Welcome to the September edition of the MCC Glen Iris Valley News. In this edition you will find updates and articles on;
- Update from the Board
- Upcoming Events/Calendar
- Competition Tennis
- Social Tennis
- Facilities Update
Updates from the Board
By Jordana Dymond
Chair MCC Glen Iris Valley TC
We welcome members to our Spring newsletter.
This is my first newsletter as Chair of the Club. It is my honour to serve you all and I look forward to working with members and all our connected parties to continue to improve our Club.
Board Update
The Board has had some changes made since the last newsletter with Peter Gillieron and Chiro Mukerjea both stepping down as directors. We thank both Peter and Chiro for their immense dedication and work to this club and the earlier legacy clubs.
We welcomed Grant Fry to the Board who has immediately taken on several roles to improve the experience of members at the club.
Further changes to the Board include Lizzie Kalyvas being appointed as secretary and Mark Karpinski appointed as deputy chair.
We also note that Amelia Charlton has informed the Board that she will need to step down from the Board due to work and personal commitments. We thank Amelia for her work undertaken on the Board and particularly as the membership secretary. We will update members shortly with regard to the membership secretary role.
Competitions
Our Winter competitions have now reached the stage of finals. We congratulate all of our teams for participating in the competitions throughout the Winter period and representing the Club with skill and respect for their opponents. It is great to attend the club over the weekend and see our competition players wearing their Club shirts.
We wish all teams who have made finals the very best for their respective competitions.
Mid-week Social Tennis
This newsletter provides an update from our mid-week convenors, Marty Beecroft, Grant Fry, and Dennis Rowler. We thank the convenors for their work in organising these regular tennis events and welcome all members to who wish to participate to contact the convenors.
Update on High Street Road
We recently updated the members as to the purchase of our High Street Road property by the MCC Foundation.
We can update all members that the Council in the process of formally approving the Plan of Subdivision. It is anticipated that the purchase will be finalised in the next few months. We will update members when the purchase is finalised.
Competition Tennis
2024 Tennis Victoria Pennant Roundup
By David Rowler
Competition Convenor
On Saturday 17th August the home and away season concluded with 8 of our 12 teams progressing into finals which is a great achievement. All these teams finished strongly over the last 2 rounds played, to ensure this was one of our strongest seasons in recent memory.
After going through the season undefeated our Women’s State Grade continued this run of form in the semi-final vs Diggers Rest winning a tight contest 3 rubbers, 6 sets, 53 games to 3-6-45.
After winning both doubles rubbers convincingly, the result come down to the no.3 singles match featuring Scarlett Dattoli.
Needing a straight sets win to progress, she duly delivered with a commanding 6-1,6-0 scoreline.
This setup the Grand Final match verses Kooyong Lawn perfectly, as they were yet to play each other, due to successive washouts during the home and away season.
The Grand Final was played on Saturday 31st August on a windy day at Royal South Yarra.
After splitting the doubles rubbers and first two singles rubbers, the day came down to the final two singles rubbers. In the end the strength of the Kooyong team was too much and we went down 3 rubbers, 8 sets, 64 games to 2-3-43.
Congratulations for a fantastic season and Runners up flag.
Captain Savannah James, Zoe Hives, Ruby Ward, Scarlett Dattoli, Savannah James, Zahra Arthur, Jessica Zaviaciv, Naima Luthra and Gen Lorbergs.
We thank Craig James who has professionally managed the team throughout the season.
Women’s State Grade – Scarlett Dattoli, Ruby Ward, Savannah James & Zahra Arthur
Our Men’s State Grade team once again finished in 4th place and progressed into the away semi-final verses top placed Geelong Lawn. After having a frustrating season, enduing 5 washout matches, the team fort gallantly over the last 3 matches to force their way into finals in a very competitive and close season. With both doubles rubbers going down to the match tiebreakers and the results being split, the match was always going to be a close affair. In the end, the decisive win by Jacob Grills from Geelong Lawn at no.1 singles proved all too much, even when Lewis Miles was leading the final rubber 7/5, Geelong were unbeatable based on the games won.
Geelong Lawn won 3 rubbers, 6 sets, 55 games to 2-5-44.
Well done to captain Lewis Miles and the team for another great season.
Three further men’s teams have had outstanding seasons, which include the Grade 3 Sec 3 team led by Ben Rowler, who finished in top spot and will be confident of progressing with strong performances from their no.1 & 2 players Alex and Raph Savelli and depth throughout the line up.
After successive finals wins, they have now progressed into the Preliminary Final on Saturday 7th September from 1pm at Home vs Wellington.
The Grade 4 Sec 3 team led by Brett Zeuschner narrowly finished 2nd on equal points to the top spot in their section. After winning their first final convincingly they faced a tough test playing away vs Melbourne University on hard courts in the Semi-Finals. Unfortunately, they lost in a closely fort match 3-7-56 to 2-4-45.
The Grade 5 team led by Hridaan Jamwal had a great season finishing in 2nd in their section. With Rohan Chalisgaonkar leaving to play US College and Aden Arulananthan struggling to be fit, they faced an uphill battle in the final. Even though they competed strongly, they were ultimately defeated 3-8-59 to 2-2-36.
I would like to thank Angelo Giampaolo, together with all the team captains for their assistance in managing the teams this season.
Women’s State Grade (Savannah James) – Grand Final R/Up vs Kooyong Lawn 3-8-64 to 2-3-43.
Women’s Grade 2 (Amelia Charlton) – 4th – Section Semi Final d by Hawthorn 3-8-52 to 0-1-26.
Women’s Grade 3 (Elizabeth Filonenko) – 7th
Men’s State Grade (Lewis Miles) – 4th – Semi Final d by Geelong Lawn 3-6-55 to 2-5-44.
Men’s Grade 3 Sec 2 (Sean Spralja) – 6th
Men’s Grade 3 Sec 3 (Ben Rowler) – Top – Home Prelim Final vs Wellington – 7th September 1pm
Men’s Grade 4 Sec 3 (Brett Zeuschner) – 2nd – Semi Final d by Melb. University 3-7-56 to 2-4-45.
Men’s Grade 4 Sec 4 (Sahil Dang) – 6th
Men’s Grade 5 (Hridaan Jamwal) – 2nd – Section Semi Final d by Donvale 3-8-59 to 2-2-36.
Men’s Grade 6 (Cal Kennedy Moore) – 3rd – Section Semi Final d by Coatesville 1-3-47 to 5-9-66.
Men’s Grade 7 (Stephen Gay) – 6th
Men’s Grade 8 (Tom Reid) – 4th – Section Semi Final d by Burnt Bridge 1-1-26 to 5-11-71.
Men’s Grade 3 – Ben Rowler, Alex Savelli, Brett Marchant & Titus Ting
Waverley Tennis Winter Seniors
We entered the season with 2 teams both in B Special 1, which meant there was an interesting and close head-to-head match between all the club members involved.
The ‘Blue’ team captained by Anthony Hart came out on top which helped them finish the season in 2nd spot. On 31st August they hosted the semi-final vs Lum Reserve and were defeated in a close affair. 2-5-39 to 1-3-30.
Archie Stevens
We now turn our attention to the upcoming Summer Season for 2024-25 which commences on Saturday 12th October.
We have entered 10 Open Singles Doubles teams in Waverley and will look to enter one team in Eastern Region Open Singles Doubles, mirroring the same numbers from the prior year.
Waverley Tennis Winter Juniors
By Angelo Giampaolo
Junior Convenor
Winter season will come to an end this weekend so the club would like to thank all players and parents for another wonderful season. We had 24 teams take to the court, 5 on Saturday’s and 19 on Sundays. We had 6 teams winning their Semi Finals meaning a Grand Final match awaits them this coming weekend. Below is a Summary:
Saturday:
- B Special 1 (2-4-33) def Hampton Park (1-3-33) – Grand Final will be against Glenvale.Best of luck to Masa Asano. Emanuel Tsiplakis and Aniket Ananta.
- D Grade 1 (automatic Grand Final appearance) – Grand Final will be against St. Paul Apostle. Best of luck to Will Wydn, Lachlan Collins, Hemish Matthur and Aditya Komail.
Sunday:
- A Grade 1 (2-5-46) def Wheelers Hill (1-3-40) – Grand Final will be against Mayfield Park. Best of Luck to Ben D’Costa, Blake Munro and Aditya Krishna.
- B Grade 1 (2-4-31) def Springvale Nth (1-2-20) – Grand Final will be against Glenvale. Best of luck to Yanhao Huang, Oscar Finch and Aniket Ananta.
- B Grade 4 (2-5-40) def Whites Lane (1-3-39) – Grand Final will be against Vermont. Best of luck to Imani Klair, Carah Klair and Saranya Singh.
- D Grade 2 (4-28) def Essex Heights (2-27) – Grand Final will be against Knox Gardens. Best of luck to Kaisuke Satoyoshi, Tavis Morcom, Shun Satoyoshi and Catherine Jeanes.
All results from the Grand Finals will be posted on the MCC Glen Iris Valley Facebook Page.
Entries for summer season have now closed and the club is pleased to announce that 26 teams will take to the court starting in October. All rosters and schedules will be emailed in late September. Looking forward to seeing all the players out on the court again.
Mid-Week Ladies
By Lyn Carter
Our team competed in the Final of the MEMRLTA Winter 2024 season after winning the Semi-Final by 1 game. Unfortunately we lost the Final by 6 games to Eley Park in a well fought battle. Photo attached for reference: Wendy Hyland (Captain), Marylou Keaney, Georgie Favaro, Deirdre Ridder and Lyn Carter.
Summer 2024/2025 season commenced 2 weeks ago with a wash out then a very windy loss by 1 game – but looking forward to some strong wins in the coming weeks.
If there are any ladies who would like to join the Mid-Week ladies competition, they should contact the Club for further information.
Bayside Sec 2 Autumn Team
Congratulations go to our ladies captained by Kaye Lewis who defeated Black Rock 2-5-43 to 2-4-36.
Due to player availability they won’t be playing in the Spring Season.
Social Tennis
By Grant Fry
Wednesday and Thursday Night Tennis
Fortunately, Spring is well and truly on its way to springing. The weather has not been kind this year with some very chilly nights and a few nights missed due to rain. On the first 2 weeks of August however we were given a taste of real spring weather with many players opting for shorts and short sleeves. Considering the fact that it has been winter our numbers have been good, with Wednesday night having at least 16 each night and Thursday 12. Thankfully, we do have players that enjoy a set or 2 of singles so we have been able to accommodate extras. We are fortunate with the group that we have at present lots of laughter as good hard points with many games going to “deuce” always makes me happy to hear.
We have had a few new members start and they have added to our numbers and the fun while a few of our regulars have been enjoying holidays in northern latitudes.
So anyone who knows anyone who may want to get back into tennis and is available on Wednesday or Thursday night (or Both) please contact either:- Dennis Rowler dennis.rowler@gmail.com or 0425 226463 Grant Fry garfish457@gmail.com or 0407 247800
Tuesday Morning Social Tennis
Tuesday morning s have been going well, we have a usual turn up of about 12 players each week, I would still prefer more but we have been growing with new members starting during the last 3 months and several of them now also playing on Wednesday & Thursday nights.
The format that we use is a little different than other social tennis sessions. Tuesdays are much more flexible due to the broad range of skill levels playing each morning. The basic idea is to get everyone playing as much tennis as possible and with the most even competition. We have a 4 game set that we use so that players are not sitting around waiting to get on the court. Partners are selected strictly on abilities and as much as possible to provide an even competition whenever possible.
So we start at 9-30 on courts 10, 11 & 12 players can come and go when they can to allow for players other various commitments. The courts are booked until 12-00 and most of us are happy to call it quits by then.
If you are interested, please contact Grant Fry 0407 247800 or Garfish457@gmail.com.
Tuesday Night Social
By Marty Beecroft
We were very fortunate to have some consistent Tuesday night weather which fostered some really competitive social winter tennis. The aim of the night is to play three sets of high quality tennis, in good spirits and enjoy each other’s company. The closer the sets the better! We welcome all players of an experienced level to come down for a trial night by contacting Marty on details below, the cost is $5 and we commence Tuesday 7pm.
Facilities Update
Courts
On 31 July all 12 courts were broomed to spread out and maintain an even surface from the perimeter fence boundaries. We received several positive comments after these works which was pleasing.
Warwick continues to maintain the courts weekly and was recently busy attending to replace porous lost to the wild and windy weather. We have now commenced the overnight sprinklers on one cycle to ensure the surface remains in the optimal playing conditions as the weather warms up.
Please ensure you water the courts before play, when needed if the surface is at all dry or dusty. This will ensure the best playing experience and help reduce any unnecessary damage and court maintenance costs.
Monash Council Drainage Upgrade
Members would no doubt have noticed the traffic management of High Street Road outside the club. This has been to bore underneath the road and install the new storm water pipe. The boring work has been completed and the overall project is expected to conclude in September (a little behind schedule). The final step will be to restore the club grounds to their original state.
Fallen Cyprus Tree
One of the Cyprus trees just west of the car park fell over early Monday morning in the high winds. The tree is presently blocking the north west section of the car park. That area has since been taped off and should not be entered as there are several similar trees still standing.
Clubhouse Cleaning
We are aware that the clubhouse has not been maintained to an acceptable standard in recent weeks. The contractor has been notified and a thorough clean is being done this week. We will closely monitor the situation going forward.
Gardening
The club has engaged new contractors to maintain the lawns (Murray) and the gardens (Haydn). There will be an initial push to improve the gardens over the coming few weeks before settling into more routine maintenance. Hopefully members notice the improvements.
Roy Street
The Roy Street courts and site more generally are now being tended to by Warwick (courts) and Ash (club house and grounds). There was a dip in the level of attention to the site since Joseph finished up there late last year. Hopefully members will notice the recent improvement.
Wasp Nests
Two wasp nests have been found in the ivy near the courts recently, if you find one please do not disturb it. If you upset them you may find yourself and others in a lot of pain.
They need to be exterminated after dark to avoid them attacking.
Please contact either: Grant Fry 0407 247800 or Dennis Rowler 0425 226463 to get them removed safely.
Used Tennis Balls
Next to the box of used balls for use by members is a white plastic drum for the collection of used balls for recycling. Please put your old balls in the drum rather than leaving them on the court. The drum has been there from the beginning of August and in 3 weeks it was 3/4 full so thank you for all those who made contributions.
Anyone wanting balls tennis balls for kids, dogs and any other use besides playing tennis with you are welcome to help yourself.
Lost Property – new system DO NOT leave any found items outside.
Lost property is now held in the room where the defibrillator, and first aid box is i.e the entrance to change rooms from the courts. There are two boxes either side of the refridgerator, 1st box all new items will remain in this for 2 weeks then moved to the other for another 2 weeks and the finally cleaned, sorted and distributed to Op shops.
Valuables found will be held safley and a sign placed on the notice board near the water fountain. So far (after 2 weeks) we have 1 watch returned to it’s owner this way.
Parents if you children loose their drink bottle it is probably in lost property. They will have at least 4 weeks to collect them.
In Memory of Pat Sinclair
The above framed photo of the Pat Sinclair, affectionally known as “Little Pat” has been hung in the club rooms, near the kitchen. Pat originally joined the GIVTC in 1985 when it was located at Brixton Rise, 1987 it was demolished to make way for the SE freeway and re- opened in 1991 in High St Mt Waverley. Pat was involved with many club activities including Mid-Week Ladies competition, catering for Junior competitions, looking after the kitchen supplies as well as keeping the kitchen clean and tidy. The exact number of years of her dedicated service to the club has been a little hard to track exactly but it has been twenty plus years.
She was awarded a trophy, pictured in her hand at the MCCGIVTC presentation night at the MCG for the “club person of the year” in 2018. That trophy is still proudly treasured and displayed at home by her husband Don.
Thank you to all the people who contributed to making this memorial happen for the service that she gave over so many other years. Thanks to the present MCCGIVTC Board, Angie Arthurs, Don Sinclair and Barbara Gibson for their assistance in making this happen.
