Aldgate Sports & Recreation Club

Both Aldgate and Littlehampton run internal night tennis competitions for their Club players on a Tuesday and so the idea was hit upon by the respective Club Night Tennis Coordinators (Jo Casey & Myles Pope) to bring both Clubs together for a Xmas night of fun social tennis.

Aldgate offered to host the inaugural competitive match, which after some organising, was finally held last Thursday 10th December at Kemp Rd, Aldgate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never before have there been so many gorgeous and attractive people filling the Aldgate Clubrooms! These Littlehampton folk were obviously quite a sexy bunch (most of them), I hope they can’t play tennis too!!

The night was referred to tongue in cheek as a “grudge” match, however nothing could have been further from the truth as the evening was characterised by Xmas good will, good sportsmanship and fun all around.

Sixteen players from each Club made four teams of four.

Show Court One

Littlehampton’s “Sexy Steve’s” Team  (Steve N, Jackie M, Chris G & Katie) v Aldgate’s “Party Boyz” (Leigh M, Mal M, Leith D, Lou T)

Party Boyz 3 Sets 31 Games def Sexy Steve 3 Sets 23 Games (in a nail biter and with controversial ring in Mal M substituting his way into the Aldgate squad. Drawn on sets and only a handful of games in it.)

Show Court Two

Littlehampton’s “Brave Bill’s” Team (Lee S, Bill P, Jo C & Anna D) v Aldgate’s “Gorgeous Jos'” Team (Myles P, Mick W, Jos P, Christine B)

Gorgeous Jos’s Team 3 Sets 26 games DREW WITH Brave Bill’s Team 3 Sets 26 Games! (Who could have predicted a draw!)

Show Court Three

Littlehampton’s “Lovely Luke’s” Team (Brad G, Airlie P, Luke G & Mel S) v Aldgate’s “Speedy Sean’s” Team (Sean VDL, Kerry M, Jess H & Richard W)

Speedy Sean’s Team 0 Sets 19 Games def by Lovely Luke’s Team 6 Sets 36 Games (a tough match up here, Littlehampton dominance)

Show Court Four

Littlehampton “Dreamy Darren’s” Team (Matt C, Darren S, Elise M and Amy G) v Aldgate’s “Awesome Adam” Team (Greg S, Adam W, Shona C & Sally W)

Awesome Adam’s Team 3 Sets 28 Games def Dreamy Darren’s Team 3 Sets 27 Games (a one game victory)

The Final Result: Aldgate 2-1 Littlehampton (plus a drawn match)

Frankly, with only a few games in it, after the play had concluded it almost seemed a little awkward to declare anything other than a draw all around… were we going to count the result by matches or by sets won for the night? In the end, we decided that normally on Tuesday night, the comp was decided by matches first and sets second and games third and to Littlehampton’s credit this decision was greeted as cheerfully as  everything they had done throughout the night. It really could have gone either way…

All in all the night was a moral draw with the spirit of Xmas tipping the final trophy presentation to hosts, “Aldgate” – this time! Thank you Littlehampton for your great company, brilliant sportsmanship and great tennis.

 

We all look forward to playing a return match some time in the future…

 

PS In the spirit of the night, cuddling the opposition was encouraged at all times…