American Tournament Sunday 24thJuly

After the floods of the previous week the club held an American tournament on Sunday 24 July 2011 with the courts in perfect condition. The event was well attended and popular. Dave Hobson took several action photograhs and he has put them on the Tennis Club Facebook site for members' interest. This one shows Dave Sherwood demostrating a cultured backhand. The tournament was split into 2 levels, the winners being James Olverson and Steve Hull.

The Club Tournament Finals Day

The Tournament finals weekend was on Saturday 16 July but unfortunately the weather decided otherwise with a downpour completely flooding the courts and renedering them unfit for play. It is planned to complete the matches on Saturday 23 July.

The Nicola George story

Nicola George, one of the brightest talents emerging from British Tennis has just returned from her ratings boosting quests and, having reached the semi-finals in Durban South Africa has managed to reach a ranking of 680 in the world on the ITF Womens Circuit, well on the way to achieving her target of a ranking of 650 by the end of the year.

Two years on the tour have have seen Nicola rise from no ranking at all through the 9, 8 and 700's to her current position. Travelling to tournaments all over the world has been a demanding 2 years for Nicola but the reward is a ranking that is on track to be in the top 100 in the next four years. With the average age of women stepping into the top 100 being 24 Nicola currently aged 18 is most definitely on track and may even achieve this status before that age, but there is no rush.

Nicola is coached by one of Ormskirk Tennis Club's head coaches, Brendan McGuire a well respected and talented coach who recently joined forces with Danielle Hock and Dave Hillier to form the coaching team at Ormskirk Tennis Club

So what do the coming months hold in store for Nicola.. well, with respect to tournaments, she will be travelling to Cuba shortly for 2 $10K tournaments, then enjoying a weeks holiday, followed by a training block leading to the September - December phase of tournaments

Rob Owens the OTC Chairman said 'Ormskirk Tennis Club is very proud to have had Nicola as a member of the Club from a very young age and is delighted to see her progress from strength to strength. Despite her heavy schedule she still remains an active member of the Club and is a great role model for the aspiring junior players. The Club wishes her every succees for the future and is behind her 100%.'

Lancashire honours for Tennis Club Members

Oliver Hobson has been chosen to represent Lancashire in the 10 and under age group in the County Cup Tournament. Oliver who is 10 has been a member at Ormskirk for 5 years and is coached by Andy Davies, in Manchester, and Danielle Hock one of the head coaches at Ormskirk (who is also Lancashire County Singles Champion)

Oliver's father said 'Oliver has achieved a lot and we are very proud of him. In recent years there has been a lack of quality coaching in the area, which has forced promising players to travel. However there is now a high level coaching team in Ormskirk with Brendan McGuire, Danille Hock and Dave Hillier so additional help and further coaching is only a telephone call away.'

John McNeil was elected as President of Tennis Lancashire (Lancashire Lawn Tennis) for 2011 at the Annual General Meeting on Monday 24 January 2011. He is the second member of Ormskirk to be elected to this office in the last six years.

John has been a member at Ormskirk for over 25 years having played previously at Vagabonds Tennis Club in Liverpool. He has played for Lancashire from Junior level to Veterans over a period of almost 50 years. In later years he took a great interest in promoting tennis to schools and adults through the Community Tennis Partnership. The Partnership has now been closed and the responsibilities taken over by the club coaching team

Lancashire Ladies Knockout Ralph Bint Cup

Following last week's success the Ormskirk Ladies entertained Lytham St Annes. At tea Ormskirk lead by 4 events to 2 requiring just one more win to progress. This was duly achieved by saptain Sue Crowley with Sue Davison and the team now finds itself in the semi-final.

Southport League matches

The 14th week of the Southport League saw matches extended into August because of the extra Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding. Rain on Monday compounded problems due to holidays and injuries. The first team were rained off at Birkdale 2 on the Monday and had four regular players missing for the rearranged match. The substitutes proved more than equal to the task with the top three mixed matches being halved and the 4th mixed pair of G Birchall & Sue Crowley winning 6/2 6/4. 1st Gents and 2nd Ladies halved but the 1st of Ladies F Wisse & V Cocks had a comprehensive victory 6/1 6/0. The 2nd Gents edged a tie-break set and then eased away to a 2nd set victory 6/1. This gave an overall score of 11-5 to Ormskirk and confirmed promotion to the 1st Division as Champions.

Ormskirk 2 replayed against Croston 1 with all 4 regular Ladies missing. Even this match was rain affected with all 4 mens and ladies matches being halved. Ormskirk's P Roberts & L Ashcroft won the 2nd mixed 6/4 6/2 but all the others were won by Croston giving a final score of 10/6 to Croston. Unfortunately this means that Ormskirk 2 will be playing 3rd Division tennis next year

Ormskirk 3 were due to replay their match againstHillside 2 but there is no result to hand.

Ormskirk 4 had little to show for all their efforts against a strong Birkdale 3 with only P McConnel & A Bumford gaining a point at 3rd mixed.

Absenses higher up caused problems for Ormskirk's 5th & 6th teams with the captains being unable to find sufficient players and the matched were conceded.

Ormskirk 6 were completely outplay by Carlton 2 who inflicted a 16 point whtewash,

The results for all teams will be shown on the Southport & District fixtures page as the season unfolds

Management Committee Meeting minutes are displayed on the website

See teams/fixtures for League Team Practice

Student tennis in Ormskirk

Ormskirk Tennis Club welcomes students from Edge Hill College, Southport College and other students at colleges of further or higher education or studying at university.

Special collegiate rates apply - contact the club for details.