Downshire Tennis Club

Club Program 2016 – September Update

1. Juvenile Jamborees – These happen once a month on a Saturday and are for the
juvenile members aged between 4-10. They are a great way to gain some practice on
developing your shots and playing matches while being supervised by the club
coaches.
- September Update
- Saturday 17th September
- Saturday 22nd October
- Saturday 19th November
- Saturday 17th December
- Programme Target 2012- 50 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 50 2018-60
2016 - 50

2. Junior club night – Takes place every Saturday night during term time from 6-8pm
and is for junior members aged 11-17. Junior club night allows the junior players to
get some extra match experience as well as socialise with their friends.
- September Update
- Junior club night starts back on Saturday 10th September and will be run by
Ryan West.
Programme Target 2012- 40 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 40 2018- 50
2016 – 20-25 per week from a pool of 40 juniors.

3. Halloween, Easter, Xmas parties – Take place at the school holidays and have proven
to be very popular. Halloween party includes fun Halloween games, Xmas party
includes a visit from Santa Claus and Easter party includes a fun Easter egg hunt.
- September Update
- Halloween party planned for either Friday 28th or Saturday 29th October.
- Programme Target 2012- 30 2015- 40 2018-50
2016 - 40

4. Junior Trips – Each year the junior members are taken on a 2-night trip away to play
some tennis matches and also take part in some fun activities as a team. Last year
the trip was to Ballycastle. We have also had a trip to Dublin to watch the Irish Davis
Cup Team.
- September Update
- Trip to Ballycastle took place in July and enjoyed by 8 people.
- I will look into the possibility of a junior 1 day trip sometime close to Xmas.
Programme Target 2012- 0 2015- 20 2018- 30
2016 – Target of 8-10
5. 10 weeks free coaching – All junior and juvenile members receive 10 weeks free
Saturday morning coaching in the Spring term. The 10 weeks free coaching is a very
popular part of our programme and has approx. 120 players taking part each year.
Downshire works in partnership with 8 local schools within the area which are:
Friends Prep, Wallace Prep, Downshire Primary, Anahilt Primary, St Aloysius Primary,
Meadowbirdge Primary, St Joseph’s Primary and Riverdale Primary.
- September Update
- No further planning.
Programme Target 2012- 80 Juniors, Juveniles & Seniors involved, 2015- 115 2018-
140
2016 – 100 per week from a pool of approx. 120

6. Performance academy Junior & Juvenile Regional Performance Academy

(Hillsborough, South Down, Armagh) linked to the Ulster Branch Tennis Ireland
Performance Pathway – Last year Downshire set up its first performance tennis
academy and recently achieved the criteria to become one of five Ulster Branch
Performance Academies. The performance academy started with 12 players last
September and has now built up to 32 within a year. The hope is to grow this even
more and reach 40 players by the end of the year. This will help other players
emulate the achievements of former junior Club players Peter Bothwell, Ulster’s first
Professional tennis player, now ranked 1,151 in the world senior ITF, Sam Bothwell
who has a senior doubles ranking of 1,377 and Emily Beatty achieved a free
Scholarship to Alabama State University this year. Programme Target 2012- 0 Juniors
& Juveniles involved
- September Update
- I have added in a new Under 10 performance group starting in September that
will be attending coaching twice per week.
- Also we now have a total of 9 players involved within Ulster Tennis Acadmey.
- Bruce Macdonald, Milo Thompson, Harry Scott, Charlie Gray, John Cunningham,
Oliver Tumelty, Dan McAlister, Finn Thompson and Anna Glover.
2015- 31 2018-60
2016- Currently 35 players

7. School holiday camps – These are another very popular part of our programme and
take place over the Summer, Easter and Halloween school holidays..
- September Update
- Overall in July and August we ran 4 junior camps and 2 senior camps and had
160 bookings across them all. The summer camps still prove to be a great way
to get players started in tennis and leads to new members.
- The next school holiday camp will take place for 3 days over the Halloween
holidays.
Programme Target 2012- 80 2015- 105 2018- 120
 2016 –160 kids / adults throughout summer

8. Junior & adult external league – The junior external league takes place between
April and June. In the past few years Downshire has entered more teams into the
leagues than any other club. Last year we had 8 teams raging from under 14 boys /
girls to U18 boys / girls within the Ulster Leagues. Last year Downshire provided 25%
of all girls teams within the Ulster Leagues.
- September Update
- League season is over and starts up again next year.
Programme Target 2012- 15 league teams 2015-19 2018- 25
2016- 16 teams in total

9. Parks Tennis – Downshire hosts a Parks Tennis NI scheme every summer. 2 weeks per
year (increase from 1 to 2 weeks in 2015)- Beginner sessions & Promotion in schools.
Parks Tennis aims at getting people to play tennis who wouldn’t normally get the
chance too. Over the last couple of years parks tennis has proved successful and has
led to the club gaining new members.
- September Update
- No dates set, I will look at the possibility of running a Halloween parks tennis
and confirm by next month.
- Programme Target 2012- 20 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 40 2018- 50

10. Tennis 10s tournaments – These are Ulster Branch tournaments that clubs host for
under 8, under 9 and under 10 age groups. Last year we held an U9 tournament at
the club and had a great entry with 30 kids playing on the day. Now that we have
additional court space we will look to hold more tournaments next year. So far this
year 10 players from Downshire have competed on the Ulster Tennis 10s circuit.
- September Update
- We will continue to send players to the monthly Under 10s events.
- Ben Neal from Ulster tennis is setting the dates for this term at the moment.
- Programme Target 2012- 0 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 7 2018-10
2016 – We have had 18 Downshire players compete in Ulster Tournaments this year

11. Cardio tennis – Cardio tennis is a tennis fitness class that takes part in the club twice
a week. It is a way to get a good work out while playing tennis. These classes are
open to anyone but are aimed more towards over 50s. In 2015 we had 25 players
taking part and in 2016 the aim is to double the amount of players taking part in
cardio by promoting a healthy lifestyle.
- September Update
- Starting again on Monday mornings from 12th September.
Programme target 2012- 10 2015- 25 2018- 40
2016 – Approx 20 players to date this year.
12. Miss Hits Tennis Fit (two 6 week sessions per year) – In 2015 the club received a
grant from Sport NI to try to increase the participation of females playing tennis. The
Miss Hits Tennis Fit program has proved to be a massive success with over 80
participants taking part throughout the year and so far 15 of them becoming club
members. Due to the success of Miss Hits we plan to institutionalize it into the club
programme for 2016.
- September Update
- 6 weeks of Miss hits took place in May/ June was great
success at attracting female non members to try Tennis 110
players and 25 new members
- 6 weeks of Miss Hits tennis is planned to take place in May / June 2017. Dates
have not been set yet.
- Programme Target 2012 0 female participants To 2015- 75 2018- 90
- 2016 – 110 players

13. Obesity / healthy living programme- Delivered in 2014, with plans to rebrand the
programme and organize again in Autumn 2016.Programme target 0 Juniors &
Juveniles, 2015: 11 2018: 30
- September Update
- No Further Planning

14. Enjoy Tennis Programme – The Enjoy Tennis programme is to allow people with
intellectual disabilities to take part in tennis who would not normally get the chance
too.
- September Update
- 8 week program has been arranged with Beechlawn school starting from 12th
September.
- 22 pupils will be involved from year 8 and year 11.
- Funding is confirmed for these 8 weeks from Enjoy Tennis.
Programme target 2012: 0 Disabled members To 2015: 2 To 2018: 10
2016 – 35 players from Beechlawn school taken part this year

15. Serve and Slice – Serve and Slice is the Friday morning social tournament that takes
part in the club. It runs for 6 week blocks and is a great way for adult members to
play more matches and meet new people within the club. It has only been set up this
year and in its first term has 40 participants each week.
- Starting Friday 12th February and running for 5 weeks.
- September update
- Organised by Gillian. Recommencing in September.

Programme Target 2012- 0 2015- 40 2018- 50

16. Open days – The club runs 4 Club open days each year in order to increase
community outreach. The first open day takes place during Wimbledon as this is
when tennis receives the most publicity and the second open day takes place during
the Hillsborough oyster festival. Last year our open days where very successful and
got over one hundred people through the gates to try tennis of which around a
dozen became members.
- An open day will run the last Saturday of June. Further open days will be planned
to run alongside the oyster festival and the castle event.
- September Update
- Open day ran at the end of June. We attracted 60 people into the club to try
tennis which resulted in 10 new members.
- Oyster festival open day on the 3rd September 12-4pm.
- I was able to acquire funding of £600 from Lisburn council to run this event.
- Thanks to all club members involved in helping with this day.
- Programme Target 2012- 50 attending each Club Open Day (2 per year) 2015-
210 (4 per year) 2018- 250

17. Junior and Juvenile coaching – Junior and juvenile coaching classes run 6 days per
week, these allow children to take place in additional exercise while learning a new
school. Each week approx. 100 children take part in our after school and weekend
classes.
- September Update
- Starting 11th September and running for 12 weeks.
- The majority of coaching will be done by myself. Louise Tuff and Ryan West will
be doing between 5-10 hours per week as well.
- Junior coaching timetable included at the bottom of this document.
- Although there has been quite a lot of disruption this term due to bad weather.
Programme Target 2012- 90 Juniors & Juveniles 2015- 90 2018- 110
2016 – 110 juniors / juveniles involved in weekly coaching

18. Junior tournaments & recreational play – Each year the club runs a junior internal
championships allowing the junior members to gain extra competition play in singles
and doubles. The tournament is popular every year with everyone receiving prizes
for taking part. In 2015 we had 60 juniors taking part with aims to reach 80 players
taking part for 2016.
- September Update
- Junior Championships took place in the last week of August and the finals day is
set for 3rd September.
- Overall 52 players took part from ages 10-18.
Programme Target 2012- 50 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 50 2018-60

19. Internal Leagues - Internal Leagues are a fantastic way for new members to integrate
 themselves into the club with existing members and enjoy competitive tennis in a really
relaxed atmosphere. Letty’s League runs from October to March each year. The
Stewart Cup runs from October through November. It is an individual competition
and at the end of it the top senior male and top senior female for the year emerges.
This competition involves 36 players and will see players with different partners every
time they play, the point being it is good to play with and against different members.
Formula 1 is a team event open to all senior players from February through April and
involves 10 teams of 6 players in each team divided into two groups (5 teams in each
group). The top 2 teams qualify for the semi-finals and one team wins overall.
- September Update
- Letty’s league starting again on 5th September with 65 players taking part.
- Programme Target 2012- 2 Internal leagues 2015- 2 2018-4

20. Club Night – Club night takes place every Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon all
year round. Club night is a great way to meet new players in the club as you can just
turn up the weeks it suits and you will be paired off into groups for a game of
doubles.
- Continues to run Thursday and Sundays as normal.
Programme Target 2012- 40 Juniors & Juveniles involved 2015- 40 2018- 50

21. County Down Championships – Downshire is holding a new Ulster senior

tournament next year between 13th-18th June. This is expected to attract 80
competitive players with approx. 50 Downshire members enjoying competitive play.
- September Update
- 2016 Johnston Campbell County Down Championships was a great success.
- Once the applications are open I will apply to run the tournament next year
from 12-17th June.
- The feedback received from within the club and externally within Ulster tennis
was very postivie and I am very keen to keep this part of the club calendar.
- Programme Target 2012- 0 2015- 0 2018- 120 (60 Club members)

22. Captain’s Day Event- Captain’s Day takes place in June each year and is the highlight
of the Club social calendar. It includes a juvenile and junior fun event in the morning
and a family fun tournament in the afternoon with strawberries and cream. There is
then a barbeque with music and dancing and it is a great fun event for all.
- September Update
- The Committee would need to consider planning 2017 Captains
Day ASAP.
Programme Target 2012- 200 2015- 220 2018- 225
23. Social & Fundraising- The Club Committee has a calendar of social events which raise
much money for the Club and charities. These take place throughout the year and
are sometimes linked to existing events.
- September Update
- Wine Event planned for 30th September.
-
Programme Target 2012- £3k 2015- £4k 2018- £5k

24. Members Charity & Fundraising- The Club’s support for the community is
strengthened by individual members organising events to raise funds for charities
and good causes.
- No further planning has been done.
Programme Target 2012- £1k 2015- £2k 2018- £3k
Junior Coaching Timetable September 2016

DAY TIME (pm) SQUAD TYPE BALL LOCATION

MONDAY 2.30-3.30 Under 8s Red Downshire

3.30-4.30 Under 9 Orange Downshire

4-6 Under 11 Yellow / Green Downshire

Performance

4.30-6 Under 16 Yellow Downshire

Tuesday 3.30-5pm Under 9 Orange Downshire

Performance

5-6pm Under 14s Yellow Downshire

WEDNESDAY 2-3 Under 8 Red Downshire

3-4 Under 10 Green Downshire

4-5 Under 12s Yellow Downshire

4-6 Under 16 Yellow Wallace Park

Performance

5-6 Under 14s Yellow Downshire

THURSDAY 2-3 Under 8 Red Downshire

3-4 Under 11 Yellow Downshire

Performance

4-5 Under 9 Orange Downshire

Performance

5-6 Under 18s Yellow Downshire

FRIDAY 2-3.30 Under 8 Red Downshire

Performance

3.30-4.30 Under 11s Yellow Downshire

4.30-6 Under 14s Yellow Downshire

SUNDAY 4-5 Under 14s Yellow Downshire

5-6 Under 18s Yellow Downshire

6-8 Under 18 Yellow Downshire

Performance