Matches in Great Britain: With planning there are cheap flights to destinations such as Bristol, Bath, Edinburgh, Southampton and several other university cities. A Queen’s team could go over to play matches there and then they could then visit us. There would be Special Funds available for this, particularly as part of the build up to BUSA participation.

Tennis Trip to Lanzarote, Canary Islands: Many UK university clubs visit Club La Santa www.clublasanta.com for some good weather training in the Christmas or Easter breaks. It is reasonably priced and there are direct flights from Belfast. It has facilities for around 50 sports; facilities include an Olympic size swimming pool and 10 tennis courts. It is aimed at young sports people and is a great fun location. You would need to book early to get the direct flights. Note, to fund this would need to arrange competition with a university from outside the UK or Ireland.

Tennis Book Club: When there is bad weather still meet in the club house and use the time to discuss the tennis strategy, tactics etc. The more experienced players could talk through some key issues see Useful Tennis Books .

Track Suits: With QUB Tennis written on them they would help to raise the profile of the club. Need good local supplier.

Belfast and District League: QUB have not recently entered a team in this competition. It is necessary to apply early to the Lawn Tennis Association which in Northern Ireland is represented by Tennis Ireland (Ulster Branch) www.tennisireland.ie. Cost about £10 per club member per year to join and £30 per team per event. See Other Tennis Contacts for name. The leagues would be ideal as they would give match play experience.

Belfast and District League- more details: There are 2 main stumbling blocks for a QUB student team. Firstly, in the past they have entered teams and then pulled out - we therefore now have a reputation for being unreliable. Secondly, QUB were unable to host their home matches. Need a team of 4 people (2 men, 2 ladies) and home court time of 2.5 hours per event. If Boat Club not possible could rent courts at the Belfast Indoor Ozone Centre. The leagues on offer, if we can get organised are:

• Floodlit league: requires 2 courts on a Tue, Wed or Thurs evening. Closing date for entry: 23 September.
• Autumn league: requires 2 courts on a Sat morning or if agreed with both teams the Tue night before. Closing date for entry: 23 September.
• Winter league: January, February, March
• Men’s & Ladies’ League: March, April
• Mixed League: April, May, June

Wet Weather Plan: If it is heavy rain still meet on wet Wednesday afternoons to use the club gym, run tennis theory classes and discuss video analysis of club players.

Video Analysis: The is cheap and simple. Just place a video recorder on a stool and let it record a few games. It enables you to see and diagnose problems very quickly. These can be stored for wet day viewing.

BUSA Tennis league: Should aim to enter the British Universities Sports Association tennis events. This is feasible if book cheap flights well in advance. The entry forms for both individual and team entries have to be in for March / April for the next academic year. Check www.busa.org.uk drop down list under Weekly Mail out on their home page. Bill Gardner, PEC is the QUB contact person for BUSA. The matches are posted on the BUSA website under Weekly Mail out, early September.

Public Liability Insurance: If a member is injured or hurts someone else while carrying out a recognised club activity it is believed they are covered by a QUB blanket insurance policy. This can be checked with Catherine McCary, Finance Office, QUB.

Reciprocal links to other web sites: need to request this so QUB Tennis Club easier to find on the web.

University of Ulster Tennis Club: The Jordanstown campus has 4 courts although they are not floodlit. They could be invited to QUB for say 2 friendly matches a year on Wednesday afternoons, see Other Tennis Contacts. In 2006 there was one inactive tennis club at Jordanstown.

Stranmillis University College: This is a college of QUB http://www.stran.ac.uk/ They have 2 tennis / netball courts and full membership of all QUB clubs. As they are so close to the Belfast Boat Club they should be encouraged to join the QUB Tennis Club.

E-mail organisation: The club currently has an e-mail address: tennis@qub.ac.uk. As fast e-mail response is essential we need to look at the best way forward to organise this.

Social events: Club & Societies Quiz night enter a team for this, on weekly. Giant’s nights at the Odyssey. Trip to Wimbledon in June. It would be useful if social events could be fundraising. Activity like this would help to increase our level of grant.