Dear Members,
Happy New Year and welcome to January’s, and my penultimate edition of ‘The Tennis Captain’s Newsletter’! I hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas. As usual, this is a quick overview of last month’s events and a look ahead to what’s on the horizon for the next few weeks. Please contact me if you have any questions or want to know more about any of these events. Club events are also published on our website and on Facebook and Instagram.
Quote of the month;
“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.”
Venus Williams.
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Friday Night Social Tennis
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Munster Tennis Winter League Phase 1
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Munster Tennis Winter League Phase 2
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American Tournaments
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Christmas Cracker 2025
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Internal Winter League 2026
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International Honors
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Intervarsities
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Junior Tennis Update
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WhatsApp Group
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AOB
1. Social Tennis
Social tennis is in full swing most Fridays, and it’s fantastic to see members (both familiar faces and newcomers) signing up and taking part each week. A big thank you to the Tennis Committee members for keeping this great tradition going. We encourage you to come along and invite your friends too. It’s a wonderful, friendly evening filled with great tennis, lots of laughs and a super club atmosphere. It’s also a great opportunity to meet members you may not have seen in a while or have not met before! All grades are welcome, and the cost is €5 for tennis and pizza! Great value!! This is the sign up link
Alternatively, you can sign up using the link on the club website or you can use the QR code on the Social Tennis poster on the main notice board in the clubhouse. There is a tennis committee member on site every Friday to run the event.
The next dates are;
January 23rd
January 30th
February 13th
2. Tennis Munster Winter League Phase 1
The Winter League is now in the knockout stages. There is some super tennis being played. A bit of encouragement is always welcome, so if you are free any weekend please come into the club to support our home based teams. I know the players very much appreciate the support. All the information about the matches will be on our social media the Friday/Saturday of the weekend the matches are happening.
3. Tennis Munster Winter League Phase 2
Eight teams have been entered in Phase 2 (mixed doubles) of the Winter League and the first matches were played at the weekend. Medals should be given to all who played because of the weather conditions! It was awful but that didn’t stop great tennis being played. Congratulations to all who have been selected on the teams, and the very best of luck with your campaign. Club support makes all the difference, so if you’re free any weekend we’d love for you to come down to the club and cheer on our home teams. The atmosphere is always great (can’t say the same about the weather!!) and the players really appreciate the encouragement. Match details will be posted on our social media and on the club WhatsApp group before the matches take place. For info the finals will be in May.
4. American tournaments
The final American Tournament of this season will take place next Friday January 16th. Many thanks to Anne Keane and to Karen Keneally for all the work and dedication they have put into organising these very popular and fun tournaments over the past few months.
5. Christmas Cracker 2025
Our annual Tennis Christmas Cracker took place on Sunday 28th of December. Thankfully the weather was on our side, making it a fantastic day filled with great tennis, good craic and delicious mince pies! A big thank you to Kevin McCarthy for his assistance with this event and to Diarmuid O’Connor and Karen Keneally for their help on the day. I would like to extend a BIG thank you to Jackie for all the work and dedication she puts into these events.
6. Internal Winter League 2026
The Internal Winter League will commence in February 2026. The sign up link will go out in the next few days. For information, there will be five teams of eight (4 men and 4 women) and they will play four round robin matches. The top four teams will play a 3⁄4 playoff and finals. The matches will be played on a Saturday evening at 5pm. The final format will depend on the numbers participating.
This is a fun doubles team event open to all levels and is a great way to meet other members.
7. International Honors
Huge congrats to our members who have been selected to play for our country on the international stage. I will have a full and comprehensive list in next month’s Newsletter.
8. Intervarsities
The Intervarsities will take place in the club from Thursday February 5th to Saturday February 7th. It is ten years since UCC hosted the Intervarsities and they are absolutely thrilled to be doing so. Based on figures from last year’s event there should be approx 250 players from over 10 universities! There will be some fantastic tennis on display. I know it’s a disruption to a lot of members but I hope that some of you remember your own Intervarsity days with fond memories.
9. Junior Tennis Update
Our U12 and U14 teams are currently competing in the Carrigaline Cup. The best of luck to all on the teams! It’s great to see our juniors playing competitive tennis and enjoying the match experience. Our U14 team captained by non playing captain Justin Canty played in horrendous conditions on Sunday and despite great effort and some excellent tennis, were unlucky not to get a result on the day. Thank you to all who played and to Justin for organising. Thanks also to Aoife Waters, the non playing captain for the U12 team who played away in Ballinlough on Sunday. They too battled the weather, played some great tennis but unfortunately didn’t come through on the day. Thank you to all the players for representing our club so valiantly.
Junior matchplays are also back, these give everyone more opportunities to compete and develop their game. Sign up is sent out weekly by Ger.
10. WhatsApp Group
The WhatsApp group is proving very useful especially with the icy weather we have been experiencing over the past few weeks. There are currently 340 club members in the group. If you haven’t joined you can still do so using the link below. To reiterate, email will still be the main form of communication from the club.
Sunday’s Well WhatsApp community
11. AOB
Ladder Cup
Peter O ‘Rourke asked me to remind you that entry for the Ladder Cup is currently open and will close next Friday the 16th. Please refer to Peter’s email on January 7th for more information. If you would like to sign up please email your entry to peter@oakhurst.ie
Dates of note for 2026
Masters; March 26th-29th
Munster Senior Open; May 12th-23rd
Munster Junior Open; June 27th-July 4th.
Wishing you all a great month of tennis!