Chapter 158 : Newtown Catholic Tennis club

I love the Catholic Church because of the good it has done. It has helped the community of Hobart. It has helped them emotionally, socially and physically.

      

The Catholic Church owns some tennis courts hidden away amongst some houses in Newtown.  They have created a fantastic, supportive, healthy, community of tennis players.  They have created a community of tennis players which proves they know how to create loving, caring communities.

Every person playing has a story involving how playing tennis helped them medically, socially, emotionally, physically or spiritually. Every player has a story where playing tennis at Newtown Catholic Tennis club on courts owned by the Catholic Church helped them.

Newtown Catholic Tennis club is not a club that is difficult to join. The club accepts anybody from anywhere without discrimination.  Everybody who joins sees tennis as helping them to be fit and healthy.

I am reluctant to say that the Newtown Catholic Tennis club accepts any and everybody. Because that implies perceptions about our current members. At present all members are respected because they are all different and unique.

I do not want to tell you the back story behind any of my fellow tennis players. A story where playing tennis helped them. Because they will not hesitate to tell me I have got the story wrong.  

Instead I will tell you my story.

It begins with Donald Bradman and finishes with my grandkids. Being a Melbournian my father loved watching sport.

He used to talk about watching Bradman bat; the day Kuts demolish the field in the Melbourne Olympics; Grand final day 1970; the day Kim Hughes made a century in a Boxing Day test match.

And the highlight of his sporting stories was a story involving the local church tennis courts. He played with one of his daughters in a team and won a grand final. The pleasure this gave him lasted long after he’d stopped playing. So did his stories of the famous day.

His years of playing tennis began on a church tennis court. He met and courted my mother on church tennis courts. He coached his children and played with them on church tennis courts. He always told me not to hit the ball as hard as possible. He always said, “Hit the ball where they aren’t.”

In those days most churches had an adjacent tennis court. There were competitions confined to church tennis.  

The local church tennis courts were an integral part of my life and the life of the church community.  They were as much a part of church life as communion. Church tennis has now virtually gone though the asphalt often still remains.

My story then moves to Newtown and the Newtown Catholic Tennis club. Which plays on tennis courts owned by the Catholic Church.

One day I chanced upon the hidden courts. I couldn’t resist becoming a player. In 2015 I spent seven weeks in the Royal lying in a hospital bed. Not much cheered me up. One thing did. A card from the tennis club.

When I became an out-patient I headed straight back to the tennis courts. I was weak and clumsy with poor muscle control and didn’t play that well. The tennis players didn’t see my weaknesses as an opportunity to defeat me. They supported and helped me get better.  Their attitude was better than jars full of tablets and official hospital support groups.

My grandkids then enter the story. I have been going to the hidden courts with them and their friends.   One of them has good timing, good footwork and looks like she could become a good player. One of them loves to hit the ball as hard as possible.  I must tell him to hit the ball where they aren’t.

These unseen, secretive courts are owned by the Catholic Church. They are doing the local community good. Socially, emotionally and physically. I am proud to thank the Catholic Church for the good they are doing. They are doing good in Hobart, a long way from Rome or the holy lands. The tennis club takes the best of Christianity. I thank the Catholic Church for the way they have helped my local community. Thank you.