A Message from The President

Dear members,

I would like to introduce myself, your new President. I am Barry Totterdell, a committed tennis player with my career highlight of winning the Easter Cup in 2014. I did this along with my teammates and friends, Gerry Loughry, Mick Boland, Ken Flanagan, Bill Delaney and Patrick Bailey.
I mention them as I think that is the essence of Sandycove Tennis Club, a place where great and lasting friendships are formed over a common love of tennis and competitive sport.

In fact, this year I think if we can maintain and encourage good tennis, good friendships and good health for all we will have achieved something.

I was walking the pier last Wednesday and looking back towards Sandycove, I was reminded how lucky we are to live in this part of the world and enjoy the bountiful resources we have on our doorstep including our wonderful club.

Sandycove Tennis and Squash Club was founded, as you know, in 1886 and a lot of great people have enjoyed wonderful tennis since then. We have some great senior players including Dermot Finucane, Michael Butler, Ken Peare, Des Murray and Giles Kerr to mention only a few. Some of these guys won the over 75’s League last year. They are the best advertisement for getting out and playing tennis to stay fit and healthy.

We also have some great young players including Will Fitzgerald, Oisin O‘Hanlon, Meabh Moore, Ruth Dillon and Laura Noble. These are the future of tennis and I’m sure they will continue to represent Sandycove with distinction as they grow.

There are lots of us in the middle including a great number of new members who joined this year. I hope each and every one of you achieves success on the court this year. I also hope we can all have fun and meet socially over the next while, once we get Covid-19 under control.

Our Squash members are growing in number too and that’s great. A number of our very active members including Paddy Mooney, Liam Daly and Colum Proctor won the Vets in 2019 for Sandycove.

Ours is a Club in the true sense of the word Club. It is run by the members for the benefit of the members. In fact, members contribute everything to the Club and make it the success it is. It’s only since I started to take notice that I realised how much is done by members. My own first recognition was seeing Maurice Johnston organising the replacement of our Floodlights some time ago. Since then Alan Cherry has replaced the courts and the building was refurbished by Shelagh Cunningham, Mairead Mackey and Agnes Danaher in 2018. That’s not to forget each and every committee member who organise everything from Junior Tennis, Senior Tennis, Tennis Development, Squash, Social activities, House and Grounds and to our Hon Secretary and Treasurer who keep everything in control. It’s great that people come forward and volunteer to undertake these activities. We always have room for help, so feel free to put your hand up if you would like to join in. I’ve had great fun helping out over the years.

We are always indebted to the professionalism of our Club administrator Catherine McCooey and our coaches, Aine and Rob. They provide excellence in everything they do and help to make Sandycove the success it is.

The tennis courts open again tomorrow and I really hope you enjoy your tennis and tennis friends over the next while. Let’s try our best to keep Sandycove Covid-19 free. Each of us can influence how long we remain open.

So to finish, let me wish you all good tennis, good friendships – new and old, and good health.

Yours in tennis,

Barry Totterdell
President.