Here we all are from the summer 08/09 season. From left to right: Brian Francis, Kris Funston, Simon Brown (me), Andy Wheeler and Chris Patete.
This shot was taken during Andy Wheeler's world record coaching session, where he coached for an astonishing 30 consecutive hours to raise money for charity:
http://worldrecordsalmanac.com/sports/longest_tennis_coaching_marathon-world_record_set_by_Andy_Wheeler_90153.htm
I got back to New Zealand in October 2008 with the season already underway and the second team competing in Wellington Regional 3. We got on to a great run winning all five of the remaining matches, finishing up with 8-0 wins against Salamanca and Wellington B. For a brief spell our position at the top of the league looked assured, till it turned out we'd failed to nominate Kris on the 'club ranking list' and 4 walkovers were promptly given against us. A rather desperate appeal was launched after frenzied reading of the rulebook and we got it reduced to one walkover and still stayed top of the league. The original 4 walkovers would have consigned us to the post-Xmas relegation play-offs.
After Christmas we got stuck into the promotion play-offs for Regional 2, which the second team have never reached. First up were Khandallah and we lost on an agonising game countback after a 3-3 draw on rubbers (from being 3-0 up). We recovered with a fine 5-1 win against Petone while Andy Wheeler was back at Thorndon doing his world record coaching marathon.
The next game against Wellington was our low point, where we lost a string of close rubbers to end up losing 5-1. It was a tough day for Andy in particular who was well ahead in the final sets of both his doubles and singles only to have them slip away. We missed Kris (injured) and Brian (in Oz) for this one, though Steve Goodman stepped in to play an excellent doubles. This left us needing a strong run to secure promotion.
Next match up was table-topping Miramar, who brought in one of their top first team players (Alan Ambrose). Andy and I had our what may be our best ever doubles win, beating Alan and Cameron Steel. I had little chance against Alan in the singles, scrapping out a 6-2 6-2, but the rest of the team stormed through and we got a crucial 4-2 win.
The league looked very tight at this point but we had three of the easier games still to come, and Kris 'The Funstonator' was coming back to fitness and just thrashing everyone he came up against.
We got a good 5-1 win against University, with myself suffering the only defeat at 1 against David Buckrell after winning against the same player before Christmas. I'd joined a gym in the meantime so it was good to see all the hard fitness work not paying off!
Against Titahi Bay we got an 6-0 win to virtually assure promotion. It was a beautiful sunny day, and Jane and I wondered over to have a look at the bay once the tennis was over.
The last game was against our closest rivals for promotion, Karori Lawn. This was a tough match played in increasingly wet conditions, but we came through 5-1 to finish the season on a high. For a while it looked as though we'd win the league but Wellington defaulted most of the rubbers in their final match against Miramar, and Miramar beat us by one point! But promotion was what mattered and we're looking forward to next season already.
As winter rolls in to Wellington the tennis continues. The club tournaments are in full swing and the indoor winter Business House league kicks off soon, where the Thorndon team will be playing as 'Yours'.
No comments:
Post a Comment