BTC is now in the process of forming a team to head to Hobart on July 11/12. These trips are always great fun and all BTC members are welcome to play.
Our team normally heads down on the Friday night, plays tennis on the Saturday and Sunday, Hobart organizes a great social event on the Saturday night – and then we head back on the Sunday night. Interested members can also spend some time looking around Hobart, heading to the Salamanca market and much more.
Call Brett or use the link below to establish an interest.
I am interested in the Hobart trip
**Read How We Went Last Year!!!
BARTLETT CUP LOST IN HOBART 2008
BTC fielded its strongest side in living memory in an effort to win back the Bartlett Cup. Ex-president Peter Dunn was looking fresh with the lifting of the heavy load of presidential duties. Jim Stephen was wearing a new brown power glove. Bill Hutchinson was altitude training by driving to Ballan every day. Stuart Strange and Rob Jolly were drinking heavily in preparation for Saturday night. Only Ian Dowman looked a weak link with neither enough heavy drinking nor altitude training happening. Irene Stephen joined the team as manager and chaperone while Cath, Rob’s partner, led the enthusiastic cheer squad.
Our hopes were high after the first day by the end of which we were leading 7/4. Peter, Jim and Rob were all undefeated and the others all had wins. Stuart was getting used to the new court and Bill was hitting the ball well. The most exciting game was a win by Rob Jolly over Steve Quinn which went down to 8 all /advantage all final point which Rob won with a devastating backhand to the corner. By the end of the day there was confident talk of it all being over by morning tea the next day.
Saturday night Hobart resorted to their normal tactic of merely pointing our team in the direction of a bar … and as usual some of the younger more impressionable players fell for it. Irene had no chance of maintaining discipline as the Cascade Pale Ale flowed. Fortunately it was too cold to sleep in the gutter as had been the case in prior years.
The next morning BTC lost the first 5 games straight. Despite all their pre match training Strange and Hutchinson were very sluggish, claiming hundreds of their drinks had been spiked, Dowman performed weakly as expected and his handicap will need to be doubled and even the glove of Jim Stephen seemed to have lost a bit of its brown power. It was left to Peter Dunn to step up and halt the rot. With all the skill that makes him a great ex-president he beat Jeremy Rackham and then combined with a now sober Bill Hutchinson to win the match of the weekend. It went to 8 all/advantage all before they forced a mistake from the opposition. Cath led the supporters into hysteria.
So in the end it came down to the last game to decide the winner. Rob Jolly was in good form but was stiff and sore from his long match on Saturday. Despite this he took it right up to the impressive Graeme Holloway before a close loss. Rob likened himself to Cadel Evans in the Tour de France … a close second, poor support and lots of drugs being used.
So the Cup stays in Hobart but after few weeks rest the training will begin again for next year.
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