August 2022 Newsletter

Happy Women’s Month to all the amazing, awesome, fabulous women we are blessed to have in our club, and in our lives!

Our women have certainly given us plenty to celebrate and be super proud of on the international stage recently.
South Africa’s Women’s Football team, Banyana Banyana, won the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations 2 weeks ago.

What made their achievement even more remarkable is that they beat the tournament favourites, Morocco, in their backyard (Rabat), overcoming immense pressure of playing in front of their opponent’s fanatical home support.
And then at the Commonwealth Games last week in Birmingham our South African swimmers again stole the limelight, and deservedly so.

19-year old sensation, Lara van Niekerk, became the new darling of South African swimming, winning gold medals in both the Women’s 50m and 100m breaststroke, smashing the Games records for both events in the process.

And world record-holder, Tatjana Schoenmaker, was not to be outdone, taking gold in the Women’s 200m breaststroke and silver (behind Lara) in the 100m breaststroke.
The highlight for me was actually not watching them excel in the pool (which was obviously awesome), but in seeing their unbridled joy and camaraderie as they embraced each other on the winners’ podium, tears streaming down their cheeks as our National Anthem bellowed out across the arena.
What proud ambassadors all these ladies are for our country.
Of course, our guys also deserve a little shout out too!
It was a great performance by our Springboks on Saturday to thrash our arch-rivals, the All Blacks.
In fact, I can’t recall a previous time in my life when I actually felt disappointed that the Boks had “only” won by 16 points against the Kiwis.
Let’s hope they repeat the dose this coming Saturday!
Onto matters closer to home….
There’s lots to look forward to in the life of our club over the next few months. So let me bring you up to speed on those, and hopefully inspire you to take part in some of the upcoming competitions…

1.WELCOME:
Firstly, 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.MAINTENANCE TAKING PLACE IN OUR CLUBHOUSE THIS WEEK:
We discovered a burst water pipe in our men’s changing room last week. This was the reason for the wet carpet near the tiles by the shower, and the damp odour.
We contracted a leak-detection company to replace the damaged section of piping last week. Starting tomorrow (Wednesday 10th August), we will be re-tiling the floor in our men’s changing room. 
The project should be completed on Friday 12th August.
For these three days, the men’s changing rooms, toilet and showers will not be accessible.
Men – you can make use of our Ladies changing rooms in this interim period, but please ensure you knock before entering!!
Apologies for the inconvenience, and thanks for your co-operation with this.

3.LEAGUE TENNIS:
The second half of the 2022 WP League season kicks of later this month, and we wish our three teams all the best.
If you are new to our club and would like to get involved in our league setup, please contact Lize Wessels (Ladies Captain) on 083 227 1871 or Rob Picard (Mens Captain) on 082 376 4721.

4.TENNIS LADDER:
We’ve resuscitated our club’s Tennis Ladder, which our League Captains will use for team selections, and which I will use as a strong guideline when doing the seedings for our club’s Annual Club Champs tournament later this year.
A big thank you to John Battersby, Lize Wessels and Rob Picard for your effort with this.
The ladder is now available for viewing on our club’s website at https://www.llandudnosportsclub.co.za/?q=rankings. It also contains our Ladder Rules that govern our “Challenge System”. (Scroll down to below the Ladies Ladder).
If your name is not currently on our Ladder and you’d like to be on, please contact either John Battersby (for Men) on 071 325 0216 or Lize Wessels (for Ladies) on 083 227 1871.

We will look to keep the physical Ladder Board (mounted in the glass cabinet by the Lower Llandudno Court) in-sync with the online Ladder version with regular updates, but effective immediately, the online Ladder is now the primary source of truth.

5.SOCIAL TENNIS:
For new members not in-the-know, we have a very active Social Tennis setup, facilitated through a vibrant WhatsApp group.
If you’re interested in getting involved, please send me a WhatsApp message and I’ll add you to the group.
We also have scheduled weekly Sunday Social Tennis get togethers, from 10:30am to 12:30pm (weather permitting).
All members are welcome to join in the fun.

6.ANNUAL LSC TENNIS CLUB CHAMPS:
We will be running our club’s Annual Tennis Club Championships from mid-October to early-December.
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.
I will send out a follow-up email towards the end of September providing more details and inviting entries. Our Club Champs Finals Day is provisionally booked for Sunday 4th December, so please diarize that.

7.SQUASH & TENNIS COACHING AT LSC:
For Squash coaching – individual or group – members can contact Carrie Lam (083 414 6318), William Tweddle (074 710 3746) or Lochlan Williamson (082 612 0836).
For Tennis coaching – individual or group – members can contact Richard Fawcett (072 158 8338) or Mike Lewis (082 334 9169).
All our club’s coaches cater for all ages, genders and skill levels.

8.JUNIOR SQUASH CLINIC:
A big thank you to Lochlan Williamson for giving up his time during his mid-year College break to run a 3-day Junior Squash Clinic for our club’s rising squash stars during the school holidays.
The feedback we received from the players and their parents was extremely positive, with an emphatic request that Lochlan please run another one in the October school holidays.

I will send out an email closer to the time, providing details.
Incidentally, I remember running similar Junior Squash Clinics (2010 to 2018).
If you look around our clubhouse, you’ll see pics of players like William Tweddle, Kenau Vith, Lochlan and Brody Williamson, and Sarah McLeod attending clinics at our club when they were aged 10-12yrs.
They all of went on to achieve their WP Colours and be crowned our Club Champions for our Juniors and/or Seniors Tournaments. So this is definitely a great launchpad for aspiring squash players.

9.ANNUAL LSC SQUASH CLUB CHAMPS:
We will be running our club’s Annual Squash Club Championships from early-September to late October.
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.
I will send out a follow-up email shortly, providing more details and inviting entries.
Our Finals Night, together with our Club’s AGM, is scheduled for Friday evening, 28th October, so please diarize that.

10.COURT RULES & VANDALISM:
I am unfortunately having to re-post this same message (which I shared in my June Newsletter) as we unfortunately had yet another incident on our squash courts where the floors were badly marked due to a player wearing shoes that did not have non-marking soles – this despite the clear signage on both courts doors, and my many reminders.

We did manage to track down the culprit after some nifty detective work, and he was suitably apologetic. He had invited a friend (a non-member) to play with him, and his friend was wearing running shoes with black soles.
We’ve also had some incidents on our tennis courts (both at Llandudno and
Kronendal) where we’ve found youths playing soccer and using skateboards and scooters on the courts).
Remember: Ignorance is not an excuse.

Please make sure you, your kids and any of your/their guests know and follow the rules.

Our Committee reserves the right to take disciplinary action against members who transgress our rules, be it themselves, their kids or their accompany guests. Such disciplinary action can be to charge you for any repairs needed for damages/marks, as well as suspending your membership.

If you see anyone on our courts transgressing our rules, please report it to me immediately. (Please make sure you have their name, or if you don’t know the person, please take a picture and send it to me).

Please also remember to tidy up after yourselves when using our club’s facilities. Throw your rubbish in the bins and please wash up your glasses, plates and cutlery.
It’s not a pleasant experience for members to arrive in the morning to play a game, and find loads of beer cans, coke tins and Energade bottles lying around, and/or dirty plates and glasses left on the bar counter, or left unwashed in the sink.
Thank you for your cooperation with this.

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.

12.2022//23 SUBS DUE IN SEPTEMBER:
Our club’s financial year runs from 1 September to 31 August. You will be receiving an email from Sheena, our Club’s Treasurer, with your subs renewal invoice in September.

We pride ourselves on keeping our fees competitive and our annual increases low. We had a 0% increase in 2020 and a 2% increase last year.

We will limit our subs increase to only 3% for this year, as we’re well aware of the economic pressures facing everyone with rising inflation, interest rates and fuel prices.

We continue to strive to provide you an exceptional membership experience; e.g. we’re still the only club in the Western Cape who do not charge an additional fee for lights.

2022/23 Subs:-
Single Membership: R1,550
Family Membership: R1,850
Student Membership: R800

Thanks in advance for your prompt payments in September.

If you haven’t received your invoice from Sheena by the end of September, there is a chance she may be using an incorrect email address for you, or it has gone into a Spam/Junk folder.

If that’s the case for you, please be proactive and email her (sheenastephens@iafrica.com) or me with your correct email address, and Sheena will resend the mail to you.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for staying the course and reading through to the end!

#StaySafe
Cheers Rob