Cliff finishing second and claiming the lucky losers spot. In the semi finals Louis Green and Riley had a tough match, with Louis eventually emerging the winner 10-7. James Gossage coolly went about winning his semi 10-4. The final was always going to be close with both boys playing some great tennis on the way there and the match didn’t disappoint. The first point saw an 87 stroke rally and the rest of the match continued in this form. James Gossage finally managed to get a lead and hold on to win 10-7 and take home the title. A great effort from all of our players both on and off court.
Tom Lewis – Head of Performance. GSM leisure.
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