Facility changes
At the start of the decade we were able to complete the sprinkler system upgrade on time and on budget. Many thanks to James Gregory (former Greenkeeper), Brendan Fisher (Greenkeeper) and Jeremy Carter (Project Manager) for their efforts. Whilst the infrastructure is largely hidden in the greenkeeper shed (mains water storage tank and pressure pump) the benefits of this project will be visible for years ahead as excellent lawn courts. We were able to get a grants of $22,500 (from Fed Govt $7,500 and City of Mitcham $15000). The total project cost was $57,445 and the cost to our Club will be $34,945. The work commenced in mid July 2020 and was completed in time for the upcoming season.
Reade Park received a $490,000 pledge from the Labor party leading up to the March 2022 State Election. This was earmarked for the redevelopment of our hardcourts in order to support our now sustainable junior club. Working with Council would provide challenging over the next 2 years in order for them (as Landlord) to facilitate the works that this money would be spent on.
City of Mitcham replaced the clubhouse roof which in around mid June 2022 using heritage galvanised iron materials in keeping with Heritage guidelines of the area, replacing the tin green tiles that had discoloured over the years.
In August 2022, City of Mitcham formally adopted the revised Community Land Management Plans (CLMP) for Reade Park Reserve. a document that outlines the type of usage and development that can occur at Reade Park over the next 20 years (or thereabouts). We had considerable support through the consultation process from our Members and friends in the Community
In September 2022 we enjoyed having the 2 Community courts in nearby Rochester Avenue resurfaced. We have a licence to use these courts on Saturday mornings and they are an excellent venue for junior teams to play at and lessens our need to hire courts at other venues
In July 2023, Council refurbished disabled toilet to add a shower in order to meet current standard
Competition Tennis – Seniors
During the period 2020-23 we had good growth in senior team numbers in particular Sat morning men where reached capacity with 12 teams and on Saturday afternoons in the 2023/23 season we had 8 teams which was well ahead of our normal number of about 5
In the afternoons we were lucky enough to have a team join Reade Park to play in Metro Comp Division 3 (not metro lawn). Captained by Adrian Johnston, this crew of ‘40 somethings’ were able to win in 2021/22 and then win Metro 2 in 2022/23. Playing their home matches at Reade Park in what has traditionally been exclusively a hardcourt competition has been great for Reade Pak in that many of the larger hardcourt clubs visited Reade Park. This will plant a seed in the younger players that migrating to lawn as the body ages will be a good future option
As of 2021/22 Reade Park now competes in no less than 5 associations – Saturday Morning Men Lawn, Metro Lawn, Mid Week Ladies and Southern Districts Tennis Association. No other Club in Adelaide would get near this spread
During the 2022/23 season we maintained our team count with 38 entered across the various competitions Senior competition, maintaining our place as one of the 3 largest clubs in Adelaide on this measure. The breakdown is 8 Junior Teams, 10 Mid Week Ladies, 7 Metro Lawn, 12 Saturday Morning Men and 1 Metro League.
Also in 2022/23 we had the greatest number of males aged 18 and under participating in senior lawn tennis both as permanent team members (approx 7 aged 17-18) and at least another 5 (aged 13 -17) filling in
Competition Tennis – Juniors
The Junior Club had a great year in 2020/21 maintaining our team numbers with 59 children representing Reade Park and another 12 participating in red ball internal clinics. This is effectively our maximum and we were only able to do this by leasing courts at Tennis World Millswood.
In the 2022/23 season Reade Park Juniors have completed on the National Stage! Max Edwards qualified and competed in both the 12U National Clay Court and Hard Court Championships and Ben Chisholm made the Pizzey Cup Team.
Josh Boots continues to develop our Junior Club and ios actively engaged with local schools in addition to coaching over 120 kids each term during summer Other coaches who supported Josh included Olivia Manzie, Nick Campbell and others.
Junior coordinators during this era included Tom Twelftree and Dave Weygandt.
In the 2021/22 season, some of our original ‘orange ball’ 8 year olds won the SDTA Division 1 pennant and then in 2022/23 they won the Premier League pennant – the highest level of tennis in the Southern Districts Tennis Association.
Social tennis
In 2021/22 Club Captain Jeremy Carter extended the mid week Wednesday mens group to playing Tuesdays as well but on a rotational basis across Sturt and Unley Park Clubs. This provides an option for players that cannot make Wednesdays and the collaboration with the other 2 clubs helps reach a suitable number of players each week.
FAST 4 continues well to the extent that we are actively suppressing numbers to ensure courts are available for Club member practice.
Tournaments
We continued to host annual Tennis SA tournament along with the annual Somerton Park/Reade Par tournament.
Social events
Social events were restrained due to COVID and we had to cancel the annual quiz night as a result in 2021 but resurrected it as a winter event in July 2022 which proved a good option as people like to get back to the Club during the off season.
Volunteers
We continued to see stability in the designated Committee roles in the early years of the decade and some long term General Committee members joined in Rohan Weckert, Heath Vogt and Craig McIntosh.
Graeme Burrows stepped down from running the Saturday morning BBQ and Saturday afternoon tea at the end of the 2021/22 season and we thank him for his wonderful service to the club.
Max Williams, Bill Carman and the Wednesday men continue to do a great job around the club with the various jobs that need doing and people like Sue Durand, Wayne Looker and many others step up for the various events.
Life Membership was awarded to Geoff Winter and Ann Langman.
Other changes and points of interest
The 2020/21 summer season proceeded largely as normal with only minor disruptions due to COVID
On multiple Wednesday evenings in the early years of this decade it was amazing to see that we had all 17 courts being used across FAST4, member practice and junior coaching
During 2022, Walford and Scotch College hired courts on 8 occasions for their Monday night Premier League girls teams and they love playing on the lawn!