Team news
Men's Summer League Teams
It has been another record year for men's tennis at Bishop Sutton this summer in the Avon Tennis leagues with all 3 teams gaining promotion.
Men's 1st Team After successfully negotiating a tough division in the Avon league, the men's 1st team finished in top position with 70 points and will be playing 1st division tennis next year for the first time in the club's history. After an indifferent start to the season, they managed to win the last five matches, dropping only 4 points out of a possible 50 which is testament to the commitment and talent of all the players. Next year they will be playing against the 1st teams of large clubs such as David Lloyd and Landsdown, so the tennis will be of the highest standard. Let's hope they stay in the top flight.
Men's 2nd Team. Won their division by an impressive 24 points and will be promoted to division 5 next year. With some new faces brought into the team and juniors mixing in with older players, the outcome resulted in a tremendous win for them. Their aim for next season is to gain promotion again.
Men's 3rd Team The introduction this year of a men's 3rd team was designed to include as many juniors as possible. They had a fantastic season winning 9 of their 10 games, to win the 8th division at a canter and will be playing in division 7 next year. The juniors are the future of the club, so for them to be playing competitive doubles is great. As with the 2nd team, their aim for next season is to gain promotion again.
A message from the men's captain Chris Keast: "A big well done to all the players who played this summer. Three teams and three promotions - you can't get better than that. I want to see new faces young and old for next season so the club continues to grow and becomes a major force in Avon". 1st team: Chris Keast, Matt Thompson, Tim Sephton, Duncan Grew, Jason Jones, Michael Stephenson, Dave Tonkin, Mark Davies, Tom Battersby. 2nd team: Tom Battersby, Phil Jones, Mark Davies, Gareth Collier, Chris Gibson, Felix, Adam Lewis, dave Parkes, Geoff Jones, Dave Tonkin, Paul Jelly, Dave Frydman 3rd team: Mark Tabor, Tom Warren, Aaron Lucas, James Matthews, Rob Collier, Chris White, Kieran, Steve Evans I hope I haven't missed any names off "
Ladies Summer League Teams
It's been another great season for ladies league tennis at Bishop Sutton. We have enjoyed successes over recent years with both our 1st and 2nd Teams. Our 1st Team climbed up to Division 2 and has maintained a place there for the several years, but never before have we managed to reach the dizzy heights of Division 1. The backbone of the 1st Team have been Carol King, Jane Parkes, Lallie Gibson and Hilary Cripps - with supporting appearances this year from Celia Gay, Sarah Lewis and Debbie Jones.
Our 2nd Team has gradually eased its way up through all the Divisions to play in Division 2 last year - a fantastic achievement. They returned to Division 3 this year and, against all odds, they came within 2 points of again returning to Division 2. Applause goes to Bridget Rylance, Celia Gay, Pippa Cole, Claire Tadgell, Sarah Lewis and Anna Livermore - with thanks to Anne Collier, Debbie Jones, Lynn Jones and Monica Castle for making guest appearances. My thanks to all those involved this year, for contributing with such team spirit to make the summer of 2006 another thoroughly enjoyable and outstandingly successful season.
Jane Parkes, Ladies Captian
Juniors
Our two junior league teams (Under 14 and Under 12) have also been enjoying success this year. See the Juniors page