* Gym exercises to improve racket sports performance
* Tennis: Club Champs draws announced
* Squash: Brian Martin passes away
* Jeremy Arthur: the stay at home Dad
* Welcome to new and renewing members
* Pilates on the Court: book online
* Lost property
* Visitor fees
* Security
* Volunteer bar duty
* March membership renewals
No excuses not to join us for some social and friendly match play on Thursday night from 6.30pm or on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3pm. New members welcome.
Junior club night runs Fridays from 4.30pm–6pm, under watchful eye of our coaching staff; please note that this week we will be starting to play some junior club champs games as part of club night, if you are scheduled to play we will be in touch.
Junior Saturday and Sunday interclub continues this weekend, draws are here: https://tennis.org.nz/InterclubCompetitionGradesList.asp?cnID=3005
Junior after-school programmes are running now. Contact club professional David Mustard on 021 476 606 for more info.
There has been a small review of the national rules which has necessitated a few changes to the district rules. Please take particular note of;
The 2019 National Finals will be held from 25-28 September at the following venues;
B Grade – Whakatane Squash Club
C Grade – SquashCity Invercargill
D Grade – Whangarei Squash Club
E Grade – Tawa Squash Club (Wellington)
F/J Grade – Cambridge Rackets Club
For more information visit http://www.squashauckland.org.nz/Competitions/SuperChamps
This is a great starting point for both new and experienced players to ensure you can be confident of the rules.
All players competing in competitive play such as interclub and tournaments are expected to have completed and passed the exam.
The exam consists of 50 multi-choice questions and can be fully completed online through the Squash NZ website. The Club Referee qualification is valid for two years from the time of completion. Both players and non-players are able to complete the exam.
Link to online Club Referee Exam - Click here
List of current qualified Club Referees - Click here
A great video library to help you with your refereeing - Click here
Squash Auckland is hosting a series Rules Evenings where players can learn about the rules of squash in a fun, informative session which include Q&A's where you can ask for answers to those questions you've always wanted to know. For dates and locations of upcoming Rules Nights Click here.
Senior club night starts at 6.30pm on Thursdays. Come along and meet fellow club members. We rotate games every 10-15 minutes
Join Jarrod and his team on Friday nights from 4pm to 6pm for coaching, fun games and just a little bit of competition.
Peter Cross talks to one of our newer members
My week has twin highlights. There’s the weekly grudge match against Kevin Williams where we defy the ravages of time and knock around a single dot for at least an hour then there’s club night, especially the post squash drink.
Attendance and quality of participants has improved since the arrival of George Crosby and the same can be said of the after game entertainment after Jeremy joined our ranks a mere six months ago. Jeremy and George are neighbours and live a short walk from the club. Between them they treat the rest of us to a digest of local life and insider knowledge of its privileged and pampered residents. Each week we learn about someone with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement who hasn’t cottoned on that there isn’t an underling to return his wheelie bin to his property, angst caused by motorists parking in cycle lanes and potential early morning lie-ins disturbed by someone else wanting to use a private heliport. Or then again there’s tittle-tattle acquired while waiting to pick up kids from Bayfield Primary. Summed up like this these stories don’t sound much but told by a talented raconteur they are utterly enthralling. Both George and Jeremy have a nose for the absurd and these juicy morsels are passed on with glee and without malice.
I was keen to talk to Jeremy as he is, as stated, a stay at home dad. But before we get to that there ought to be a gentle canter through his career and sporting history.
Unlike many of the people I’ve spoken to so far, Jeremy doesn’t come from a sporting family. Back in the day his parents might have had the odd game of badminton but that was it. However Stella Boswell, his best friend’s mum, was an A1 player so Jeremy got coached and played at Royal Oak from the age of 10. He played rugby at school which he abandoned for football; played a bit of tennis and captained the school squash team. At 20 he turned his back on ball games concentrating instead on his job and an activity sometimes referred to as elbow lifting.
Job-wise, Jeremy claims to be the black sheep of the family as he didn’t go into banking like his mother and siblings. As an aside this reminds me of a story told me by an electrician mate of mine back in the old country. Eddie became a football referee eventually presiding over games between top non leagues clubs. He took his kids to a game once and the crowd were giving him a hard time. On the way home one of his children told him that the spectators had got his profession wrong. Apparently they kept singing, “The referees a banker.”
So instead of banking Jeremy opted for a management training scheme with Foodtown. He loved it, working in all the various departments: everywhere from the bakery section to butchery, fruit and veg to time on checkouts and moving around different stores. He spent a decade with the company before moving on.
And so to Philip Morris: the tobacco barons, where for the next decade, he became a top salesman. The company was keen to push their Marlboro brand in New Zealand. Jeremy did his bit becoming the Kiwi number one salesman for Marlboro Lite. His prize was a trip to Fiji where he met Allison, a Canadian, who became his wife. Some prize.
Allison and Jeremy moved from Auckland to Wellington where Allison pursued her legal training and at this point the family black sheep decided to come good and become a banker, in his case a personal banker with BNZ where instead of selling cigarettes he sold debt. We spoke about his work there and Jeremy gave me examples of the sort of insights you get just by studying a person’s banking habits.
The couple returned to Auckland and Jeremy resumed playing squash joining the Eden Epsom club which is spitting distance from where I’m writing this.
I’m guessing there have always been stay at home dads, my brother Arvid was one when his kids were small. But I suppose it was something you kept quiet about like collecting stamps or being a cross dresser. Then our beloved leader Jacinda Ardern and her better half Clarke Gayford had a first born and our Prime Minister opted to rub shoulders with Angela Merkel, Winston Peters and that funny American with the orange hair to changing nappies. So what once might have seemed unthinkable got an official seal of approval. I don’t know about you but given the choice of buttering up Trump or changing nappies I’d opt for the soiled diapers.
For Allison and Jeremy it was a slow and considered transition. Initially Jeremy stayed at home one day a week when Alison returned to work and gradually her days increased. Four years after the birth of Clementine, Teddy (Theodore) was born. And so when Alison returned to work after Teddy was born Jeremy became the lead parent. When Jeremy took on this role he was aware of four other guys who are what you might call male housewives. In the four years since that number has tripled. He loves his job the same as the other guys he speaks to. They all seem to agree that shaking off the gender stereotype is the best thing they have ever done. He concedes that this role is not for everyone and he also considers himself extremely lucky that he and Allison can do this.
A while back George was telling me that walking to Bayfield Primary with Jeremy my subject was approached by one of the mums bursting to pass on some juicy story. This brings me to my final point. As a rule journalists can be roughly divided into two groups: those of us who are good with words, who can make words dance on a page and create prose out of thin air, and newshounds.
Jeremy Arthur has probably never written anything for publication but he ought to. It’s not just that he got a great nose for an interesting story but there’s something about his open, curious and friendly disposition that attracts stories to him. What I’m saying is that the stuff he tells us on Thursday nights ought to be recorded. It’s too good to waste.
And he’s a pretty good squash player as well.
Jason Kennedy (tennis)
Bryce Redman (gym)
Travis McIntosh (squash + gym)
Bruce Aroll (gym)
Bhuvan Nathan (gym)
Stuart George (squash)
Pilates classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9.30am and Saturdays at 10am.
Need to speak with Pia? Call her on 029 6277 437
5 classes for $50 - Introductory Offer.
"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness” Joseph Pilates
We have so many hoodies and drink bottles here at the club. Lost property will be displayed under the telly in the Club Lounge for one week. Please come inside/upstairs and look for your child’s hoodie, hat, racquet cover, drink bottles etc. Any unclaimed items will be donated to Sacred Heart Ponsonby Church’s outreach programme for underprivileged families and refugees.
We love that you want to share our Club with your friends. If they are not a member of the Club, they are welcome but please put $20 cash in the drop box next to the Pro Shop with your name on it if there is no one in the bar or in the office. Perhaps even entice them to join to avoid further visitor fee charges.
Please ensure:
1. That you are the only person using your Access Card.
2. That the Club is locked up and secure before you leave, day or night.
3. That if you open the doors onto the deck or in the gym, that you close them.
This is for your safety and the safety of everyone.
Thank you so much for those who responded to our call-out for new volunteers! Welcome to the team.
Currently we need bar staff on 6th, 8th ,9th, 19th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and 27th covered. Can one of these days be you?
All members whose membership expires in March will have received an email from Pia last week. This week you should have received a phone call too. If you believe your membership is due in March and have not received an email or call, please contact the office. We are keen to have you all back this year!
Our web site: www.hernebayrackets.co.nz/
Please join us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/HerneBayRackets/
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Additional Info:
David Mustard Tennis: www.mustardtennis.co.nz
Double Dot Squash: www.doubledotsquash.com
Pilates on the Court: www.pilatesonthecourt.com
Herne Bay Fitness Personal Training: www.hernebayfitness.co.nz
