Sport
2 April, 2024
Special report: Summertime break time puts extra call on emergency list
BOORT tennis veteran Maree Stringer has seen a decline in families playing summer sport in the town. She says families now holiday more than a once a year while women working and youngsters with part-time jobs had also contributed to a decline...
BOORT tennis veteran Maree Stringer has seen a decline in families playing summer sport in the town.
She says families now holiday more than a once a year while women working and youngsters with part-time jobs had also contributed to a decline.
“And people are more committed to winter sport,” she said.
Fellow tennis club member Alister McDougal said the local competition 30 years ago had eight teams of 16 players.
“And we had 50 kids playing in the morning,” said Maree.
McDougal said: “Last year it was four teams of 11 and this year four teams of six ... and we struggled to have a strong list of emergencies, the people who didn’t want to play every week.”
Like the town’s cricket club, harvest commitments have impacted numbers the past two years.
Stringer and McDougal said two families pulled out of tennis this season. That loss alone was double figures with the families saying they needed a break after the football season.
Unlike other Loddon tennis competitions, all Boort matches are played on courts overlooking Little Lake Boort. “There’s no travel, the pressure not high and while it can be serious, we’re quite social too,” McDougal said.