Finals Day – Raffle

Finals Day – Raffle Winners

Thanks to all who took part in our raffle and of course to those who donated a prize. The raffle tickets were drawn by Michael Reik and Hannah Cohen. We raised £351 which is much appreciated.

The winners are shown below.

PRIZE WINNER
2 Tickets for Watford FC v team of your choice Steve Bird
2 Tickets for Arsenal v West Brom Irving Leaderman
Bottle of Champagne Melvin Robinson
Remy Martin Champagne Cognac Alan Miller
1.5L bottle of Faustino V Rioja Max Black
Meal for 2 at Friends Restaurant Pinner Tony Blake

Finals Day 1

This is the first of a number of posts covering finals day that will be uploaded in the coming week.

By 8.30 am yesterday, a number of helpers were busy getting the club set up.

At 9.30 the first match was underway, the ladies doubles, with Stephanie and Simone playing against Aga and Ellie.

The sun was already out and thankfully, the weather played its part and we were bathed in warm sunshine for the duration.

The day was a great success, some really great tennis was played, and all who attended seemed to enjoy themselves. A special thank you to all who helped set up and clear up afterwards, and of course to Hannah who again produced a fabulous lunch.

More details and photos of each match will be posted soon but in the meantime, here are the full results.

 

Event
Winners
Runners Up
Men’s Singles Ricky Roberts Musti Sherzai
Mens Doubles Musti Sherzai & Ricky Fox Brian Klitzner & Rob Taub
Vets Mens Doubles Nick Slater and Jurek Swiacki Brian Klitzner & Stephen Carlin
Vets Mens Singles Brian Klitzner Steve Parnell
Mixed Doubles Ricky Roberts & Ellie Black Steve Parnell & Dorethea Laurencia
Ladies Singles Ellie Black Michelle Kurer
Ladies Doubles Ellie Black & Aga Ornoch Stephanie Reitman & Simone Posner
Boys Singles Ben Sweiry Alex Floyd
Boys Doubles Ben Brill & Alex Floyd David Amor & Oliver Duggan
Girls Singles Georgia Black Isabel Black

Finals Day and Lunch

The Drive Annual Tournaments’ Finals day and Lunch is  on Sunday 2nd July.
The day is the highlight of The Drive’s calendar and all Members, Family & Friends are invited to come along and support.

The exact scheduling for the day will be advised in due course, but the first final will commence at 10am with the day expected to end around 4pm.

As there are so many finals taking place, all the courts are reserved for these tournament matches and there will be NO courts available for social tennis that Sunday.

All Members and their guests are invited to our fabulous complimentary buffet lunch, and refreshments will be available all day as usual.
Please email 
secretary@thedrivetennisclub.org ASAP and let us know if you are having lunch and how many guests you are bringing, so we can cater accordingly.

In addition the Drive is delighted to be holding a raffle that day to raise additional funds for the club. The prizes will include 2 tickets to an Arsenal Football home game & 2 tickets to a Watford Football home game.

It would be great if any adult members could volunteer to help on court that day, umpiring, calling lines etc. Please email secretary@thedrivetennisclub.org if you are able to help.

Looking forward to seeing you

 

Ladies 1 v Brompton 1

Match :
The Drive I v Brampton I
Tuesday 6th June at home

Squad :
Aga and Ellie
Emma and Katy
Simone and Stephanie

Result:
Win for The Drive 18-6

Despite a rain filled and very blustery day, the match went ahead.
With 2 false starts due to the rain, we finally managed to play all the sets in reasonable conditions.
The courts had drained quite well and although the balls were fairly heavy, there was very little spray and even some sun!

This is a team who we has previously beaten us comfortably and so we were prepared for a competitive match.

Aga and Ellie ( even with an ankle sprain) won all their sets and were an excellent first pair. They are very powerful players and there are probably not many pairs in the division who will beat them.

Emma played her first match this season. This was a new partnership with Katy and they played very well together holding off 4 match points against them to win one of their sets.

Steph and I – who know each other’s game pretty well (!!) enjoyed some great tennis and we just missed out on winning a third set.

A very friendly team, good sportsmanship throughout the evening, good food…

Well done to all.

Simone Posner – Captain

A Load of Balls!

It won’t surprise any of you that we go through a significant number of balls during the course of a  year.

Whilst, new balls are used again by coaches and for junior activities, they do have a limited life.

Thanks to Nabeel,  we now have an arrangement with a third party that recycle old tennis balls and pay us for the privilege.

Old balls are saved in special bags and then dropped off at a collection centre and we get paid.

Our first set of bags has now been despatched and the money received and we will make this a regular process.

In the meantime, if you have any balls at home that you want to pass onto us for recycling, please bring them in and deposit them in the ball buckets in the clubhouse.

Latest update on 2017 Championships.

Matches are gradually being completed and the latest draw position can be seen by clicking on the relevant link below

Mens Singles

Mens Doubles

Ladies Singles

Ladies Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Mens Vets Singles

Mens Vets Doubles

Mens Super Vets Doubles

Round Deadline
First and Second Round Sunday 11 June 2017
Quarter Finals Sunday 18 June 2017
Semi Finals Friday 30 June 2017

All of our finals will be played on Finals Day, which this year is on Sunday 2 July 2017. All members (and friends and family) are welcome on the day to watch all of the finals, and last year we had a great atmosphere for all of the players and spectators.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please email Steve Parnell.

Drive 3rd team versus Totteridge

The evening began with a photoshoot and a good looking bunch you will never see anywhere else. The pairings were Rob with Guy, Nick with Ben and I partnered Vivek who was kind enough to replace our “injured” captain. We played against Totteridge IV, having beaten Totteridge V the previous week 22-2
It was Gold for Nick and Ben who won all 4 matches, Silver for Rob and Guy who won 3 of their 4 matches and Vivek and I gamely came in with a Bronze with 1.5 out of 4. final score The Glorious 3rds won 17-7.
Highlight was Nicks body popping in his final set and MP forgetting Hannah wasn’t cooking for us and so had to make a mad dash to get a meal to feed the hungry lions (Nick’s favourite Fish and Chips). 
A great team effort well done everyone, a particular thank you to Simone who brought a light token for court 3. 
Dilip Bavisha

Tournament Draw Update

The Drive LTC’s annual club championships draws have been made and have both been put up in the clubhouse near the new vending machine and are also available online (below).

Please can you ensure that you play your matches by the below deadlines.

Round Deadline
First and Second Round Sunday 11 June 2017
Quarter Finals Sunday 18 June 2017
Semi Finals Friday 30 June 2017

All of our finals will be played on Finals Day, which this year is on Sunday 2 July 2017. All members (and friends and family) are welcome on the day to watch all of the finals, and last year we had a great atmosphere for all of the players and spectators.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please email Steve Parnell.

Mens Singles

Mens Doubles

Ladies Singles

Ladies Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Mens Vets Singles

Mens Vets Doubles

Mens Super Vets Doubles

 

The Drive play…. The Drive

Match: The Drive IV vs The Drive V

Date: Wednesday 24 May 2017

The Drive IV Team

David Boddenstein & Farruh Shermatov
Aryel Abrahami & Nabeel Thakur (c)
Mark Hirschel & Evi Otobo

The Drive V Team

Simon Millet (c) & Martin Stone

Steve Bird & Abe Sweiry

Gerry Bass & Neil Miller

Score: The Drive IV won 18-6

As we have two teams in the same league, we have to play each other within the first two matches days to ensure no match fixing takes place towards the end of the season.

Fortunately, there was never any chance of that happening. Both teams were determined to win and really put their all into this match, both putting out strong teams.

It was a great day for tennis. Sunny all evening, and with temperatures hitting 25 degrees and with little breeze, a lovely evening ensued.

The fourth team were a little stronger on the night, but all of the sets were incredibly tight, and well fought (even the set Aryel and Nabeel won 6-0).

The fourth team has recently been reformed to have a slightly younger feel to it, and it was just as well, as the fifths made the fourths do a lot of running!

The pairing of the night has to go to Steve Bird & Abe Sweiry who played fantastically well, especially Steve, a new member, who won many plaudits from all 11 players, and Marc, our Adult Coach, for his steady and excellent performance.

Both teams will be hoping for promotion this year, and if the performances on Wednesday evening were anything to go by, it is a great possibility to happen!

The fourths next play away against Kenlyn (but will be played at The Drive due to court restrictions) on Wednesday 7 June and the fifths next play at home against David Lloyd Finchley IV on Thursday 8 June, in matches where hopefully both teams will maintain their high positions in the table.

 

Great result from Ladies First Team

Match : Brondesbury v The Drive I- away

Team :

Ellie and Dorothea

Simone and Laurel

Steph and Michelle

Score: The Drive won 14-10

A good match in fairly windy conditions.

Brondesbury have a strong team. I recall playing there 2-3 years ago and losing so it was nice to get a good result.

Last night several of the sets were very close and all the 3 pairs in the last round shared the points ( 1 set each)

Great to have a young first pair with Ellie and Dorothea getting 3 out of 4 sets.

The rest of us are a bit  ( well a lot more!) older but we all played well

A good start to the season but I know that  there are some very tough matches ahead- keep practising!

Simone