18 September 2018 | Tennis Victoria

Tennis Victoria congratulates Peter Mattessi of the Princes Hill Tennis Club for recently receiving a Tennis Service Award.

Peter was presented with his award at the club in recognition of his achievements in assisting the Princes Hill Tennis Club to grow. Peter has been President of the Princes Hill Tennis Club for the past 4 years and was a committee member for the three years prior. In his time as President, Peter has overseen many significant achievements. He played an integral role in getting the club involved in the pilot of Tennis Victoria’s Opening Up Tennis program (now known as Book A Court), which doubled the clubs memberships in the space of a year. This led to the Club moving to the top 15 clubs in Victoria on the Top 50 Club rankings.

Peter is incredibly passionate about tennis and always looking for opportunities to share his passion with others. Princes Hill TC have initiated a relationship with the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre under Peter’s leadership to invite asylum seekers and refugees to engage with the club via free memberships and coaching. The Club plan to run a Family Day to continue to build this relationship later in the year.

Under Peter’s leadership the club has been modernised while maintaining connections with its many decades-old members. Peter has tirelessly communicated with Council and others about improving the club, including working with the City of Melbourne to ensure the club was involved in their LED light roll out. He also played a big role in recent clubhouse renovations that has increased accessibility to both the clubhouse and tennis courts.

Peter always looks for new ways to improve participation at the club. He has ensured the club has been involved in Melbourne Tennis Week from the start, organising free tennis events to promote to the wider community following on from the Australian Open. Peter has also been integral in initiating a women’s social event at the club, which has seen upwards of twenty women engaging weekly.

When asked what the Princes Hill Tennis Club means to him, Peter said “I really love our little club. It was the first club I joined when I went to university down the road, and there’s still nothing better than having a hit in the middle of the glorious park on a warm summer evening. And there’s something great about a club that has a huge junior program, but still has a Sunday morning social group that’s been playing at the same time on the same court for nearly forty years. I just love being a part of the Club and talking to the members about what they think it could be. And I love being a part of the wider community and getting to meet so many different people.

Congratulations Peter and thank you for your contribution to Tennis in Victoria.

You can view the extended list of Tennis Service Award winners here and if you want to nominate someone at your club for Tennis Service Award, contact your Participation Leader or view this page for further details.