{"id":43780,"date":"2026-05-29T10:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=43780"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:41:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:41:57","slug":"winners-crownded-at-the-2026-victorian-community-tennis-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/winners-crownded-at-the-2026-victorian-community-tennis-awards","title":{"rendered":"Winners crowned at the 2026 Victorian Community Tennis Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2026 Victorian Community Tennis Awards<\/strong> were held on Thursday 28 May at the iconic Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. The evening brought together passionate members of the Victorian tennis community to celebrate another remarkable year of achievements both on and off the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cocktail style event provided the perfect setting for a night of celebration, connection, and recognition. Coaches, volunteers, officials, and club representatives from all corners of Victoria gathered to acknowledge and applaud the outstanding efforts that support grassroots and community tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As guests arrived, friends reunited, stories were shared and laughter filled the room.\u00a0When the formal proceedings began, the energy remained high. Former Davis Cup Captain, tennis legend and the evening’s MC,\u00a0John Fitzgerald<\/strong>\u00a0guided\u00a0the audience through an inspiring evening of award presentations, heartfelt speeches, and powerful video features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to all the finalists and a special shout out to the winners of this year\u2019s awards!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennis Victoria CEO, Kim Kachel<\/strong> attended his second Community Tennis Awards in the role and was inspired by the people and stories represented on the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Across Victoria, it\u2019s the passion of the people that keeps tennis thriving. From volunteers and coaches to clubs, officials, schools and inclusion programs, our finalists show what\u2019s possible when communities come together through sport. We\u2019re incredibly proud to recognise their impact and celebrate the role they play in shaping the future of tennis,\u201d Kachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the club space, Sam Ebert f<\/strong>rom Wodonga Tennis Centre<\/strong> won the Volunteer of the year award and Ferntree Gully Tennis Club<\/strong> won the Most Outstanding Club or Centre<\/strong> award. The Most Outstanding School<\/strong> and Most Outstanding Tournament<\/strong> awards were won by St Albans Primary School<\/strong> and Wangaratta Lawn Tennis, Croquet and Pickleball Club<\/strong> respectively. The Coaching Excellence \u2013 Club or Centre<\/strong> award was taken home by Nicole Bauer <\/strong>from Bionic Tennis<\/strong> Coaching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night also honoured Excellence in Officiating<\/strong> with Di Larkin<\/strong> being announced as the winner. In addition to this, the new Serve the Game<\/strong> award was won by Anton Zambzhytski <\/strong>and the Most Outstanding Inclusion Initiative<\/strong> was won by Hadfield Tennis Club<\/strong> for their Introduction to Tennis – Women and Girls Program.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night culminated with the presentation of the prestigious Spirit of Tennis Award<\/strong>, awarded to Russell Hart. <\/strong>As an industry, we were deeply saddened by Russell\u2019s recent passing. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy and impact on tennis remain for all to see. <\/strong>Russell dedicated his life to tennis over more than five decades, contributing as a coach, mentor, administrator, and official. His influence has extended across all levels of the sport and has had a lasting and immeasurable impact on the health and development of tennis within the Mornington Peninsula and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victorian Community Tennis Awards are aligned with the Australian Tennis Awards. Where applicable, winners of Victorian Awards are now eligible for nomination in the 2026 Newcombe Medal<\/strong> (Australian Tennis Awards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full list of the 2026 Victorian Community Tennis Awards winners below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2026 WINNERS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Outstanding Club or Centre<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fentree Gully Tennis Club<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteer of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Ebert – Wodonga Tennis Centre<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coaching Excellence \u2013 Club or Centre<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole Bauer – Bionic Tennis Coaching<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Outstanding School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Albans Primary School<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Outstanding Tournament<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wangaratta Lawn Annual Australia Day Tournament<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Di Larkin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Outstanding Inclusion Initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hadfield Tennis Club – Introduction to Tennis – Women and Girls Program<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serve the Game<\/strong>

Anton Zambzhytski<\/p>\n

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

The 2026 Victorian Community Tennis Awards were held on Thursday 28 May at the iconic Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6423,"featured_media":43824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}