Mildura Lawn Tennis Club coach Bill Madafferi is a former ATP player and he joins the Sunraysia Daily sports team to look at local tennis.
I’VE always been a pretty positive sort of person.
Someone who would prefer to look for a solution than dwell on what might have been.
This year is one none of us will forget in a hurry. Our lives have been turned upside down by the coronavirus.
For local tennis, we were dealt another blow this week, when we were forced to cancel the season.
It was a bitter pill to swallow after just three rounds, but unavoidable given the surge in COVID-19 numbers.
For me, it’s a small sacrifice to pay if it means in six weeks we have curbed the virus and everyone in Victoria can start to return to some normality.
I suppose the most disappointing thing was seeing how much people were enjoying being back and having a hit.
Tennis was relishing being one of the few community sports playing and it was reflected in the number of new players we were seeing.
Nichols Point’s Premier League team had been bolstered by the inclusion of Imperials footballers Colby Hards and Ben Galbraith.
Colby and Ben not only added depth to the Pointers line-up, they also injected some outside interest into the sport with an increase in the number of people watching from the sidelines.
Although I’m shattered we can’t get our season in, the three weeks we did play showed me there is still plenty of interest in the game.
It’s now up to us as committee members to find a way to keep these types of people interested in the sport.
I’m realistic enough to know that Colby and Ben aren’t going to be hanging up their footy boots and picking up a tennis racquet during the winter soon, but somehow we need to find a way to keep them connected to the sport.
Whether that is introducing mid-week competitions for these types of players, I’m not sure, but we need to consider all our options.
When we come out of Stage 3 restrictions our lawn season will almost be ready to hit off.
This presents a huge opportunity and one we need to capatilise on.
I don’t think anything should be off the table if it means we can attract more players and members.
Running any community sport isn’t easy and to do it well it takes a lot of time and effort.
Even though this year has been my first as president of the SDTA, it has given me a great insight into the wonderful job each committee does in putting together their teams.
But what has been frustrating has been how many of our winter players don’t play regularly at the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club during the summer.
Finding the reason behind this is something I will certainly be following up.
I know the excuse most use is it’s too hot during summer, but I think there is a bit more to it than that.
Tennis has been my life and I am totally committed to helping grow the sport in this region and to do that we need more people playing during our lawn season.
