Flowerdale Tennis Club has played a central role in the community for over 70 years, with the first asphalt courts opening south of the general store, known as Hazeldene, in the 1940s.
In the 1980s the club moved north of the most populated part of the community to the Spring Valley Recreation Reserve, deep in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, surrounded by beautiful hills, grazing land and bordered by a meandering little creek.
In 2001, the two asphalt courts were resurfaced with Plexipave and in 2002 lights were added. The club enjoyed monthly round-robins and a mid-week social competition that quickly grew in popularity. There were community dinners and fundraisers, including an annual weekend away for the girls, Cup Eve Calcutta and Cup Day Family entertainment, showing the club’s efforts to give the community a healthy sporting activity in a fun social setting.
The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires changed everything for Flowerdale. For the tennis club, the fires provided the impetus to redouble efforts to offer a healthy social activity that would help people as they dealt with the daily trauma that the devastation caused.
The Spring Valley Recreation Reserve became a temporary village for those who lost their homes – more than 300 in the town – and the club’s courts became a place where people could come and enjoy some healthy stress-relieving exercise with their family and friends in the community.
The club’s membership skyrocketed from the low 30s to more than 70 in less than a year and it became clear very quickly that more courts were needed. Many hours of hard work, planning, negotiating and lobbying went into new courts and finally in 2011, four new synthetic grass courts with lights were opened.
The club now has over 100 members – from across the district including Flowerdale, Strath Creek, Glenburn, Yea, Kinglake, Whittlesea and Kilmore – who enjoy a wide variety of activities such as coaching, local or regional competitions, social play, round robins and other fun activities. Members can also use the courts free of charge at any time when there are no club arranged activities.
At the Flowerdale Tennis Club, players of all ages, all levels of play and all walks of life are welcomed; to learn new skills, to have fun and to play tennis in the friendly and secure environment.