{"id":28588,"date":"2023-04-30T22:09:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T12:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=28588"},"modified":"2023-05-01T13:13:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T03:43:36","slug":"tennis-sa-gala-dinner-celebrates-south-australian-tennis-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2023\/04\/30\/tennis-sa-gala-dinner-celebrates-south-australian-tennis-community","title":{"rendered":"Tennis SA Gala Dinner celebrates South Australian tennis community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Golden Grove<\/strong> (City\/Hills) and Renmark Tintra Lawn<\/strong> (Rural) have been announced as South Australia\u2019s Most Outstanding Tennis Clubs <\/strong>in 2023, while dedicated volunteers Kimberly Absalom<\/strong> (Golden Grove Tennis Club) and Heidi Heemskerk <\/strong>(Mount Gambier Tennis Club) were honoured with Volunteer Achievement Awards<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The awards, among others were presented in front of more than 430 attendees at the Tennis SA Gala Dinner<\/strong> on Centre Court at The Drive on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The one-off, special event signified the official opening of The Drive and celebrated the achievements of the South Australian tennis community over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

A highlight of the evening was Hot Shots to Henry, a thank you message from the South Australian tennis playing community featuring five-year-old Willow Smitheram<\/strong> and 99-year-old Henry Young<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thrilled to\u00a0welcome the South Australian tennis community to The Drive for our very first Tennis SA Gala Dinner on Saturday night,\u201d Tennis SA CEO Debbie Sterrey<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gala Dinner was a spectacular celebration of the achievements of our players, coaches, clubs, communities, volunteers and officials, and it truly was the perfect way to officially open the redeveloped venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to all of the award winners and finalists, we are very proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden Grove Tennis Club<\/strong> won the Most Outstanding Tennis Club – City\/Hills award for the second consecutive year after membership and participation numbers have continued to grow. New social offerings have created many opportunities for the club and the wider community, building a strong club culture.<\/p>\n

Golden Grove Tennis Club President Craig Mousley<\/strong> was excited to accept the award on behalf of the club and congratulate club stalwart Kimberly Absalom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very, very shocked I must admit. We were up against two strong clubs in Tea Tree Gully and Woodville Orion, they\u2019ve both had a tremendous 12 months,\u201d Mousley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis award is a testament to the volunteers, members and families who put in a lot of effort day-to-day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Kimberly to win the Volunteer Achievement Award as well, this is a due reward for everything she has done for our club over a very long time. To have both of these awards coming back to Golden Grove is pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Renmark Tintra Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong>, the Most Outstanding Tennis Club – Rural award recognises the wide variety of programs on offer, catering for all players from social to competitive levels, with inclusivity a key focus for the club.<\/p>\n

Tea Tree Gully<\/strong> and Woodville Orion<\/strong> Tennis Clubs<\/strong> were finalists for the City\/Hills accolade, whilst Berri <\/strong>and Strathalbyn Tennis Clubs <\/strong>were in the running to win the rural category.<\/p>\n

Professional athletes Thanasi Kokkinakis <\/strong>and Petra Hule<\/strong> were awarded South Australia\u2019s most prestigious player awards, the Burr <\/strong>and Boyce Medals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Elim Yan<\/strong>\u00a0took home the Gwen Thiele Memorial Trophy<\/strong> for most outstanding 18-and-under female, while Alexander Despoja<\/strong> and Henry Lamchinniah<\/strong> were joint winners of the Don Turnbull Memorial Trophy <\/strong>for most outstanding 18-and-under male.<\/p>\n

The City of Playford <\/strong>won the award for Most Outstanding Council or Government Department<\/strong>, while Andriana Petrakis<\/strong> was announced as the Most Outstanding Player with a Disability <\/strong>following an outstanding year including winning the doubles title at the Australian Open Players with an Intellectual Impairment (PWII) tournament.<\/p>\n

In the Coaching Excellence<\/strong> categories, Domenic Marafiote <\/strong>won the development award, Helen Rice <\/strong>(Belair, SA) took home the club award and Sam Clayson <\/strong>claimed the rural award. Torrens Valley Christian School <\/strong>was named the Most Outstanding School <\/strong>for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

The full list of award winners were as follows:<\/p>\n

South Australian Legends Club
\n<\/strong>The late Dr Helen Amos (accepted by Helen’s sister, Raelene Wildy)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Burr Medal (Best and fairest male tennis player)<\/strong>
\nThanasi Kokkinakis<\/p>\n

Boyce Medal (Best and fairest female tennis player)<\/strong>
\nPetra Hule<\/p>\n

Don Turnbull Memorial Trophy (Best male 18-and-under tennis player)<\/strong>
\nAlexander Despoja<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Henry Lamchinniah<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gwen Thiele Memorial Trophy (Best female 18-and-under tennis player)<\/strong>
\nElim Yan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State League Premiers \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nMen
\n<\/em>Peake Gardens Riverside Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Women
\n<\/em>Glenlea Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State League Players of the Year \u00a0<\/strong>
\nMen
\n<\/em>Ashwin Vijayaragavan (Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Women
\n<\/em>Elim Yan (Seacliff Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State League Fair Play Awards <\/strong>
\nMen
\n<\/em>Andrew Tavella (Trinity Gardens Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Women
\n<\/em>Ainsley Fairhead (Peake Gardens Riverside Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Metro League Premiers
\n<\/strong>Men <\/em><\/p>\n

Division 1: Warradale Park Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 2: Reade Park Lawn Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 3: West Lakes Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 4: Stirling Tennis Club<\/p>\n

Women<\/em>
\nDivision 1: Memorial Drive Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 2: Glenlea Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Metro League Strike Rate Awards
\n<\/strong>Men
\n<\/em>Division 1: Nick Watts (Warradale Park Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 2: Bradley Pratt (Seaside Tennis Club)
\nDivision 3: Sam Von Einem (Henley South Tennis Club)
\nDivision 4: Blake Sanders (Athelstone Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

Women<\/em>
\nDivision 1: Melissa Beadman (Memorial Drive Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Division 2: Eliza Gauvin (Glenlea Tennis Club)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Club-based Competition
\n<\/strong>McLaren Vale Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Tournament
\n<\/strong>Seacliff Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Council or Government Department
\n<\/strong>City of Playford<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Inclusion Program<\/strong>
\nSouth Australian Blind and Low Vision Tennis Program<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding School<\/strong>
\nTorrens Valley Christian School<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Excellence in Officiating<\/strong>
\nCasey Jackson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability<\/strong>
\nAndriana Petrakis<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding 30+ Tennis Senior<\/strong>
\nMartin Richards<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence – Rural <\/strong>
\nSam Clayson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence – Club<\/strong>
\nHelen Rice<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence – Development<\/strong>
\nDomenic Marafiote<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Volunteer Achievement Award – Rural<\/strong>
\nHeidi Heemskerk<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Volunteer Achievement Award – City\/Hills<\/strong>
\nKimberly Absalom<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Tennis Club – Rural<\/strong>
\nRenmark Tintra Lawn Tennis Club<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Tennis Club – City\/Hills<\/strong>
\nGolden Grove Tennis Club<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Golden Grove (City\/Hills) and Renmark Tintra Lawn (Rural) have been announced as South Australia\u2019s Most Outstanding Tennis Clubs in 2023, while dedicated volunteers Kimberly Absalom (Golden Grove Tennis Club) and Heidi Heemskerk (Mount Gambier Tennis Club) were honoured with Volunteer Achievement Awards. The awards, among others were presented in front of more than 430 attendees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5736,"featured_media":28590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}