Collaroy Tennis Club was once more very well represented at the 2023 Tennis NSW Awards night held at the Renaissance, Lidcombe on Thursday 19th October. The Awards were hosted by Grand Slam champion and broadcaster Todd Woodbridge. There were 23 awards honoring excellence and achievements over many aspects of Tennis including performance, coaching, officiating and volunteering to name a few.
A clear example of the success of our Club in attracting and developing quality players was evident when Pavle Marinkov took out the award for Junior Male Athlete of the Year. Pavle has had a stellar year as evidenced by one of the biggest jumps in the ITF (world) ranking for juniors. A year ago, he was ranked at No. 952. Currently he sits No. 39 and is now also the 2nd highest-ranked junior male singles player in Australia. Some of his highlights over the last 12 months include winning the Australian 18/U Championships, the J200 NSW Junior International and advancing to the third rounds of both the 2023 Australian Open Boys Championships and the US Open Junior Boys. He also qualified for and played in the first round of the Wimbledon Juniors.
The Marinkov family, who were in attendance at the Awards, were understandably very excited and proud to see Pavle win this prestigious award, no doubt, the first of many.
Our coaching partner Evolve Tennis Academy was a finalist in the Coaching Excellence – Club award (being the winner of this category in 2022). It was a fantastic achievement for them (Ryan and Scott were both in attendance) and Evolve was recognised for its significant achievements over the year including the range of programs offered (for young and old), their partnership with local schools, inclusion programs and their dedication in providing pathway programs in tennis to ensure improvement and opportunities for development are available for everyone.
Evolve has also contributed a great deal to Pavle’s tennis development as he was coached by Scott and Ryan from the time he started playing tennis at the age of 5. Recently, Matt Barton (Evolve’s High Performance coach) has been training Pavle.
Tennis legends – John Alexander, Rachel McQuillan, Mark Edmonson and David Hall were interviewed by Todd during the evening and provided great insight into the transformation and development in the game since their playing days. The night was a fantastic celebration of tennis in NSW at all levels and from all regions – from the Metropolitan clubs to the Country. Awards were presented to Parkes T.C. (Most Outstanding Club or Venue – Country) and Byron Bay Shire Council (Supporting Tennis, Government award).
A big thanks to Club Captain Wil for his many hours of work in preparing the nomination presentations for our Club in advance of the awards ceremony. A night (and a year) for CTC to once more be very proud. Let’s keep up the good work and keep having fun with our tennis!
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