President’s 2009 report
Presidents Report 2009
It is with pleasure, once again, to present my annual report. I have been President of this club since 2004 and I think now it is timely to reflect on what we have achieved and to reflect on how far we have come to be the best racquets club in the Waikato. I often remind myself why I got involved in the club and then into the management team of the club. My goal was to get people playing tennis in Cambridge as the courts seemed to be very under utilised. It is with great pleasure that I can now see the use of the courts – 7 days a week by all ages and level of development.
It is easy to say we have achieved a lot but I would like to make particular recognition of those who have contributed. When I was elected as President, we had a very solid base to work from with the outgoing committee led by Murray Browne as President. A lot of hard work had been done so my responsibility was to grow on those efforts.
We have been very fortunate to have a membership of people who are very passionate about their sport, be it squash or tennis. We have also had equal passion from the day to day management team of the club, namely Robyn and Nicola.
The past year has been difficult with the financial crisis engulfing all business and therefore our revenue line from sponsorship has been challenging. We lost our main sponsor ASB Bank as a consequence, but we have been very strongly supported by our long term sponsors as well as new ones coming on board. It is this support that epitomises the values and culture of Cambridge Racquets.
The other main source of revenue is of course membership and their subscriptions. With the hard work of the respective committees we have continued to grow our membership and it is with a special mention to those who have worked hard over the years. Thank you to Gareth Smith and his team on the squash committee and Anne Spelchan and Carl Jones on the tennis committee.
With particular reference to squash it is important to note that due to the strength of numbers we had to find a “new home’ for some of our squash teams. It is disappointing to record the lack lustre support from the Leamington club but pleasing to note that Morrisville and Te Awamutu were very welcoming to our teams. The squash committee continued to organise and run squash tournaments which are a great achievement and a lot of hard work and hours invested in the club.
Tennis continues to grow with strong numbers from the women’s league. With the new format for men’s tennis we have a good number of new players and also of particular note a number of players returning. This year we are fielding more interclub teams than previous years with particular strength in the junior ranks with 6 teams.
The key area for growth in tennis is the junior players which are a direct result of the coaching and marketing effort of Ian Bishop. In Ian’s second year as professional coach, Ian has been so successful he has engaged another coach from the UK, Victoria Toates. Vicki will focus on the new beginners and Ian will focus on development of the juniors 14 years and over. This is the future of our club and is a fantastic result with the coaching focus. Senior members are also benefiting from the coaching clinics that Ian runs.
The investment in the astro turf courts has paid huge dividends to the tennis members, allowing play throughout the winter on those damp nights. It has also attracted members who have had difficulty with the hard plexipave courts as it is quite hard on knees and joints.
Squash has also been a major success as reported above. The growth of our membership and interclub teams means that we are times limited for court space and hence the need for teams to reside off site. To that Gareth has initiated a project looking at the feasibility of expanding our facility with two new squash courts and we are looking at this being our next key investment in your racquets club.
Our junior squash players have had a successful year with representative honours and competing at Nationals. Also successful was Alana Sincock and Amanda Cranston but her season was shortened by injury. It is also pleasing to record success off court with Scott Calder heading overseas to pursue a career on the equestrian world stage.
On the financial side of the business, we have been able to keep the club in a cash flow positive state throughout the year following the investment in the astro turf tennis courts. It is the positive growth in membership of the club supported by the social activity at the bar that has allowed this position. We have also had new sponsors come on board.
Once again I would like to acknowledge Richard Upton on his management of the bar with good stock management, good purchase power and also his positive contribution to management through his role as bar manager.
Your management, led by Peter Bryant, have taken a critical view of the subscriptions and structure of our fees. The subscriptions have not changed for many years. Peter will propose a new fee structure which will be more advantageous for members and also continue to attract members to our club.
As reported I have been the President for the past 5 years and I have thoroughly enjoyed my role and believe it is the combined effort of the management committees, past and present that allowed the club to succeed to be the envy of all clubs in the Waikato district. Personally I believe I have achieved my goal in terms of people on court – a result I am very proud of.
This year some of the management committee are standing down. I would like to acknowledge the valuable input of Mat Jolly who always has a positive input backed with unrivalled enthusiasm.
I am willing, if elected, to continue as President for the next year though I am sure there are able and qualified people to step forward. I would encourage members to be a part of the management committees and share the success of this club.
Thank you to all members for their positive contribution, especially those mentioned above. I am looking forward to another successful year at Cambridge Racquets.
Graeme Martin