Men's Winter Squads

Men's Winter Teams

Dear Team Player

Thank you very much for signing up to team tennis this winter. Below are the men's squads for the Surrey League. This season we have a few new captains - Nick Stott in the seconds, Luke Swanson in the thirds, and Stuart Hill in the sixths. So many thanks to them for volunteering.

In general the teams performed solidly over the summer, and captains did well to get all their fixtures played. Particular congratulations to the fifth team, who finished top of their group and will therefore be in the same division as the fourth team in next summer's league.

In the past few months, we've had quite an influx of new players, many of a pretty high standard. This means that working out the squads wasn't straightforward and we have had to make a few changes. Unavoidably, I'm afraid there have been a few demotions - usually not because a player isn't of good enough standard to play for the team they've dropped down from, but simply because the arrival of new players in higher teams created downward pressure throughout the squads, meaning that some people simply had to make way. As ever, I should stress that in making decisions about promotions and demotions, we did look closely at results. The squads are very fluid and if you've been put down, you'll have every chance of getting promoted next time if you perform well in the matches.

As ever, can players please make their captain's job as easy as possible by getting back promptly to emails, being clear about availabilities, and not dropping out of a fixture at the last moment except when there really is no other option. And captains, remember to set up fixtures as early as possible - although it involves work in the short term, it saves a lot of problems later on.

Monday nights are now up and running and every team player should receive a weekly email inviting them to sign up for the following week's practice. Please let me know as soon as possible if for some reason you are not receiving the email. Can all team players please make an effort to attend Monday night practices as regularly as possible, especially the ones specifically for your team: they are a great chance to practice set patterns of play, try out different pairings, and for the coaches (and team captains) to assess ability. There have been a few glitches with the signing-up process but these should now have been ironed out. If the practice is for squads other than the one you are in, you are still welcome to put your name down, but players from the targeted squads will be given priority.

Also, if you sign up for practice and then have to drop out (as is sometimes unavoidable), please let the substitutes know in good time - if the call comes at five o'clock on Monday afternoon, it will probably be too late. If you can't find a replacement, please contact Chris and myself as soon as possible. Don't simply do nothing, as it is annoying for everyone if the practices don't have the right number of players.

If anyone has any questions/complaints, please feel free to contact me. Meanwhile, enjoy your team tennis over the winter, and good luck.

Best wishes

William Skidelsky

Men's Captain

1sts

Ben Randall (c)
William Skidelsky
Owen Savage
Chris Barker
Andrea Usai

Alastair Bradley

2nds

Nick Stott (c)

Joe Tyndall

Ed Clifford
Hamid Irshad
James Gubb
Jonathan Pearson
Alex Heath

3rds

Luke Swanson (c)
Peter Higgs
Adam George

Milan Vranic

Marc Bayliss

Tom Leech

Jeremy de Pessemier

4ths
Laurent Balerdi (c)

Ivan Savage
Tim Lowe
Roberto Savoia
Joe Reeve

Joe Oldham
Frances Taleon

KV Duoung

5ths

Sam Foster (c)
Harry Walker

Will Hall
Matt Towers

Charles Casey

Luke Willoughby

Angus Scott

6ths

Stuart Hill (c)

Jamie Burnett

Clive Sherlock

Mark Alderson

Robert Green

Sanya Chaisin

Oliver Light

7ths

Jan Rakowicz (c)

Andrew Sheppard
Rupe Gupta

Rupert Dickens
Karol Zagajewski
Adam Burgess

Reserves

Jordan Chamberlain (1,2,3)

Jimmy Gasteen (2,3,4)
Tariq Khatri (6,7)
Bryn Matthews (6,7)
Gus Fichardt (6,7)

Roger Gane (6,7)

JC Napone (6,7)