Narrogin Tennis Club christens new courts as season starts with an aim to build membership

Narrogin Tennis Club’s new season began last week with midweek pennants and a Sunday court christening as club members got together to smack the dust off their rackets. Club president Dale Woodruff said the season-opener on October 15 went really well. The focus of the day was getting back out on court and Sunday social sets were rounded off with a few drinks and a catch-up as the club builds membership. “Numbers were a bit slow to roll in due to the heat of the afternoon but by about half past five it was a beautiful evening for tennis,” he said. “Generally on Sundays we don’t try to get too competitive. “I think when people see overly competitive tennis being played it puts people off, there’s always people that get a bit of white line fever and want to compete and we’ll provide avenues for people to play hard tennis with a primary focus on trying to win.” The club’s Wednesday night pennants provides players with a more competitive brand of tennis but Woodruff said that the club’s most competitive day of play, formerly held on Saturdays, will not feature this season. “There’s still plenty of tennis to be had,” he said. “There is the odd tournament that happens around the place like the upcoiming Highbury Pre-Harvest Tournament. “Something else will evolve here though I’m not sure what that’ll look like.” Woodruff said the cancellation of Saturday pennants would hopefully translate into more people being available to play on Sundays. The season opener had many members of the club step onto the newly resurfaced courts for the first time. “The feedback was extremely positive, particularly from our older members who understandably suffer from some joint soreness,” Woodruff said. “They’ve commented that the difference us like chalk and cheese. “It’s relatively unique to Narrogin as a lot of the surrounding courts are hard courts, playing on new, softer synthetic courts is very appealing.” With about 50 juniors participating in coaching sessions at the club on Monday afternoons the new turf is receiving significant use. On October 22 the club will welcome the community to its annual open day from 3pm, ushering in the 2023-24 season with a celebration of the new playing surface.