LISVANE CAC TENNIS CLUB
History
After a number of ‘nomadic years’ initiated by a move from its original location at Cardiff Arms Park, to Sophia Gardens, followed by several years without a permanent playing venue, resulting in a serious reduction in membership, the Tennis Section of the Cardiff Athletic Club relocated to a new permanent location in 2003 by amalgamating with the well established Lisvane Tennis Club based in North Cardiff to form the Lisvane (CAC) Tennis Club.
Facilities
Since amalgamation, the ground has benefited from a number of improvements, the most significant of which was the building of a new clubhouse, opened by the Cardiff Athletic Club President, Bleddyn Williams in April 2004. In addition, the existing three courts have been progressively upgraded to full LTA requirements in terms of lighting, surface and marking and as a result the Tennis Section is able to host home matches in the various leagues in which it competes throughout the year.
The section is managed by a dedicated Management Committee, who’s principle aims are to take advantage of the now excellent facilities in order to expand club membership via a comprehensive programme of junior/youth development, adult social and competitive tennis and an active social programme in addition to a number of promotional activities run during the season.
Tennis
Men’s, Women’s, Mixed and Social tennis sessions are run weekly. They are growing in popularity with all courts often fully utilised, due in no small part to the significant improvements in the courts, particularly lighting, which means that all year tennis is now possible.
For those interested in competitive tennis, the section runs three men’s and two women’s teams in the Tennis Wales South Division. 2007 was an excellent year for the teams with 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions being achieved in the leagues.
To encourage year-round competitive tennis, we also run men’s veterans and mixed doubles teams in the winter league, with both teams finishing 3rd in their respective leagues in the 2005/6 season.
The progress and development of the club has been shown by the success of our third team. In only the third year of fielding a third team the results have been outstanding. The team has been the perfect platform to enable the club to develop juniors by introducing them into the senior ranks as well as improving the games of the very enthusiastic squad. We hope to see more juniors breaking through into the teams again next year
Coaching
We encourage tennis for people of all ages. Our youngest players are only four, and we have some energetic septuagenarians who play regularly too. On Saturday mornings classes are held at the following times, with 35 children participating - 9-10 am for 4-9 year olds, 10-11 am for 9-12 year olds, 11-12 am for 12 -14 year olds. There are also six midweek (performance) sessions held with just under 50 children taking part.
Children who show that they are developing their skills sufficiently, progress to the Performance Programme; they are then invited to extra coaching at other times during the week. Further progress promotes these children to the adult tennis programme. Many of our adult team members have progressed all the way through from Saturday morning tennis to our adult teams, illustrating the success of the coaching programme. It should also be noted that juniors won both the club men’s and women’s singles championship this year!
The programme is run by our resident coach, Geraint Richards, who is also developing our coaching staff. One of our older juniors qualified as a Team Leader while another has just completed his UKCCI, the first coaching qualification.
Social
Taking advantage of our excellent clubhouse, the section organises a number of social events during the year, including informal tennis competitions, barbecues, quiz nights etc. We will also be hosting tennis parties in the future.
