What a special day this was, as we celebrated the lives of past members who we enjoyed playing tennis with at SRC!
We had a good tourney with 24 players in the 3.5+ group and 8 in the 2.5 group and some spectators too from the friends and families of those being celebrated.
Gautam, Tamara and Jacques organized the day’s play into the appropriate groups/pairings and made sure everyone had good games. A healthy competition followed with close matches.
The Champions -
In the 3.5+ group and overall champions - Adele and Kevin Wood, a strong pair who played really well, congratulations!! Their names will now be engraved onto the Loretta Copping and Doug Lawson Memorial Plaques.
Colin and Tamara Jacobsen were runners up – strong competition for Mr & Mrs Wood!
Peter Forster and Christina Schellenberg were in third place – fighting to the finish!
In the 2.5 group winners were Barry Kaufman and Bex Pfeiffer – great teamwork!
And, our consolation prize-winners were Rita and Manfred Roehri
Well done everyone who took part to make this a great day’s tennis. It was also great to see friends and family of those being celebrated at this event, so thank you for coming and making the day a special one.
We also held a 100Square Raffle, to raise funds and as a Community Club to make a donation to the Sunshine Coast Hospice Society which was a fitting organization to receive funds from this Memorial event.
Lots of fun, laughs and good times! Great BBQ, yummy burgers and salad - fun, social time. Many thanks to everyone who took part and special thanks go out to those who helped organize the day, cook the BBQ and help out on the day….
Here’s a special note from Ralph Meyer about this event – it is very poignant given this was written in his last days before he passed away.
“It was a good idea to introduce, as an annual event, the Club’s Memorial Tournament, on Saturday.
I am not sure how many members now remember these past enthusiasts, but they all had their little idiosyncrasies. I had the pleasure of playing with some of them, on a regular basis and some only once or twice, or not at all.
A few comments are warranted here, so, in alphabetical order, here are mine:-
Margaret Fahlman was a determined lady, she did her best to constantly improve her game and was well-liked.
Shirley Hall was a veritable ball of fire, feisty and determined.
David Johnston, a former Chair, was like a brick wall, everything came back at you.
Doug Lawson was a steady baseline player, yet loved to come up to net to close out a point.
Paul Meyer was a powerhouse, full of energy and hard to beat.
Mac Norris was, to me, the Club Clown, his sense of humour was infectious.
Doug Reid, a steady player, worked hard for the Club when contemplating a move to a new location.
Raymond Schami was known for his love of the lob, he also worked hard for the Club.
Richard Spence, a hard hitter, and seemed to get to every awkward shot, also a regular volunteer for whatever was needed. He and David were the “go-to” boys on the occasions when the bubble collapsed.
John Stevenson scampered around the court like a teenager, he chased everything down and did a great job organizing the Men’s Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions, also an avid volunteer for whatever needed doing.
All-in-all a great group of people to know and enjoy our favourite sport together.”
And a few more tributes from Donna Stevenson -
“Jack David – played with the Club for years and had been in the carpeting industry until he had a stroke and was unable to continue. The flooring at our new Club premises were kindly arranged by him.
Loretta Copping – played at the Club during the time we were in the Bubble at Mason Rd, she was a very sociable and lovely lady but became ill with Churg Strauss syndrome and passed away in her 50’s, she had been a fine player.
Lee & Janis Brown – lived in Selma Park and ran the local Ford dealership, they were keen players, Hackett Park in Sechelt was partly funded by them and there is a commemoration to them there.”