Ideal for small shop, office area or physio room.

Contact Martin 071-9162580.

Boyle Badminton Club had their debut to host the Connaught Closed ‘A’ Grade Championships on 21st January.  The effort put in by the host club was clear to see with top-quality, professional grade synthetic flooring being transported from Badminton Ireland’s Leinster headquarters especially for the event in Boyle.

Two Sligo players made the final of the Men’s Singles event, both players having previously represented their country in respective age-groups. Jonathan Dolan defeated his cousin, Conor Scanlon in a final which did not have any lack of class and athleticism.  In the Ladies Singles event, Ballymote native, Paula Watt defeated Helen Sheahan (Galway) in a 3 set thriller.

As the singles came to a close, players paired-up and switched to doubles mode for the Mens/Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles Events.  Once again, Sligo showed their dominance in these Events with Sligo players taking all 3 of these Provincial Titles.  In the Mens Doubles Fintan Keown and Graeme Watt (Sligo) were winners with Jonathan Dolan and brother Mark Dolan (Sligo) runners up.  Sligo pairing of Paula Watt and Victoria Stevens took the Ladies Doubles in 2 sets against Galway pair Helen Sheahan and G Gilmore.  This was an impressive win as Sheahan and Gilmore had defeated the Sligo pair earlier in the day during the Group stages.  Four Sligo Tennis Club players met in the final of the Mixed Doubles Event with Jonathan Dolan and Francie Mahon eventually taking the tie in a close 3 set match which was a fitting end to eleven hours of extremely competitive badminton in Boyle.  Over 50 players battled it out for these highly coveted Provincial Titles.  The overall organisation of the tournament was overseen by referee Padraig O’Dowd from Boyle.

Last weekend in Galway the Connacht Closed ‘B’ Grade Championshipe were held at Galway Lawn Tennis Club.  In the Ladies Singles event an up-and-coming young Sligo player, Fionnuala Scanlon, won in fine style by defeating Galway lady Mary Casey.  The success didn’t end there for Fionnuala as she went on to team up with Francie Mahon (Sligo) to reach the Ladies Doubles final, losing out to the Finnegan sisters from Leitrim.

Pride of place goes to our STC Web Master Jeff Kay who in his first competitive tournament had a few well deserved wins with partner Alan Mc Donagh (Ballymote) and is really looking forward to the next outing of his badminton career.

Sligo badminton spokesperson, John Dolan, says ‘the increased level of success of Sligo badminton players is down to the high performance coaching strategy that Sligo has developed with the support of the Sligo Sports Partnership’.

Up-coming Events

County Sligo have entered a team in the National County Championships (Inter-Counties) at Class 3 level, with the qualifiers due in Limerick on 26th February 12.  Sligo Tennis Club have also entered a team in the National Intermediate Cup which will be played in Galway on 18/19th Feb.  Good luck to both County and Club Teams in these competitions.

For more information on badminton in Sligo go to http://www.sligotennisclub.ie/badminton or contact sligotennisclub@eircom.net

Anyone interested in going onto the committee can contact tennis committee members or leave their name at reception.

To all members and patrons of the club, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our monthly newsletter and wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Last year, we launched a new web site to highlight our events and this year we feel it is important that all members, as interested parties and shareholders of the club, are kept abreast of developments and we hope the newsletter will be a forum for this.

Also, we are eager to hear your points of view. In addition to being able to put your points of view through your section’s committee – we will be establishing a suggestions/comments box at reception and we encourage you to make use of this facility.

Over the past four years, the club has invested approximately €250k into the Club and details of this are listed further down. To ensure that we can maintain the level of service that we have been accustomed to, it will be vital that we raise funds. To do this – a number of activities will be taking place – starting with our 200 club draw. We appreciate that we are living through difficult economic times and as such, your additional support will be gratefully valued.

Is mise le meas

Eamon

On behalf of the management team:

Eamonn McCafferty, Siobhan McDermott, Joe O’Brien, Edel McDermott, Ger Lowry, James Doyle, Stephen Cunningham, John Burke, Martin McMorrow

Captains: Christy Hennessy (Tennis), John Kielty (Squash), Victoria Stevens (Badminton)

Your Chance to Win up to €300 every month with the
Tennis Club’s 200 club Draw

The Club is pleased to announce a Club 200 Draw as our main fundraising effort this year and we all stand to benefit.

Prizes

Every month, cash prizes will be given away to five lucky members of the 200 club draw.

1^st €250

2^nd €100

3 prizes of € 50

How much? €100 for 12 months or €10 per month by standing order.

When? Initiative will be officially launched at Club’s Christmas Party on Saturday 21^st January.

First Club draw on Thursday 23^rd of February.

Contact: Martin at reception for details (T: 91 62580)

You don’t have to be a member to join.

Name the Newsletter Competition

Find a great name for this monthly newsletter that will be posted by e-mail and on our new website and win a €15 club voucher.

Place the newsletter name and your own contact details on a sheet of paper and place in post box at the Club.

Club Activities

Update

Over the past four years the management committee have secured funding and invested this money into refurbishments and general necessary maintenance for the club, including: -

Gift Vouchers

Membership Gift vouchers are now available for purchase at the club. Green fee vouchers also available see reception or call 071-9162580 for details.

Function Room

The Member’s function room is free to all members when you have 30 guests are more for an event – so please think of your club as THE VENUE for upcoming work functions or personal celebrations.

Sports Sections News

Badminton

Want to give badminton a shot and get the most from your membership?

A 3 weeks ‘tester’ programme will be run by the badminton committee to introduce you to the game.

When: Tuesday evenings 8.00 – 9.30 pm.

Start Date to be advertised on Badminton notice board or details will be with Martin.

Cost: €15 for the three evenings (shuttles & racquets provided & cost includes light & heat)

Check badminton notice board for other weekly events and team events.

Happy New Year to all our members!

Badminton Captain: Victoria Stevens (086 226 1370); Vice Captain John Dolan

Squash

Singles ladder starting soon. A beginner? why not give squash a try, we have four quality squash courts available

Tennis

Challenge tennis ladder

Interested in playing singles tennis matches? If the answer is yes then why not sign up online for our challenge singles tennis ladder competition. See our new website sligotennisclub.ie to sign up and for details on rules and how to get started.

Junior Tennis Coaching

Junior tennis coaching resumes on Monday 16^th of January, so if your children are interested in joining up the give me a ring on 071-9162580 to book your child’s place.

Our coaching programme caters for 5 to 16 year-olds and is a great gift to give your child.

The schedule can be downloaded here [XL].

(Please note, the following dates are excluded 12th February and 18th March. All players to play 6 out of the 9 weeks).

A Merry Christmas and ‘Smashing’ New Year to all STC badminton members.

For more information on badminton in Sligo go to http://www.sligotennisclub.ie/badminton or contact sligotennisclub@eircom.net

They also performed for patients at St Johns Hospital.  It was a very enjoyable evening and well done to all from the Parents Committee, Sligo Tennis Club!

The tournament, which was held over two days, comprised of five separate events; Ladies & Mens Singles, Ladies & Mens Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Tournament organiser, Paul Dolan and Referee Aengus Sheerin kept proceedings running efficiently and managed to run over 100 matches over the two days with plenty of court time for all players as each event also consisted of a plate event.

The Mens Singles final was a highly entertaining match between two of Ireland’s top U-19 players, Joshua Magee and David Walsh. Joshua, a Donegal native and brother of Olympian Chloe Magee, took the match in two close sets, 21-17, 21-18.

Laura Butler (Wexford) triumphed in the Ladies Singles, defeating Ulster’s Victoria Ringland 21-16, 21-12. Laura had an extremely successful tournament, winning all three events: competing in the Ladies Doubles with Kirsty Kelly (Dublin) and in the Mixed with David Walsh. Laura and Kirsty defeated Ashleigh Coyne and Sylvia Campion in the Ladies Doubles final while Laura and David defeated Paula Watt and Graeme Watt (Sligo) in the Mixed Doubles final.

(L-R) Graeme Watt, Fintan Keown, David Walsh, Joshua Magee (Mens Doubles finalists in Connaught Open 2011).

Congratulations to David Walsh, Ballina native and Sligo Tennis Club player who won both the Mens Doubles and Mixed events and was runner up in the Mens Singles. Valuable national ranking points are up for grabs at such Badminton Ireland affiliated toutrnaments and David’s performance at the Connaught Open will greatly boost his ranking position.

The Mens Doubles final was a closely contested affair. The Sligo pairing of Fintan Keown and Graeme Watt overcame the 2nd seeded pair to reach the final against number 1 seeds; Joshua Magee and David Walsh. Fintan and Graeme surprised their much fancied opponents by taking the 1st set, 21-17. However, Joshua and David fought back hard in the 2nd set to win 21-10, and although the third set was neck-and-neck for a while Joshua and David took it 21-18.

Teenage mixed doubles 12.30 to 2pm

Allwin Tennis Academy Event 2pm

• Indoor tennis activity zone inside clubhouse from 2pm
• indoor tennis activity zone
• test your tennis skills
• test your accuracy
• service speed testing
• beat the pro
• wii games and lots more
• (adults and children welcome, even if you havent played tennis before)

Junior ladder presentation, christmas party

Everyone welcome – bring a friend

The Wehrlys sponsored Autumn league has reached the crucial final couple of weeks with some key movement in each section where the front runners are starting to put down markers for the chasing pack…

The Ladies C section which has grown over the years has gone from strength to strength and has provided alot of beginners the chance to start to play more tennis all year round in a semi-competitive and fun environment. One such product of this is the ever-improving Ursula O’Shea who is in contention in the section and recently posted a very impressive score of 17 to cement her charge towards the top of the group.

Phil Rooney is setting the pace in the Ladies B where Phil has posted some of the most consistent scores in the competition’s history. Noreen Cassidy, fresh from a couple of competitive challenges in the singles ladder is the front runner in the Ladies A .

In the Men’s B section Paul Hardiman and Mark Wirtz are setting the pace with several veterans in the section waiting for any potential slip ups from the front two. In the Men’s A section there are a number of contenders two of which are Butch Jamon and Barry Egan playing some of their best tennis, but as ever, this section will come down to the wire with current holder and club president Eamoon Mc Cafferty still firmly in the running despite his successful Presidential campaign which had threatened to derail his Autumn league ambitions.

Some notes for the Diary…

The Higgins Pharmacy mixed pre-Christmas doubles list is on the board and filling quickly Sunday 18th so get your name on the list and enjoy some tennis followed by Mince pies and spot prizes in the bar afterwards.

Connaught League Winners 2011

The Division 1 Sligo Tennis Club Team were up against a strong Galway side, with Galway having narrowly beaten Sligo in an earlier match. The final followed a similar pattern, with the match tied on a 2-2 scoreline, but Sligo came through by virtue of a superior number of games won on the day; 33 to 21. The winning team was captained by Marina Swann, and ably abetted by Ger Lowry, Keith Hopkins and Graeme Watt.

Indoor Soft Tennis

A potential new competition which is on offer to all members is the indoor soft tennis game. If we get any adverse weather even us hardened all year rounders must consider moving indoors during the worst of it and the indoor hall would provide an option for some SOFT BALL TENNIS across the five badminton courts when not in use anyone interested please contact Martin or Steve Cunningham and we can trial this out in the next few weeks.

Sligo Rovers

Sligo Tennis Club would like to congratulate Sligo Rovers on there recent FAI CUP success. Large numbers of club members and the indoor hall footballers made the journey to the Aviva we look forward to the FAI Cup making a return to the club some night soon.

…and Finally!

A speedy recovery to a number of members recovering from injury hope to see ye all in “Smashing” (!!!) form before the turn of the year.