Oadby Club Tournament 2020, draws, fixtures, results etc…

If you would like enter this year’s club tournament, please submit this ENTRY FORM by 23 Aug.

As advised previously the tournament will run over a longer period with all matches up until the final having a ‘complete by’ date, which will be sent to you once the draw has been completed and for each round thereafter. As usual we will have a main draw and reverse draw.

The deadline for entries is Sunday 23rd August 2020. Matches will then commence the week commencing 31st August 2020. Finals will be played the weekend of the 26/27th September 2020.

Players will be responsible for arranging their own matches, booking courts and providing their own balls. Each match will be played as first to 8 games with a tie break coming in to effect at 7-7. Should this happen this will be a standard 7 point tie break.

I would ask everyone to carefully consider which events they would like to enter as we would like to get all of the matches played rather than having walk overs.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Many thanks

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

Further to yesterday’s announcement to release Oadby & Wigston from lockdown I am pleased to say that the club can now welcome back all members to play who live outside of the Borough with effect from Saturday 1st August.

As always, to ensure safe play for all of our members I would ask that everyone follows the Rules for Safe Play, which are listed at the bottom of this email. Whilst it is great for us all to be back on court it is imperative that we all do this in a safe manner and if you have any concerns over anything at the club then please do let me know.

From the beginning of the lockdown we have always followed LTA guidelines and we intend to do this moving forward as well. We are now in a position where we can begin to look at opening up the club house and possibly to re introduce mix ins but before this can happen as a club we must complete strict risk assessments to ensure that this can be done safely. We will endeavour to complete these over the next 1-2 weeks and I will update you as to our progress with this. Many thanks for your patience, it has been a very frustrating time for everyone but I am sure you will all appreciate the health and safety of our members is the number one priority.

RULES FOR SAFE PLAY AT OADBY GRANVILLE TENNIS CLUB

· Both singles and doubles play will now be allowed with players from different households.
· Booking slots – for the time being these will continue to be available for 1 hour slots with each member having an allocation of 3 bookings per week. These will continue to run for 55 minutes with your session finishing on time, ensuring there is no cross over between bookings. If playing on clay please also consider time will be needed for you to sweep the courts. We will monitor the length of booking slots and will possibly increase this back to 2 hours over the coming weeks if possible.
· Social distancing – nothing has changed in this respect. Continue to observe a minimum distance of 2 meters and please leave the club promptly after you have finished playing. This is certainly more important now as there will be a lot more people arriving/leaving the club.
· Hygiene – Please make sure you have washed/sanitised your hands before you arrive at the club and after play. Please also consider wearing a glove when sweeping the clay courts or at least sanitising your hands immediately after sweeping.
· Symptoms – all of the original guidelines still stand. If you or any member of your household have shown any symptoms of Covid-19 or believe you may have been in contact with someone who has then please do not come to the club.
· Club House – the club house will remain closed apart from access to the toilets, which has to be used strictly with one person only entering the changing rooms at any time. There will be a cone placed in the reception area, if you do enter the changing rooms can you please block off the entrance using the cone as an indicator that the changing rooms are in use. Once you have finished, please place the cone back out of the way of the door.
· Members Only – we will continue for the time being to restrict play to members only.

Lastly, just to mention that if you use your LTA log in to access Clubspark, this will not be available from 6am on Sunday until 11am on Monday. So if you are booking courts and want to use that log in, please do so before/after those time slots. The LTA website might also not be available during this time.

Best wishes and stay safe

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

Some of you may be aware that today there has been a further announcement from the LTA in regards to further reducing playing restrictions. For full details please follow the link below:

Link: https://www.lta.org.uk/about-us/tennis-news/news-and-opinion/general-news/2020/march/coronavirus-covid-19—latest-advice/

In regards to play at Oadby, below are detailed guidelines that are effective for play at the club from Mon 1st June 2020:

· Both singles and doubles play will now be allowed with players from different households.
· Courts – from Tuesday 2nd June all courts will be back open and will be available for booking.
· Booking slots – for the time being these will continue to be available for 1 hour slots with each member having an allocation of 3 bookings per week. These will continue to run for 55 minutes with your session finishing on time, ensuring there is no cross over between bookings. If playing on clay please also consider time will be needed for you to sweep the courts. We will monitor the length of booking slots and will possibly increase this back to 2 hours over the coming weeks if possible.
· Social distancing – nothing has changed in this respect. Continue to observe a minimum distance of 2 meters and please leave the club promptly after you have finished playing. This is certainly more important now as there will be a lot more people arriving/leaving the club.
· Hygiene – Please make sure you have washed/sanitised your hands before you arrive at the club and after play. Please also consider wearing a glove when sweeping the clay courts or at least sanitising your hands immediately after sweeping.
· Symptoms – all of the original guidelines still stand. If you or any member of your household have shown any symptoms of Covid-19 or believe you may have been in contact with someone who has then please do not come to the club.
· Club House – the club house will remain closed apart from access to the toilets, which has to be used strictly with one person only entering the changing rooms at any time. There will be a cone placed in the reception area, if you do enter the changing rooms can you please block off the entrance using the cone as an indicator that the changing rooms are in use. Once you have finished, please place the cone back out of the way of the door.
· Members Only – we will continue for the time being to restrict play to members only.
· Coaching – although coaching in small groups (up to 6 including the coach) has now been authorised by the LTA, we are not going to be offering any group sessions initially and this will be reviewed over the next week or so. We need a bit longer to find a completely safe way to offer this and will not do so until we have suitable procedures in place.


If anyone is unsure or has any questions regarding the above then please let me know. Again I would stress that all members must adhere to the above and apply common sense when playing at the club to ensure we can all enjoy tennis in the safest environment possible.

Best wishes and I hope to see you soon.

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

Following the government’s relaxing of certain lockdown rules, from Wednesday 13th May I am pleased to confirm that we will be able to open up the courts for limited play.

Before I go in to more detail I would like to say that all decisions have been made with the health and wellbeing of all members in mind and we will of course continue to follow advice from Public Health England and the LTA when making any future changes to what is detailed below.

It is great news that we are now in a position to get back on court but we all have a responsibility to show common sense and behave in a manner which allows tennis to be played in the safest possible way.

From Wednesday 13th May, court bookings will be available but must only be made following the rules below:

· Courts 1,3,4 & 6 will be available for bookings. The nets on courts 2 & 5 will be taken down to ensure these courts are not used at any time, this will help to ensure social distancing. The mini courts are also not to be used at the present time.
· Courts will be available to be booked for singles play. This can be with a member of your household or one other non-household member.
· Bookings for doubles play is only available where all four players reside at the same household.
· All court bookings must be made via ClubSpark. If you are not registered with ClubSpark, please visit our website (www.oadbytennis.co.uk) where you can register.
· Please do not visit the club or arrive to play without booking a court, even if there is availability showing. This is mainly for safety reasons but this will also help us to assess court usage which, in turn, will help us implement further changes if necessary.
· Booking slots will be available for a maximum of 1 hour only with these starting promptly on the hour. You must leave the court 5 minutes before the end of your session please to ensure there is no crossover with people entering the court after you. This means that each session will last for 55 minutes and allows a generous time for changeovers adhering to social distancing.
· Each member will be initially restricted to a maximum of 2 booking slots per week to help spread availability for all members. This does not mean you are only allowed to play twice per week, but you are only allowed to personally book 2 slots per week.
· Until further notice, all players must be members of the club.
· The club house will remain closed with no access possible to either the main room or changing/toilet facilities.
· Court bookings will be available from 9am until 8pm. Please be aware that if you do book an 8pm slot no floodlight use will be available.
· No courts to be booked for juniors after 6pm.
· No individual coaching sessions will be available initially. This will be reviewed over the next week and we will advise further on this in due course.
· Please bring along your own wipes/sanitiser to use for entering and leaving the courts. Please use common sense in regards to whether you need to adjust the net height. If you do decide to adjust this then please ensure that you clean/sanitise your hands straight away. Please also clean/sanitise hands after sweeping the clay courts.
· During play, socially distancing measures must be adhered to at all times without any exception. Please avoid shaking hands, high fives and changing ends.
· Once you have finished play, please leave the court and club premises as soon as possible.

I think it is really important to give everyone a clear indication of what is expected and I would politely ask for all members to follow the above rules without exception. These rules are for the safety of everyone.

I fully appreciate that this might not be ideal for every single person, especially our many junior members who we are not currently able to offer their usual coaching and daytime members who play doubles at club mix ins etc. We will assess the how the initial opening goes and upon advice from PHE and the LTA. If we are able to extend the sessions then we will, but not until it is completely safe to do so.

Many thanks for all of your patience and for continuing to support the club. If you need any further advice or questions regarding the above then please do feel free to contact me.

Please stay safe and best wishes.

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

Oadby (Granville) Tennis & Social Club

I hope you are well.

Apologies for contacting you again but following on from the announcement made by the government earlier this evening we have taken the decision to close the club for all tennis activities with immediate effect. This means that no members should use the courts or any facilities at any time until further notice.

In these most challenging of times there really is no benefit in putting yourselves or others at risk.

Please do stay safe and look after each other. I hope to be able to send you a more positive message in a few weeks times.

Best wishes

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

Oadby (Granville) Tennis & Social Club

I hope you are all keeping safe and well.

Following advice from Public Health England and the LTA we have now taken the decision that all group coaching sessions will now be cancelled with immediate effect. Along with this we have now enforced a full closure of the club house, including the changing rooms and toilets.

Ben and Zaheed are still offering individual coaching sessions to both senior and junior members. If you would like to contact them to arrange this their contact details are as follows:

Ben – 07723 331777
Zaheed – 07421 237390

I would stress that the courts are still open and are available to use. Getting out to play tennis in our current situation can been very beneficial both physically and mentally but we have to ensure this is done in the safest possible way.

At the bottom of this email there is a link to the full LTA statement, but please find a summary below which I would kindly ask all members to adhere to:

Please bring your own hand sanitisers and use both before and after play
Use online booking for courts. Do not arrive to play tennis without booking a court
A buffer period is to be implemented between court booking slots to allow time for players to leave before next players arrive. I would ask members to arrive 5-10 minutes after your booking time to ensure there is time for the players beforehand to leave the club
Activity should only take place where travel to and from the courts can be done in a way compliant with social distancing advice, with players not travelling together unless they are part of a group residing in the same place
Activity should be in line with the Government’s advised social distancing measures at all times(defined by Public Health England as spending no more than 15 minutes within a 2-metre distance of someone), including when arriving to and departing from a court
If you are not confident that you can adhere to the social distancing guidance when undertaking tennis, please do not play
Players are advised not to change ends during play
Ensure no physical contact during warm-ups, during play or at any time. This includes handshakes, high fives, touching elbows etc. A 2 metre distance must be maintained.
Full LTA statement: https://www.lta.org.uk/about-us/tennis-news/news-and-opinion/general-news/2020/march/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-venues/

Apologies if these measures seem harsh, but these are made with the best interests of all members in mind.

Personally I would urge all members to please listen to the advice provided by the government and Public Health England. These are difficult times but if everyone can make sensible decisions to help each other then we can hopefully get through this sooner rather than later. Please do stay safe and look after yourselves and each other.

Best wishes

Martin

Chairman

OGTC

I just wanted to send a quick email to update everyone following the updated advice from the government and Public Health England.

With the situation being so serious it is important that we do everything we can to support each other and to protect the health of our members. With this in mind I would ask everyone to note the following:

1) The main club house room will not be open for members or parents to use, only the toilets and changing room areas will be open.
2) All members are requested to wash their hands both before and after playing tennis.
3) Players are asked to avoid handshakes, hugs, high 5’s etc and are to maintain a sensible personal distance at all times (2-3 metres is recommended)
4) Unless we receive advice from the LTA to the contrary all tennis courts will remain open.
5) Hygiene and cleaning will be stepped up to ensure all surfaces are cleaned regularly, in particular all hard surfaces, door handles etc.
6) Coaching will continue as normal for the time being but will be reviewed if/when schools are closed or if we receive advice from the LTA in regards to this.


In addition to the above, please note that the following events have, unfortunately, had to be postponed:

· Wimbledon Ballot (on 4th April). New date to be arranged if needed.
· Opening Season Tournament
· Junior Quorn Cup
· Helper Session – 21st March


It is essential that anybody with suspected signs of or direct contact with Covid 19 should not attend the club and should self-isolate.

Best wishes to everyone and please stay safe.

Martin
Chairman
OGTC

The annual spring tournament will, as you know, take place from the 28th March -4th April.

As usual, there will be ladies singles and doubles, men’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles events. For doubles events you are at liberty to pick your partner so long as the total value of points of the pairing is not less than 5. Your individual points is based upon the team that you played for last season. If you did not play for a team you will automatically be a 5 (unless advised otherwise by Ben or Zaheed) meaning you and 4th team players can partner anyone.

This year the tournament is open to all club members, yes including day members and invited juniors. It would be great to have as many people enter as possible as it is a great chance to meet with players you may not normally play with, test your skills and blow away the winter cobwebs.

Submit this APPLICATION FORM by the 20th March. Further rules and information can be found on the form, but should you have any questions please email them to me: adrianrfpawsey@gmail.com

I hope the weather will be somewhat warmer and drier for the tournament than it has been of late!

Kind Regards
Adrian Pawsey