But she said a lack of adequate lighting at the Haven courts was a limiting factor.
“The new Wimmera tennis coach, Loveleen Singh, has introduced a program called Rusty Racquets, which encourages people to get their racquets out of the cupboard and just come and have a hit,” she said.
“They might be players who have not played in a long time, or they might never have played, and he supervises and gets people to do different drills and improve their technique.
“We had 12 people in the first session and it’s increasing in numbers each week. It’s gotten so popular now we’re looking at doing it over the winter. But because we don’t have lights we can’t continue doing it at Haven over winter.
“We’re desperate to get lights so that we can do these coaching programs.”
Ms Exell said the club was also experiencing a junior boom, with Mr Hobbs coaching a popular Hot Shots program for children aged three to 12 – revived at Haven after an absence of several years.
She said players of all ages would benefit from lighting at the courts.
“We just want people to be able to enjoy the game, whether they’re four years old or in their 70s,” she said.
Central Wimmera Tennis Association grand finals:
Seniors
Pennant: Semi-final: Horsham Lawn v St Michaels at Haven.
A Special: Preliminary final: Horsham Lawn O’Connor v Horsham Lawn Dorman at Haven.
A Grade: Preliminary final: Central Park v Horsham Lawn Tigers at Haven.
B Special: Preliminary final: Central Park v Horsham Lawn Savage at Haven.
Juniors
Open: Preliminary final: Central Park Blue v Central Park Yellow at Haven.
Section 1 Boys: Preliminary final: Horsham Lawn Gold v Central Park at Haven.
Section 1 Girls: Preliminary final: Haven v Horsha Lawn Gold at Haven.
Section 2 Boys: Preliminary final: Haven v Horsham Lawn Green at Haven.
Section 2 Girls: Preliminary final: Horsham Lawn Red v Horsham Lawn White at Haven.
Section 3 Boys: Preliminary final: Horsham Lawn Green v Haven Blue at Central Park.
Section 4 Girls: Preliminary final: Haven v Homers at Central Park.
Match Play Section 5: Homers Red v Central Park Blue
Match Play Section 6: Horsham Lawn White v Horsham Lawn Gold
“We’ve been doing pickleball on Wednesday mornings. Central Park has been doing one on Friday night at about 6pm, and that’s been going for a little while, so we thought we’d do one during the day to pick up any retirees who are interested in playing.
“Then we have kids doing private coaching with Loveleen at 7.30am. They’ll do their lessons and then walk across to the Haven school.
“The coaching is awesome, but without lights we’re very limited. By 5.30pm for example it’s getting dark, and if we had coaching after school hours he would probably need to be there until 8pm.
“If we’re lucky enough to get these lights, it will open so many doors for people to start participating.”
Ms Exell said the lighting project formed part of Horsham Rural City Council plans to turn Haven into a regional tennis hub.
“They’ve put so much work into trying to get proper facilities for sports to compete,” she said. “The plan is for Haven to become a regional tennis centre, so it’ll be able to provide tournaments all year round, which saves our kids having to travel every weekend for tournaments – other regions can travel to us for a change.
“For the Haven courts to qualify as a regional centre, we need to have 16 courts. We’ve got 12 now, so all going well there will be four more courts, all with the same surface, all with lights, and a new building.”
The club expects to hear the outcome of the council’s SRV grant application next month. If successful, the council will contribute $200,000 towards the total $650,000 cost of the project.
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