Tennis Leicestershire E-Magazine

Welcome to the first edition of the brand new Tennis Leicestershire e-newsletter. I very much hope that you like the format of the new county magazine, which is in an important means of communicating everything that is happening in tennis in Leicestershire. Download the magazine in PDF format (about 7MB).

Free Cardio sessions at Charnwood Tennis Club

Cardio Tennis is a great way to get fit, practice your tennis and you don’t even need to have played before. Cardio tennis is a mix of fun tennis drills, exciting new exercises and games that will make you heart race. You don’t need any tennis experience to come and try it at these free sessions. Download the poster here.

GSM Mini Red Match Practice

On Saturday 28th January GSM held a Mini Red Match Practice to help players through their first matches at Leicester Forest East Tennis Club. 16 players and parents from Charnwood and LFE played over 30 matches learning how to score and play the game. Head Coach Tom Lewis said "it's great to see an event like this taking place as it makes everyones' first experience of playing matches a positive one. That's vital to ensure that the children we teach love playing the game. It was fantastic to see all the parents getting stuck in learning how to keep score and enjoying the day too. I'm looking forward to the next event!" Keep an eye out for the next event running in Feburary, date TBC.

Graves takes title

Josh Graves of Leicester Forest East Tennis Club wins Grade 5 Mini Green tournament at Leamington. A great effort from Josh wining all 4 of his matches.

Charnwood Tennis Club Junior Events

Five Junior events in January and February 2012. Download the poster.

GSM LEISURE / MY TENNIS JUNIOR OPEN held at Loughborough University

Loughborough’s Chris Egan-Morris (Pictured) was the star local performer in the first GSM LEISURE / MY TENNIS Junior Open held at Loughborough University. Chris who trains at the My Tennis Academy at Loughborough University won both the Under 16 & Under 18 boys singles titles. Chris beat Matt Richmond (Leics) in the U18 Final and Jacob East (Derbys) in the U16 final. Read the full report

Seth Lockton wins title

On 10th December 2011 there was no stopping Seth Lockton as he powered to the LFE Mini Red Title winning all 5 of his matches. Seth plays at LFE and saw off strong opposition before beating Bethany Graves (LFE) to take the title. One to watch in the spring…..

Wimbledon Public Ballot closes on December 15th

Go to this page is you wish to apply for tickets in the Public Ballot

Barclays Ball Kids

Barclays need 30 Ball Kids to join the world's top eight players for the 2012 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London. Will you be one of them? For details click here.

Charnwood Tennis Club Junior Championships

Over 50 juniors played in the Charnwood Tennis Club Junior championships. Ages ranged from 7-16 yrs old. Play was held over a full day with refreshments available during the day. The overall level of play was very impressive as was the level of sportsmanship with the referee having an easy day. See the full results here.

Withers Intersport are Retailer of the Year

Withers Intersport have just been voted Intersport Retailer of the year 2011, an award they are very proud of as there are nearly 300 Intersport Shops in the UK. It is an award voted by their suppliers based on Withers hard work and achievements throughout the year. Withers are now one of the few Racket retailers in the country. GSM would like to congratulate Withers on this fantastic award.

AEGON GB Pro-Series Loughborough 2011

International Tennis returns to Loughborough. Download the poster from here.

Tennis Leaders Course November 2011

The Tennis leaders Award has been developed by the LTA to help encourage young people to play an active role in delivering the game of tennis. 2011 sees a new revamped Leaders course aimed at 13-18 year olds. This involves 10 hours of coach-led training and then some practical experience working with children. The course aims to show leaders how working with children in a fun environment can be rewarding and satisfying, whilst also teaching the importance and understanding of basics such as safety. This year’s course will be running on Sunday 20th and Sunday 27th November, 9.30pm-2.30pm at Charnwood Tennis Club, Loughborough. The cost of the course is £40. Download the application from here.

Local Junior Tournaments

The list of Local Junior Tournaments from October to December 2011 is available here.

Queni News

The September edition of the Queni News is available here.

Charnwood Junior Championships Sun 25th September

Charnwood Tennis Club will be holding Junior Club Championships on Sunday 25th Spetember 2011. All events are for fun, no matches are for ratings and there will separate trophies for boys and girls. Food available. Parents welcome. Members only. See the poster for full details.

Balls Kids Required

Balls kids are required for the AEGON GB Pro-Series at Loughborough on 5–13 November 2011. Download the poster. The application form is here.

Calling all Competition Organisers

The LTA will be running the third Young Competition Organisers’ Camp at the National Tennis Centre, Roehampton, London from 18-20 November 2011. The camp is designed for young leaders between the ages of 16-25 who have attended a competition organisers’ course, are actively running tennis competitions in their area and who wish to learn more about careers in tennis. The camp will be action packed and filled with interactive workshops and diverse sessions providing great fun for all. Highlights will include team building and leadership skills, personal development planning and other opportunities to volunteer. There are only 30 places and the application deadline is 30 September 2011. Find out more here.

Kisiel makes it Four in a Row

Congratulations to Tom Kisiel on retaining the Leicestershire Mens Singles Title. Tom cruised through the opening two rounds before beating Bobby Brooke of Carisbrooke 6-1, 6-3 in the quarters. The semi-final saw a vintage serving performance from Kisiel beating fellow county team member Johnny Cloke of Leicestershire TC 7-6, 6-2. The final saw a repeat of last year’s semi-final against Dave Ireland himself incredibly a 12 time winner of the event. Despite having a set against him Tom took the first set 7-6, before throwing away a Match point at 5-4 in the second set to lose the set 7-5. The final set was a tense affair with Kisiel rising to the occasion to take it 6-3. Kisiel seeded 1 in the event took the title for the fourth successive year an outstanding achievement. Congratulations from the GSM Team.

Promotion for Kisiel and the Team

Mens County Captain Tom Kisiel and the Leicestershire Mens County Team recently achieved promotion to Division 3 at County Week. County Week see 6 players from each county playing 3 doubles matches against the opposing counties. Leicestershire beat Berkshire 7-2 on day 1, followed up by an incredible performance beating North Wales 8-1. A strong start was followed by two 6-3 wins against Hereford and Worcs and the North of Scotland. With promotion assured Kisiel and the team took the honours against local rivals Nottinghamshire on the final day. Kisiel said “To be a promoted with a day to spare is virtually unheard of. This young team has a great time spirit and a never say die attitude. It is a pleasure to be captain of this team, Bring on Division 3!”

U10 Boys County Cup

Tom Kisiel, Head Coach at Leicester Forest East (GSM), recently captained the U10 Boys County Team. The team consisted of Alex Lunn, Ben Moore, Oliver Aley and Matt Howse (LFE). The team won a dramatic regional stage beating the Warwickshire team on a tie break shoot-out 10-8. The reward was a weekend in Bolton at National Finals where the boys came 8th. Tom said "The boys did fantastically to qualify for the final stages; the standard of tennis at the finals was certainly an eye opener for some of them. They have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it has given them a great taste of what the County Cup is all about."

GSM Leisure and MyTennis Junior Open 2011

LTA sanctioned Grade 3 Tournament - Monday 1st to Friday 5th August 2011. Dan Maskell Tennis Centre, Loughborough University, LE11 3YU. Online entry only. Tournament Code - LE112. Go to http://www2.lta.org.uk/Search/FindACompetition/. Click the image for the full size poster.

Cardio Tennis

Love tennis and want to keep fit? Cardio Tennis is a great new initiative, which combines all the fun aspects of the game of tennis along with a great cardiovascular workout. It is estimated workout for a 1 hour session would see men burning between 500-1000 calories and women burning between 300-500 calories. Come along and try for yourself at Charnwood, Rothley or LFE. The first session is free. Download the poster

LFE Grade 4 Event

Leicester Forest East will be hosting a Grade 4 event for the first time in recent years. The tournament will take place between 31st May - 3rd June and will host junior events from Mini Red through to U16's. To sign up please visit www.lta.org.uk and enter tournament code - LEI108

Dominic McKaig continues winning streak

Dominic McKaig continues winning streak just like Novak Djokovic. He has now won his last 3 tournaments beating all comers from around the midlands. Good luck in the next event and keep up the good work!

Adam Carter wins Mini-Red County Tour Tournament

Adam Carter took part in the Mini-Red County Tour Tournament at Nottingham Tennis Centre on Saturday 7th May. There were 8 entrants, a mixture of red 2 and 3 players from all over Nottinghamshire. The format of the tournament was that such that each player played each other once and the winner was the person with the most wins at the end. Adam had some very competitive matches, but he put into action all that Chris and Tom have been teaching him lately and won all of his matches to win the tournament. Adam was very happy especially with the prize of a pair of Wilson sweat bands. Well done Adam!

Howse Gets County Call

Congratulations to Matt Howse (on left in photo) who was recently selected to play for Leicestershire at U9's. Matt showed some excellent skills adapting to various different opponents coming out with huge credit from the county having won 4 of his 5 matches. Matt also recently played his last mini orange tournament at Grade 3 level winning his box against some very strong opposition before going down in the final to Otto Jawahir.

Well done Matt. Keep up the hard work!!!

Richmond is on the move

Matt Richmond put together an impressive run of results over the half term winning 7 of 8 matches and 2 of 3 tournaments. Starting at Beechwood in Coventry Matt won 2 rounds to reach the final which he won beating Matthew Naylor 6-4, 6-3. He then went to the under 18’s event at Oadby Granville beating Ian Barnett in the semis and Matthew Tulley in the final 4-2, 4-1. The week ended at the Grade 4 Tour event in Tipton where Matt reached the final before losing to an in form Michael Thomas 4-2, 4-0. Watch this space!

Graves takes Grade 5 title

Congratulations to Josh Graves who recently won the Grade 5 Mini Green title at Rugby Tennis Club, Warwickshire. Josh finished runner up in his group, moving through to the semi finals where he had a close encounter with close friend George McWilliams, Josh coming through 5-4 (6). In the final Josh was triumphant beating Marcus Tarrant 4-2. Josh currently trains as part of the performance program at Leicester Forest East and is coached by Tom Kisiel and Chris Bint. Well done Josh.

James wins Leicestershire Winter Tour Green tournament

Charnwood player James Gossage won the March Winter Tour Green tournament at Loughborough University. James was unbeaten in five group matches and went on to win the final, dropping only 4 games in 6 matches. This was James' 2nd win on the Winter Tour following on from his success in the December tournament.

Rothley Tennis Club Head Coach

Rothley Tennis Club and GSM Leisure are delighted to announce the appointment Tim Stanton as new Head Coach. Starting in early March Tim will be running a range of coaching activities for all ages and abilities. Tim comes from Sutton Coldfield and was previously Head Coach at Penns Lane Tennis Club. He is also a Coach Education Tutor for the RPT. The club is thrilled to have such an experienced coach to help build upon the already successful programme.

Connor Glennon Scholarship

I am currently looking to go out to American University; I feel it’s a great opportunity for me to extend my competitive tennis. I will be able to train on a full time basis whilst still getting a good degree at the same time. I have been to visit a university in Memphis which was amazing, and I will be flying out to America a couple more time this year to visit a couple more universities. The facilities are awesome, Its like being involved in professional sport, watching college football whilst sat in a stadium with a capacity of 102,000! I would recommend anyone to consider going over to America no matter what level you are at there are colleges out there for every level of player.

County Call Up

Ben & Tom Nevill were both recently selected to represent Leicestershire in the under 14 sixteen counties event at Corby Indoor Tennis Centre. Both found the going tough as Leics were in group 1 but gave 100% throughout the day. Ben came out with a big win against a boy 3 ratings higher. The Boys & Girls teams were captained by GSM Leisure Head Coach Matt Wilford & Paula Horobin of My Tennis.

Charnwood Tops LTA League Table

Charnwood Tennis Club, Loughborough has once again come out top in the LTA’s table for clubs based in Leicestershire and Derbyshire. The table looks at clubmark status, British Tennis members, regularly competing juniors, licensed coaches and young competitions organisers. The coaching programme is run by GSM LEISURE.

GSM Training Day

The GSM LEISURE Team joined MYTennis for a team training session at Dan Maskell Tennis Centre. The session was tutored by Larry Jurovich who is head of coach education at the LTA.

Left to right: Tim Stanton, Matt Wilford, Brady Glennon, Tom Lewis, Chris Mears, Tom Kisiel, Tom Barratt.

LFE AND GSM TO JOIN FORCES!!

GSM Leisure have recently been appointed the tennis coaching provider for Leicester Forest East Tennis Club. Leicester Forest East is widely recognized as one of the biggest clubs in Leicestershire. The club has 2 indoor hard courts and 4 outdoor artificial grass courts 2 of which are floodlit. As a result of the appointment Tom Kisiel will become the full time Head Coach at the club, with Tom Barratt (former assistant coach at LFE) working in a full time capacity as a coach. Kisiel said " Leicester Forest East represents a great opportunity for GSM, lead by myself and Tom Barratt to raise the bar for a professional coaching team in the Leicester area." Tom and Tom are offering a comprehensive coaching programme to players of all ages from "tots tennis" to adults "rusty rackets." For further details please contact TOM KISIEL 07834 787726

Charnwood Tennis Club Achieves National Recognition

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Tennis Foundation have announced that Charnwood Tennis Club in Loughborough, one of the area’s leading tennis sites, has been awarded ‘Beacon’ status as part of the AEGON Parks Tennis programme in recognition of their high quality, affordable community tennis programmes. The announcement was made as the club was presented with their prestigious Beacon plaque by Tom Harlow, LTA Development Director. The club joins 94 sites across the country to achieve the national accolade which recognises the best community-focussed facilities offering free and affordable tennis as part of the AEGON Parks programme. To achieve this status, facilities must also offer access to quality, affordable coaching as well as regular competitions for all ages and abilities. Tom Harlow, LTA Development Director said: “I am delighted to present this Beacon plaque to Charnwood Tennis Club. It is testament to the team here of the hard work they are putting in to promote tennis to the local community that they are now recognised on the AEGON Parks programme. “Tennis is a sport for everyone and the AEGON Parks programme is helping to spread that message and deliver tennis to all in the local community. Charnwood is a great example of that and we look forward to seeing the programme here grow and develop over the coming years.” To mark the occasion, children from Watermead Day Nursery in Loughborough were invited to Charnwood Tennis Club to take part in a mini-tennis session lead by Club Coach, Matt Wilford. Wilford said: “Charnwood Tennis Club is delighted to be awarded Beacon status by the LTA and Tennis Foundation. ““We are committed to making tennis accessible to all ages and abilities and hope this will help develop our programme and continue to grow tennis in the local community.” AEGON Parks Tennis aims to increase community access to tennis in parks and communities nationwide. Delivered by the LTA and Tennis Foundation, AEGON Parks Tennis is a key programme in British tennis’ drive to increase participation and grow tennis at all levels. The long-term aim is to have an AEGON Parks Tennis site acting as a centre of community tennis excellence in each of the local authority areas in Britain. To find your nearest place to play tennis visit www.lta.org.uk/playtennis. For more information about Charnwood Tennis Club, contact Matt Wilford (Coach) on 07976 923 391 or visit www.charnwoodltc.yolasite.com