TO THE VICTORS go the spoils, as British Games Club bunnies were quick to demonstrate after winning the Tennis section’s annual Easter Fun Day tournament.

This tradititional contest pits the Bunnies against the Chicks in a series of doubles matches playing over the course of three hours.

And this time round the winning margin couldn’t have been closer, with the Bunnies coming out on top by one point as the final scores tallied to 76-75.

The winning bunnies were: Lorna, Victoria, Gabie, Andrea, Paco, Angelo, Donald, Ken, Derek and Albrecht.

With Easter falling quite late this year numbers were down on previous years due to our ‘swallow’ members heading home early to take advantage of cheaper air fares.

Nonetheless, 23 people sat down to the usual post-tournament lunch in the clubhouse, ably served up as usual by Cheo, Jacobo and the clubhouse team.

Th Easter Fun Day marks the end of the tournament programme as the section heads towards the end of its twice-weekly winter playing sessions. The last winter session will be on Tuesday, April 30 before once-a-week sessions commence on Tuesday, May 7 and continue until Tuesday, September 24.

The 2019/2020 season will kick off on Tuesday, October 1, when playing sessions will revert to twice a week.

THE ANNUAL contest for the Jim McColl Trophy, one of the main events on the British Games Club’s tennis calendar, gave us a new name to inscribe on the honours board – that of Karen Dalton.

The 16th staging of the tournament, played in memory of a much-loved former member, saw the usual level of keen competition.

Due to the highlevel of entries a 9am start was necessary and play continued right through to 1pm.

As ever, the competition phase was followed by a traditional and convivial Tennis Section lunch in the clubhouse, which was not as well attended as usual due to other competing activities taking place at the same time.

After lunch, Karen received the glass bowl trophy and commemorative plaque from Club President Susan Dickinson and David Self, a long-time friend of Jim McColl.

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.