Welcome to the April edition of the MCC Glen Iris Valley News. In this edition you will find updates and articles on;

• Competition Tennis
• Club Championships
• Social Tennis
• Sporting Sections Tour to Bangkok
• Facilities Update

Competition Tennis

JUNIOR COMPETITION UPDATE

By Angelo Giampaolo

Summer season for Junior Comp has come and gone and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all players and parents for a wonderful season.

This season has been especially fantastic, with the club having its most successful season to date. We have had 7 of our teams win their respective premierships and 2 teams runners up.

Grand Final Results:

Saturday Rubbers:

• B Special 2 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 2;4;32 def Keysborough 0;1;22
• B Grade 2 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 2;4;26 def Wellington 1;2;19
• B Grade 3 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 2;4;34 def Gladeswood Res 1;2;24

Sunday Rubbers:

• A Grade 2 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 3;6;36 def Vermont Sth 0;0;10
• B Special 1 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 2;4;38 def East Malvern (White) 1;3;29
• B Grade 6 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 2;4;27 def Whites Lane Mulgrave 0;1;17

Sunday Triples:

• C Grade 3 – MCC Glen Iris Valley (Blue) 4;27 def MCC Glen Iris Valley (Gold) 2;22
• C Grade 4 – MCC Glen Iris Valley 3;20 lost to Knoxfield 3;24

Some notable individual performances for the season: In our rubbers format, several players had outstanding records, not dropping a match all season. Charlie Shi, Maksim Gigovic, Khushi Talkad and Demitri Kogas played amazingly throughout the season. In our triples format, Cody Wang, Imani Klair, Oscar Finch, Lucas Thiel and Ryan Wu all had solid records throughout the competition.

Winter season will start on the weekend of Saturday 30th and the club will have 20 teams (2 Saturday and 18 Sunday) taking part. We look forward to seeing all the players soon and best of luck in the upcoming Winter season.

SENIOR COMPETITION UPDATE

By David Rowler

Since our last update the summer season competitions have all been completed. Overall, we’ve enjoyed the season and thankfully there wasn’t too many really hot and windy days. Congratulations to the teams who progressed to the finals.

Unfortunately, our A1 team was convincingly defeated in their first final match by a really strong team from East Burwood. The finals went better for the A5 team of Alex and Raphael Savelli who were runners up to Glen Waverley U/C in the Grade Final. 2.4.28 to 1.2.21.

Our B Sp 3 team of Elizabeth Filonenko, Monica Nguyen (c), Sophie Rayne and Ophelia Sebek also made it to the Grand Final and were narrowly defeated by Mayfield Park – 2.4.32 to 1.3.30.

We now turn our attention to the winter season which is only a matter of weeks away. It’s pleasing to see our team entries really increase this year. We have entered 4 x Waverley Opensingles doubles teams, together with 4 x Ladies and  8 x Men’s Tennis Victoria Pennant Teams.

As previously confirmed, we have been granted a Men’s State Grade team which is being re-launched this year. This will fill the gap between our Premier League representative team and the Pennant competition. Next year we will also look to field a ladies team. This is an exciting addition to the club team competition landscape and offers the highest level of club competition in Victoria. I’m sure the team would welcome all club support during the season if you are free to come down on a Saturday afternoon.

Pennant kicks off for grade’s 3 and below on Saturday 22 nd April. Our Men’s State Grade team together with the ladies Grade 2 teams will commence on Saturday 6 th May. Waverley get’s underway on Saturday 29 th April.

Thursday 20 April 2023 from 5.30pm
An evening to welcome in the 2023 Winter Season for Senior Mid-week and Weekend teams to
meet and greet. The informal format will be;

• Practise.
• Bar-b-que and bar.
• Presenting the team shirts in the new club colours.

Please confirm your attendance to David Rowler by emailing membership@mccglenirisvalley.org.au

2023 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

By David Rowler

Thanks to all the players who entered the events this year. It was great to see many new members taking part and meeting other club players. We had a good number of entries, especially in the men’s open singles. It was also fantastic to get back a graded singles event this year.Next year we look forward to having more entries and being able to expand the number of events to cater for all levels of players in the club.

Congratulations to Michael Turlejski on winning the Men’s Club Championships for 2023 with a straight-sets win over Zac Hamill. Michael, in his first year at the club, proved too strong over the tournament, winning four matches without dropping a set. It will be great to have both Michael and Zac as part of our Men’s State Grade team this Winter pennant season.

The men’s doubles final saw Robert Foy combine with Brett Marchant to take the title over David Rowler and Andrew Carter.

The Men’s Graded singles final between Thomas Francis and Siddarth Sundaram saw an epic final going down to the wire. Siddarth provided in the end and we look forward to seeing both of them representing the club in the Tennis Victoria Winter pennant this season.

• Men’s Open Singles – Michael Turlejski def Zac Hamill 6/2, 6/0.
• Men’s Graded Singles – Siddarth Sundaram def Thomas Francis 7/5, 5/7, 6/3.
• Men’s Open Doubles – Robert Foy / Brett Marchant def Andrew Carter / David Rowler 6/3, 6/0.
• The final of the Ladies Open Singles between Scarlett Dattoli and Kristen Antonopoulos is yet to be played.

Social Tennis

NIGHT SOCIAL PLAY – Tuesdays

By Marty Beecroft
marty.beecroft@caribbeanpark.com

Join us for a challenging and exciting night of tennis on Tuesdays at 7pm for just $5, which includes the cost of balls and lights. Our social tennis night attracts an average of 8 advanced players, and we generally play three sets of doubles. It’s the perfect opportunity to improve your game, challenge yourself, and have fun with fellow tennis enthusiasts. We welcome new and existing players to make contact with Marty to organize an introduction session.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY NIGHT SOCIAL TENNIS

By Dennis Rowler & Grant Fry

Both nights are getting close to filling their booked courts each night, Wednesday 6 courts and Thursday 4 courts. Also the number of players staying after playing their 3 sets is also increasing with about half the players each night staying back.

We have had several knew players join the club and play regularly on Wednesday or Thursday and some on both nights. Welcome to Anne. Esther, Tiana, Mia, Kym and Tony. Also, it has been good to see Shaun back and playing well after a few injuries.

Please try and book as early as possible for both nights, makes it easier for both Dennis and I as well as may avoid missing out. Dennis uses the Club Sparks System to book and pay, plus he sends out an email to all those who have been playing previously. If you are not on that list then please email him dennis.rowler@gmail.com. For Thursday nights please e-mail Grant garfish123@optusnet.com.au if you wish to play or to be added to the list of players for the night. I send an email out Wednesday afternoon as a reminder but please if you wish send me an email as early as Monday of the week you wish to play. Thursday nights works on the old way, cash so please bring out a $5-00 note if possible.

It is important to contact Dennis or Grant if you have booked and can not make it ASAP, there is nothing worse than finding out at 7-30 that someone has not shown up. Even though we do have different combinations that we can fall back on everyone prefers to play 3 sets of doubles.

TUESDAY MORNING SOCIAL

By Grant Fry

The numbers remain about the same, 3 courts booked and usually used by us but there are plenty of unbooked courts that I can book if needed. Again we have gained 2 new ladies to our group, so welcome Edwina and Divya and also welcome back to Rob after his Knee replacement.

Courts are booked from 9-30 to 12-00 but players can start any time and finish before 12-00 if they wish. We usually play different formats depending on numbers but I try to make each court as balanced as possible so that everyone gets a good mornings exercise, plays some good tennis, gets a sweat up, and has a laugh.

Anyone interested in joining us please contact me by email garfish123@optusnet.com.au or mobile 0407247800. The morning’s tennis is free to all club members and balls are supplied, (used ones from Thursday night. Also, I would like to thank everyone who has helped with keeping the kitchen tidy over the last three and a half years, especially the senior ladies who play on courts 1 or 3 and their spectators. Every week that they are out they clean up the dirty dishes left from Mondays.

MIDWEEK LADIES

By Lyn Carter

The Tuesday morning team had a good season finishing equal 4th on points however our percentage placed us 6th on the ladder which meant just missing out on the finals.  We had a couple of players out with injuries including one major shoulder reconstruction – all the best to Marylou for her continued recovery and we look forward to her re-joining us in the Summer Season.

The team has registered for the Winter Season commencing Tuesday 4th April – currently we have 4 permanent players and 3 emergencies.

If there are any ladies out there that might be interested in playing competition on a Tuesday morning please contact the club.  Games commence at 9.30 and usually completed by 1.00 p.m.

MCC Sporting Sections Tour to Royal Bangkok Sports Club

Proposed MCC Sporting Sections Tour to Royal Bangkok Sports Club

By Chiro Mukerjea

The Melbourne Cricket Club, from time to time arranges for combined Sporting Sections tours to its reciprocal clubs in Asia and other parts of the world. In the past, such tours have been arranged to visit the Hong Kong Cricket Club and the Singapore Cricket Club. These tours provide the opportunity to compete in a social or competitive setting whilst enhancing and growing partnerships with reciprocal clubs around the world, as well as promoting camaraderie and fostering new friendships and networking.

Prior to the pandemic, the MCC established a relationship with the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, one of the premier sporting clubs in Asia, and as yet the two clubs have not had an opportunity to visit one another to formalise this new affiliation.

As the first formal interaction between the two clubs, the potential for a multi-sport tour to Bangkok is being canvassed to take place either late August or October 2023. We would welcome any of our members who may wish to participate on this proposed tour. The level of tennis on such tours is very social and thus standard/level of play should not be a deterrent to making this trip.
Further details on this proposed tour will be circulated as they come to hand, however if you require any additional information on this proposed trip prior to that, please do not hesitate to contact info@mccglenirisvalley.org.au and mark it for the attention of Chiro Mukerjea.

For more information on the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, please see the below link:

https://www.rbsc.org/

Facility Update

By Ross Johnson

The Rotunda has been completed with the Club receiving the final building certificates. Painting has started and we’re looking for any member assistance over the next few weeks to complete this-please contact mark51karpinski@gmail.com. If you are able to assist. On completion, the Club will mount a plaque on the Rotunda commemorating our late Life Member Patricia (Pat) Anderson and her bequest to the Club.

The Club has held two working bees and we thank the following members for their support.

The proposed drainage works beside our carpark by the Monash City Council have been deferred to the 2nd half of 2023.

The MCC is replacing external door locks at emergency exits to ensure building compliance. We thank them for their support.

Thank you to Grant Fry for looking after the kitchen and its supplies for many years-that has been appreciated. This will now be undertaken by Joseph, our person around the Clubhouse, whom we welcome back after some health issues.

Ross, Dennis, Peter & Mira.

Pictured are Dennis & Mark starting on the painting of the Rotunda.

Upcoming Key Dates

• Tuesday 4 April 2023                            Mid-week Competition commences.
• Thursday 20 April 2023                       Pre-Winter Competition Evening Catch-up/Uniforms.
• Saturday 22 April 2023                        Tennis Victoria Weekend Pennant Competition commences
• Monday 24 April 2023                          Term 2 Coaching starts
• Saturday 29 April 2023                        Waverley District Senior/Junior Weekend Competition commences
• Monday 29 May 2023                           Annual General Meeting.
• Sunday 2 July 2023                               Working Bee