On Thursday October 17, Collaroy Tennis Club was represented by the Management Committee and other members at the annual Tennis NSW Awards. The Club had no less than six Finalists in four separate Award Categories, including the prestigious ‘Most Outstanding Tennis Club or Venue – Metro’, an award we had won twice before.
Both Collaroy Tennis Club and Evolve Tennis Academy were Finalists in the Tony Podesta Most Outstanding Inclusion Initiative category, while Club members Pavle Marinkov (Male Junior Athlete of the Year) and Isla Gillespie and Rafferty Stevens (Young Athlete with a Disability) were individual Finalists.
Incredibly, this year we missed out on bringing home the silverware in every instance, but as they say in the classics (well, at the Academy Awards anyway), it really was an honour to be nominated and voted by the Judges as Finalists in each category. And we still felt like winners on the night!
Congratulations to Pavle, Isla and Rafferty, each of whom had outstanding years on court. Pavle achieved a career-high ITF Junior Ranking of 16 in the world and an ITF Men’s Ranking of 338. 18-year old Isla became the first Australian female player to participate in a Grand Slam Junior Wheelchair event at this year’s US Open and made it all the way through to the Round of 16, earning her a current ITF Junior Wheelchair Ranking of 10 in the world!
And Rafferty, at just 12 years of age, competed and performed creditably in the QLD Wheelchair Open and the Melbourne Wheelchair Classic and has a current ITF Junior Wheelchair Singles Ranking of 41 in the world. (He also had a letter read out by the PM in Parliament and Mr Albanese has now expressed a desire to meet Raf in person!)
It was a night of celebration, recognising all the wonderful people who contribute to our great sport, from the athletes themselves to volunteers, officials, club and venue operators, tournament organisers and coaching organisations. It was also a night to pay tribute to the Legend, Ken Rosewall, who flew in from Queensland to celebrate his 90th birthday at the event.
In his interview with M.C. Casey Dellacqua, Ken proved as humble as ever, playing down his countless achievements and being genuinely grateful to have been recognised by Tennis NSW and all of us in the sport who so greatly admire him.
Other celebrities in the room included former World Number 1 and current Davis Cup Captain, Lleyton Hewitt with his son Cruz (winner of the Male Junior Athlete of the Year) and US Open Doubles Champion Jordan Thompson, currently ranked 29 in the world for singles and 5 for doubles, who was awarded the title of NSW Player of the Year. (We claimed Jordan as a win for the Club, given he trains on our ‘Blue Court’ when in town for the Australian Summer of Tennis. Jordan spoke to Club Captain Wil on the night, saying he’s looking forward to hitting on Court 4 again, once its re-surfacing has been completed.)
Collaroy had its own dignitaries present with Independent Member for Wakehurst Michael Regan MP and newly elected Deputy Mator of Northern Beaches Council, Cr. Ruth Robins (Narrabeen Ward) sitting at our table. Ryan and Scott flew the flag for Evolve.
Freshly minted Committee Member, Lavinia, made the most of her first official event representing the Club, having her photo taken with every dignitary in the room. And ‘our Kenny’ regaled the ‘original Kenny’ with tales of his own tennis exploits at the best Club in the country.
Lavinia deserved all the attention after becoming a last-minute designated driver on the night. This followed the very sad fatal accident on the Harbour Bridge that evening, which forced the cancellation of the Maxi Taxi originally booked to convey the Collaroy Crew to Le Montage.
Trying to avoid what she assumed would be a nasty traffic snarl on the Bridge, Lavinia took a trip (Around the World) via Chatswood and Lane Cove, the expedition to Lilyfield taking well over 2 hours. Luckily fellow travelers Dave, Justine and Kenny had Club Morale Officer, Anna C., to keep the mood buoyant throughout the grind in bumper-to-bumper traffic. (In a second car, Kate, Vito, Wil and Phil, headed over the Bridge and their journey took half the time!)
It was a fun night and even though the Club was unlucky not to receive at least a couple of the awards on offer, it has only made us more determined to continue the good work and reclaim the title of Most Outstanding Tennis Club or Venue – Metro. from Tennis Macarthur – Wests Tennis Centre, next year. In the meantime, congratulations to all the 2024 winners.
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