Los Gigantes team on the receiving end of a British blast

IT WAS A TALE of two tournaments for the British Games Club tennis team in February as they recorded a resounding victory in one but slipped to an unexpectedly heavy defeat in the other.

In the first of the two tournaments, the Games Club hosted the 21st staging of the annual inter-club match against the Brits based at the Tipsy Terrace in Los Gigantes.

The match proved to be as competitive as ever but this time round resulted in a resounding victory for the home team by 113 points to 77, reversing the trend of recent years which has seen the Los Gigantes team have the upper hand.

The tournament was played out over 24 half-hour doubles matches, nine for men, nine for ladies and six for mixed pairs.

The British team was made up of tennis captain Maxine, Victoria, Monika, Nena, Janet and Fran on the ladies side and by Geoff, Ken H, George, Nigel, Tony and Ken S in the men’s matches.

The tone for the competition was set in the first of the eight rounds of matches when the British men stormed ahead by 22-6. The lead was further enhanced when the ladies took to the courts for the first time, coming out on top by 19-10.

And so it continued, with the Games Club winning six rounds while the Los Gigantes ladies managed to win one round for their team.

When it came to individual honours, Geoff and Maxine received mementoes as highest individual men’s and ladies scorers at the traditional celebratory lunch in the clubhouse that followed. The food was washed down with plenty of wine and alongside great company.

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Steely determination of the Finns wins the day

HAVING recorded a comfortable victory in the first staging of a new inter-group tournament against a team of Finnish players last year, the Games Club were probably guilty of a too relaxed approach to this year’s fixture.

The steely determination of the men from Finland was evident even before the match started, as they arrived bright and early for a substantial practice session ahead of the 10am start.

The Brits – with several of the winning team against Los Gigantes unavailable – were much more casual in their approach.

And it showed as the Finns steamrollered their opponents by 13-4 in the first round of matches.

The next two rounds were equally disastrous for the Brits as the Finns continued to bulldoze the opposition with scores of 11-5 and 16-6 respectively.

In all, 16 half-hour doubles were played over six rounds and it wasn’t until the fourth round that the Brits were able to salvage some pride, winning it by 13-9.

Overall the Finns emerged triumphant with a winning score of 63-41.

The British team were represented by George, Paco, Maxine, Nigel, Hardy, Ken, Robin, Monika and Rob, while the the Finnish team was made up of Kari, Seppo, Jussi, Timo, Tinde, Esko, Sakke and Pepe.

A big thank-you goes to Nigel, who came up with initial idea for the tournament, arranged the day’s activities and captained the British team.

It now looks set fair to become another fixture on the annual club calendar and which everyone will look forward to with relish in the years to come.

Max and Nigel begrudginly handed over the trophy, which will remain on display in a glass case in the club, at the lunch that followed.

The Finns suggested enlarging tournament to take up four courts and involving more players but tennis captain Maxine said: “We’ll have to think about that one. It’s always lovely to mix with other nationalities for competitions like this.

“Make no mistake, we will field a stronger team for sure next year and we will be looking to regain that trophy.”

A BRIGHT and early start was needed to accommodate all those entered into the Rejoyce/Merton Trophy tournament, an important annual event on the British Ganes Club calendar.

The early worms were on court for a 9am start to four hours of round-robin matches until 1pm, when the Blue team were declared winners of a tight contest.

Both the matches and the morning soon warmed up under clear blue skies and glorious sunshine and by the close only nine points covering the first to last team scores.

The winning Blue team of Lynne, Rob, Ursula, Ken, Geoff and Max are pictured with the trophy.

The tournament has been staged for some years after the trophy was initially started by long-time supporters of the tennis section, Reg and Joyce. Neither Reg nor Joyce are now with us but their memory lives through this annual contest.

Steph Merton’s name was added to the trophy three years ago after she stepped up to replace the original glass trophy when it was broken. Steph has since died and so this tournament now also serves a memorial to a much-loved member of the tennis section.

With the destination of the trophy sorted out members repaired to the clubhouse for lunch, ably prepared as always by Cheo’s clubhouse team.

With lunch over and the raffle drawn, there was just time for the special presentation of a pot plant and a pendant to be made by Club President Susan Dickinson on behalf of section members to Tennis Captain Maxine for her unstinting organisation of the section’s activities, so vital to ensuring the smooth running of playing sessions and its associated social activities.

The staging of the first tournament of the New Year marks the start of a busy few weeks for the tennis section, with the upcoming visit of our friends and rivals from Los Gigantes for the annual tournament looming large on the horizon.

This time round it’s the Games Club’s turn to host the event, on Sunday, February 3. It’s always a hard-fought contest so any support fellow Games Club members can muster will be much appreciated. Play will start at 10am and go on to 3pm, after which there will be a lunch in the clubhouse.

SOME tennis section members of the British Games Club had to be up bright and early for a 9am start to the annual Elves and Reindeer Christmas tournament.

On a glorious morning of warm sunshine, play continued uninterrupted all the way through to 1pm.

The clubhouse was packed for the traditional festive lunch that followed, with every square inch of space occupied by the 40 players and guests who sat down to the celebratory meal, as usual ably prepared and presented by Cheo and his team.

As is usual for the tennis section “Christmas do” the wine and bonhomie flowed in equal measures by the time a surprisingly-sober Santa arrived to distribute gifts to all those present from what appeared to be a bottomless sack of goodies. Santa’s little helper, Janet, assisted in the distribution of the parcels.

As to the morning’s battle between the Elves and Reindeer, all members of the winning team received a chocolate Santa as a reward for their efforts – and on this occasion that meant the Elves team.

Huge thanks go to captain Maxine and vice-captain Victoria for ensuring that the day once again ran smoothly.

THE third staging of the British Games Club’s tennis tournament against Tony Connolly’s international team saw the hosts romp away to victory by the impressive margin of 119-71 points.

The Games Club were dominant in all three of the disciplines, men’s, ladies’ and mixed doubles, winning all eight rounds of half-hour matches.

The men’s line-up of Geoff, George, Des, Nigel, Georgio and Ken won their matches by a combined tally of 45-26, the ladies team of Monika, Nena, Moira, Janet, Victoria and Melissa by 42-28 and the mixed pairings by 32-17.

The day’s first round of matches saw the Games Club men post a 15-11 winning margin. They were followed by the girls, who were even more dominant, returning a 15-8 scorecard. The third round saw the Games Club stretch their lead even further, as the British men dominated the round, with a winning total of 15-6.

The fourth round was a much closer, but still finished in the Games Club’s favour as the girls shaded it 15-13, before the boys once again dominated the last round of men's doubles with a 15-9 scoreline.

The last round of ladies’ doubles finished 12-7 before two rounds of mixed doubles ended 14-13 and 18-4 to the hosts.

The day’s events unfolded under glorious sunshine as the bad weather that had plagued us through most of November finally disappeared.

This relatively new fixture in the Games Club calendar grew out of the long-running twice-yearly tournament against the Dutch Club, which folded back in 2015.

Some former Dutch Club players still play for the international team, though with players from Britain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Spain sprinkled through the two teams it was truly an international occasion.

As is traditional on these occasions, the two teams sat down together together for lunch in the clubhouse afterwards, ably prepared and served as usual by Cheo and his team.