Welcome to the Ipswich District Junior Tennis Association, it’s an honour and privilege as the President of the club. We are a community-based, family-oriented club with our core values being Fun, Fitness, Fair play and Friendship.
My family and I have been associated with the club for over 20 years and it has been a very fulfilling and satisfying experience for my children and I. I am also very appreciative to have been nominated as president of this very fine club.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all club members and parents for making this club your place to learn and play tennis. I also thank all the volunteers and committee members who have selflessly and tirelessly given their time and experience to junior tennis player development at IDJTA.
IDJTA aims to provide affordable coaching for children and their families, and affordable fixtures and social tennis and this is demonstrated in our pricing of membership and court fees. We continue to also support local schools – Ipswich Flexi school, Central schools’ group of local primary schools, and Grammar schools to access tennis courts for their school tennis programs for training and competitions as part of our commitment to the Ipswich community.
Saturday morning Hotshots group coaching from ages 4 – 12 continues to grow and we recently saw a 30% uptake with the release of additional Sport and Rec vouchers by QLD government. Thank you to the parents, grandparents, carers and supporters who let their children partake in this great program and the parents that assist in picking up the balls. Thank you to the coaches who provide their wealth of knowledge and the other volunteers in the Proshop – Robyn, Glenda, Dave, Melissa, Emma and Kristy. Thank you to Eddie and Lucky our coaching staff who help the juniors develop these skills. Also, a shout out to the aspiring coaching staff who under Stan’s direction to develop them assist with the coaching for Hotshots.
Saturday morning in-house development fixtures is a great safe place for our juniors to learn how to play fixtures including singles, doubles, where to stand, positioning on the court, calling the ball in/out and scoring. Also thank you to Melissa and Emma for organising the fixtures and the parents who assist with scoring and picking up the balls. Learning these skills are essential to our junior players for the Friday night ITL play as parents are only allowed to spectate and not partake/interfere with court play.
We continue to provide private coaching for our juniors 7 days a week and this is great to see so many of our juniors taking this opportunity to hone in on their tennis skills through individualised coaching programs. Thanks to Gary, Eddie, Lucky, Archie, Chris and Stan for providing coaching services to our members.
Our development coaching squad on Sunday mornings is also another very important part of our tennis programs to develop our junior players for competitive fixture play.
Thank you to the various coordinators Gary, Russell, Mel, and Stan.
Our membership base is over 530 members. This is tracking as a steady number for the last couple of years. In addition to this, we also have another estimated 1500-2000 participants using our courts through either casual court hire or various sporting programs held by primary and secondary schools.
Negotiations to secure a 10-year lease of the facility with council were successful earlier this year. The management committee unanimously decided to proceed with the new lease. We were provided with an offer including an increased rent payment and terms and conditions; however we now have some longevity at the center.
The Queens Park tennis center and greater Queens Park is held in trust by QLD Government with Ipswich City Council responsible for management of the park. Our management committee currently applies for grants to fund major infrastructure, manage projects and the club pays its own way on infrastructure, maintenance and operating expenses incurred in providing tennis courts and tennis programs.
Courts 5-8 (the top courts) are in a very poor condition and end of life. Mike Bloomer technical facilities advisor from Tennis Queensland has developed a project plan, and this has been approved by council. The scope of works includes upgrades to the sub surface, playing surface, fencing, and drainage. Kristy and I reached out to the Labor and LNP political parties and secured an election pledge to upgrade the 8 synthetic courts by either party for $788,000.
In May 2024 Ipswich City Council issued the tender for the replacement of the court light poles, electrical cabling to the switch board, installation of new LED lights on courts 5-8 (the top courts). This is great news, and we should see this project delivered in early 2025. Thank you to Ipswich City Council for enabling this safety critical work to be completed.
I would also like to thank Qld Gov for $7,500 for the Active Women and Girls grant and the $2,500 for the purchase of tennis equipment. In 2025, we will be organising coaching for Women and Girls to encourage more active play in tennis.
In closing, I encourage all members to continue to support our committee on our journey to create a tennis center of excellence for now and the years ahead.
Regards
Matthew White
President
IDJTA