August 2020 Newsletter

It’s been four VERY long months since President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa would go into a full Level-5 lockdown on 26 March.

The global pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives. For many of us, a member of our immediate or extended family, and/or someone in our close circle of friends, has contracted the virus.

In the past three weeks, we’ve seen South Africa make a rapid ascent up the list of countries with the most positive cases in the world.

The latest stats show that we’ll breach the 500,000 mark this weekend, with no sign of the curve flattening any time soon at a national level.

Thankfully we have at least seen the first signs of a flattening in the Western Cape, which is encouraging. But this long road ahead of us still has many twists and turns (and potential U-turns!), so we have to remain resolute and disciplined in our behaviour.

Against this rather grim backdrop, I do have some encouraging news to share regarding the official re-opening of our club for both tennis and sport. More about that on the next page…

And sticking with encouraging news, I’m a firm believer that no matter what the circumstances are, you will always be able to find a silver lining in any situation, if you look hard enough.

In the face of all the adversity, it’s been truly heart-warming and uplifting to see how our community has come together to make a positive impact on the lives of those less fortunate and privileged.

None more so than all of us who partnered with Ladles of Love two weeks ago, on Madiba Day, to smash the world record for the number of sandwiches made in 1 hour. 304,583 sandwiches! Awesome Ubuntu!

1. WELCOME:

A very warm welcome to our new members who have joined our club since my last LSC Newsletter in June.

On behalf of our LSC Committee, thank you for joining. We wish you many years of fun and fitness with us.

Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss any matters pertaining to your membership.

2. LSC OFFICIAL RE-OPENING UNDER COVID-19 REGULATIONS:-

The Ministry of Sports Arts & Culture approved the comprehensive proposals submitted by Tennis South Africa (TSA) and Squash South Africa (SSA) to re-open both sports – classified and gazetted as “Non-Contact Sport” – subject to clubs complying with very strict, stringent and prescriptive COVID-19 Safety Compliance regulations.

(Having witnessed many of our club’s uber-competitive and over-zealous squash players on court, I’m not entirely convinced that squash at LSC is a “non-contact” sport, but my lips are sealed!!!)

I’ve spent many, many hours over the past 2 weeks working with the Presidents of TSA and SSA to clearly understand what the compliance criteria and regulations are to be able to officially re-open our club.

I’ve had to sign my life away on countless bureaucratic forms, register myself as a COVID-19 Compliance Officer, jump through many loops and over many hurdles… but we got there in the end.

I am now happy to announce that our club has met all the compliance criteria and has been officially approved to resume both tennis and squash at all playing levels, effective 1 August.

As mentioned above, this approval from TSA and SSA comes with very stringent COVID-19 Compliance regulations. These compliance regulations are very clearly displayed on the signage I’ve put up at our club.

It is mandatory for all LSC members, and your non-member/guests accompanying you, to report directly to the LSC COVID-19 Compliance Station in the clubhouse before going on court (tennis or squash), complete the sign-in process, familiarize yourselves with the regulations, and ensure you fully comply with them at all times.

Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action as you are not only potentially putting the safety and well-being of others at risk, but you are actions may also result in our club being forced to close down due to non-compliance.

Thanks for your understanding and full co-operation with this.

3. CLIVE MOSES:

Clive, our club’s amazing groundsman for the past 27 years, has asked me to please relay his heart-felt appreciation to our members who contributed with financial support to him over the past four months.

Our club continued to pay Clive his full salary during lockdown whilst he was not working, but the additional support from our members enabled him to continue to pay his employees that work for his flower-selling business in Hout Bay, that was severely impacted by the lockdown.

A big thank you to all of you who supported Clive. His flower business has now re-opened (situated on Main Road opposite where the old Kitima Restaurant used to be), so please continue to support his business.

Clive returned to work at our club this past week, after we had the club deep-cleaned. We have changed his working hours from full-day Monday, Wednesday and Friday to now being a few hours every morning, Monday to Friday.

This will allow him to sanitize the courts and surfaces in the clubhouse every weekday.

4. TENNIS COURTS AT KRONENDAL PRIMARY SCHOOL:

LSC and Hout Bay Tennis Club (HBTC) signed a Collaboration Agreement earlier this year that, amongst other mutual benefits, allows LSC members to play on the two tennis courts located at Kronendal Primary School.

(You will see these two courts added to our LSC Online Booking System).

Because these two Hout Bay courts are situated on the school’s grounds, there are added complexities and approvals required from the Department of Basic Education and the school’s Governing Body during Level 3 Lockdown, before access to the courts is permitted again.

Rob Picard, Chairperson of HBTC, is making very good progress in securing these approvals, and is confident the courts will be available again to HBTC and LSC members later this month.

I will let you know as soon as they are re-opened.

5. SOCIAL TENNIS:

For new members not in-the-know, we have a very active Social Tennis setup at our club, administered through a vibrant WhatsApp group.

If you’re interested to get involved, please send me a WhatsApp message and I’ll add you to the group.

If you have any enquiries, please direct them to Llewellyn Snyman on 083 629 2399.

6. LEAGUE TENNIS:

WP Tennis has confirmed that their 2020 League Season will resume in early September. Our club has entered three teams.

If you are new to our club and would like to get involved in the league setup, please contact Tracy Morris (Ladies Captain) on 083 682 0644 or Llewellyn Snyman (Mens Captain) on 083 629 2399.

7. ANNUAL LSC TENNIS CLUB CHAMPS:

We will be running our club’s Annual Tennis Club Championships from late October to early December. Now that the club has officially re-opened, you’ve got plenty of time to regain your fitness and hone your skills.

The tournament is one of our club’s highlights and is open to all members of all playing skills. We have multiple competitions within the tournament format to ensure enjoyment for all.

2019 LSC Tennis Club Champions

Georgie Gerner and Clive Barrett

I will send out a follow-up email in early October providing more details and inviting entries.

8. LEAGUE SQUASH:

A decision was made last week by the President of WP Squash (WPS) to cancel the 2020 WP Squash League season for all formats (Men, Ladies and Masters).

Whilst disappointing, it was expected seeing as the season runs annually from March to August… so pretty much the exact period that all squash activity has been banned under lockdown.

9. ANNUAL LSC SQUASH CLUB CHAMPS:

We will be running our club’s Annual Squash Club Championships from early September to late October. So you have a month to get rid of that lockdown lethargy and be primed and ready to challenge for glory.

I would have added that you also have a month to lose your “lockdown beer-boep”…. but I doubt any of you have any beer left!!

Just like our Tennis Club Champs, our squash tournament is open to all members of all playing skills. We have multiple competitions within the tournament format to ensure enjoyment for all.

2019 LSC Squash Club Champions: Brody Williamson (Juniors), Iris Gabel (Ladies), William Tweddle (Men)

I will send out a follow-up email in later this month providing more details and inviting entries.

10. SQUASH COACHING AT LSC:

For squash coaching – individual or group – members can contact Vida van Rensburg (063 645 9726), Carrie Lam (083 414 6318) or William Tweddle (074 710 3746).

All three of them cater for all ages, genders and skill levels.

11. LOAD-SHEDDING:

I know, I know, let’s not jinx things by mentioning the dreaded “L-word”.

But… just to let you know, our club has purchased a generator with sufficient capacity to run both squash courts during lockdown outages – whenever our beloved Eishkom blesses us with them again!

11. LOST PROPERTY:

If you’ve lost/left anything at the club, the easiest way to try and track it down is to contact our groundsman, Clive Moses, on 072 207 6508.

12. CONDOLENCES:

Our club’s heartfelt condolences go to the Spear Family.

Denise, wife to Glen and mother to Dane and Blake, sadly past away last month after a long, brave battle with cancer.

For all those who had the privilege of meeting Denise, she was a remarkable, selfless woman, full of courage, integrity and a boundless love for her family and friends.

May her soul rest in peace.

The Spear Family is iconic to our club’s proud legacy. They are the only family to boast three Club Champions in Glen, Dane and Blake.

And both Dane and Blake have ambitious plans to add to that number, with new additions to the Spear Clan.

Blake and Micha welcomed their daughter, Hazel, to our world on 18 June.

And Dane and Haylee will become proud parents to a daughter later this year too!

13. SAD FAREWELL:

Jerry (aka Jezza) and Sarah Nicholas will sadly be moving back to the UK later this month. The lockdown has had a serious impact on Jerry’s business, and they are leaving Cape Town with very heavy hearts.

But they do have hopes to (re) emigrate sometime in the future, when things normalize…. whatever that “new norm” may look like in a post- COVID world.

We thank Jezza and Sarah for being such loyal and enthusiastic members of our club for the past few years, for representing our league teams with such pride and distinction, and for Jezza serving on our LSC Committee for the past 2 years.

God Speed on your travel back to the Land of the Grim & the Grey (!), and we look forward to welcoming you back to our club sometime (hopefully very) soon!

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for reading to the end.

Please ensure you all comply with our club’s COVID-19 Safety Compliance Regulations.

No exceptions, no matter how exceptional you think you are!

#StaySafe.

Cheers

Rob