ARC awarded up to £10,000 and place on learning programme to improve local community

Tom Vinall the centre manager of Atlantic Racquet Centre in Bideford, is one of 71 leaders across England selected for a competitive learning programme and grant of up to £10,000.

The Community Business Trade Up Programme is run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, in partnership with Power to Change. The programme supports people improving their local communities through trade.

The programme will help Tom to grow Atlantic Racquet Centre’s membership, coaching and court hire programmes.

Tom will soon begin a nine-month learning programme at the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE). SSE helps people develop the skills, strengths and networks they need to tackle society’s biggest problems.

Tom says: “I am delighted to have been accepted onto the Community Business Trade Up Programme, run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, in partnership with Power to Change. The programme and grant of up to £10,000 will help us continue to grow ARC, so that we can continue to improve the health & wellbeing of people of all ages in Bideford and the surrounding areas.”

Amber Sorrell, programme manager at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, says: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom onto the programme, where he’ll learn alongside other community leaders how to create lasting social impact for the region. We are confident that Tom has the entrepreneurial qualities and motivation to increase his impact in Torridge even further, which is why we have awarded him a highly-coveted place.”.

Find out more about the programme at https://www.the-sse.org/courses/community-business/

Marian named South West Volunteer of the Year!

We're very excited to announce that our very own Marian Vinall has won the LTA South West Volunteer of the Year award. Having won the Devon award back in January Marian was then put forward to the regional round against the 9 other southwest county winners of which she came out on top!

Marian volunteers as our membership director as well as contributing massively to our safeguarding team. She is one of our part-time coaches and does a huge amount of voluntary tournament refereeing every year. ARC couldn't function without the relentless volunteer work ethic of Marian and others like her. We're incredibly proud of her and pleased that she's got the recognition she deserves.

She'll now go forward to the national stage against the other regional winners. Good luck Marian!

COVID-19 UPDATE 16/03/20

Statement Issued By Centre Manager Tom Vinall at 23:00 on 16/03/20

Dear ARC Members & Users,

In light of the most recent government advice regarding Coronavirus (Covid-19) and in particular the advice to avoid social gatherings we have tonight made the following decisions about upcoming activity at ARC:

Upcoming Events

•  ‘Share Your Views’ Open Meeting – 17/03/20 6.30pm – Postponed until further notice

• ACCT Schools Multi-Sport Festival – 19/03/20 10.00am – Postponed until further notice

• Try Tennis & Badminton for Free Open Day – 21/03/20 – Cancelled

• Men’s Team Tennis Training Indoor Session – 22/03/20 10.00am - Cancelled

Member Club play Sessions

• All member club play sessions will be cancelled until further notice. All courts will be made FREE and available to book for members during the usual club play slots but no volunteers will be asked to organise any activity – members are of course still welcome to book courts and play during this time after assessing their own risk.

  - This will include the following sessions: Tennis - Tuesday 6.30 – 9pm, Weds 10 – 12pm, Fri 7 - 9PM. Badminton - Thurs No-Strings 6.30 – 8.30pm, Fri 7 – 9pm.

• Men’s & Ladies Team Tennis Training (Wednesdays 7 – 9pm, Thursdays 7 – 9pm) – Cancelled.

  - Outdoor courts will be made available to be booked by members for free during these slots.

Coaching Sessions – Kids & Adults

• All coaching sessions will continue as planned for the final 2 weeks of our term until Saturday 28th March or until the government issues further related advice. We will be asking all players both children and adults to be mindful of social distancing during the sessions and to avoid any close or physical contact with other members of the class. Good hygiene practices including washing hands thoroughly before and after the session will be encouraged.

Until directed otherwise by the government the centre will remain open to both members and non-members for general court use. We are disinfecting all regularly used door handles, surfaces and toilet flushes 3 times daily and have provided hand sanitiser at the entrance to the indoor Tennis & Badminton hall for members & users to use when they arrive and before they leave the centre. We would ask all members and users to please follow government advise and not visit the centre if you are in any way unwell but particularly if you or anyone in your home has a new continuous cough and/or high temperature. Likewise if you become ill shortly after attending the centre please contact Tom Vinall (tom@atlanticracquetcentre.co.uk) as soon as possible so that we can share this info with anyone you may have come into contact with at the centre.

We will review all of the above measures including the cancellation of club play sessions on Saturday 5th April 2020, or as and when the government issues further advise related to any of the above activities.  

We’re of course sorry to have to cancel many of our sessions & activities, however the health & safety of our staff, members and users is as always of paramount importance to us.

Please check this page again for more updates in the coming weeks as the situation develops.

Kind Regards,

Tom Vinall
Centre Manager & Head Coach
Atlantic Racquet Centre

North Devon Tennis Tournament 2020

The North Devon Tournament 2020 taking place at Tarka Tennis Centre, Barnstaple between 6-22 March.

Entries are now open and close at 11am on Saturday, 29th of February.

To enter, please find an entry form here.

Tennis Leaders Update

In December we ran a Tennis Leaders update course for all of our Tennis assistants. It was good fun going over what makes a good tennis coach. Followed by a competitive mini red tournament!

Men's Tennis Night Out

31 male team players attended the Men's Tennis Night out, starting with a meal at The Spice and followed on by drinks. A great time was had by all celebrating the many successes in the league this year!

Match Week - Red vs Blue!

Last week was MATCH WEEK here at ARC. All of our mini and teen groups battled it out in their final session of the term in a super fun Red vs Blue team challenge battle! Points were scored in fun team games, matchplay and just about anything that could possibly be judged!

The week ended with the Red Team taking the win by 99 points to 82! Some smaller groups due to it being the holidays but nonetheless a fantastic week of competition for all those players who came along! Big shout out to LTA - Tennis For Britain and LTA Competitions for providing the awesome certificates and team stickers!

Tennis for Kids Party!

After a really successful term of Tennis for Kids courses we hosted our first Tennis for Kids Party to celebrate! Thanks very much to everyone who attended, It was brilliant to see so many of you there and to see the kids really enjoying playing some of their first real tennis matches!

ARC clothing now available!

Out brand new ARC Hoodies, T-shirts and Water Bottles are now avliable to buy.

For more information click here

Atlantic Racquet Centre Ratings and Rankings Tournament 2019

This year was the 32nd Tournament and as always was a great success. A total of 231 players entered from across the country, playing in 26 different events with ages ranging from 7 to 80.  60 adults from ARC competed but the best ever number of ARC juniors entered – a total of 23. We were even able to hold 8 Junior events that girls could enter, this is quite an achievement as often girls events are cancelled due to lack of numbers.

 A really big well done must go to the ARC youngsters who were Winners or Runners Up in their events: Matt Daniel, Jake Cleave, Alex Grigg, Finn Gillespie Petersen, Julian Hayter, Oli Sussex, Tom Whiteley, Katie Rowe and Harrison Booth.

ARC oldies performed well too! Trophies were awarded to Tom Farnell, Martyn Beer, Billy Pearce, Kevin Hooper, Jeremy Williams, Matt Johns, Gerald Sussex, John Norman, Cath Andrews, Ian Leonard, Paul Ley, Phil Yabsley, Mark Clayton, Helen Beer, Marian Vinall, Sue Williams, Ken Stoate, Sara Milburn, Liz Booth, Caroline Richards, Tish Shere and Bev Trapnell.

There were 3 special awards; Junior Sportsmanship award - Freya Hooper, Senior Sportsmanship award – Billy Pearce and the Winsome Trophy for most improved ARC Junior was shared between Matt Daniel and Alex Grigg

A huge thank you to everyone who helped in any way to make this a big success for ARC.

Devon Social Series Badminton Tournament

The Third Devon Social Series of Badminton Tournaments of 2018/19 took place on Sunday 19th May at the Atlantic Racquet Centre in Bideford under the watchful eye of Referee Paul Widdicombe.

The men’s doubles was a close contest with the eventual winners of the morning tournament going to Paul Cook & Bradley Cloutman who play at Edgehill Badminton Club, close runners up were Harry Chagger & Lino Luongo who play at Kenwith Badminton Club.

The afternoon tournament saw Chagger gain revenge over Cook & Cloutman with new partner Glen Parry with the narrowest of margins 21-20. Chagger & Parry gaining maximum points to claim top spot.

It was good to see so many young players in the event. Teenagers Louis Bloodworth, Matthew Daniel, Adam Hooper, James Leonard, Jake Redstone and Chris Weaver have much to offer for the future.

The mixed was a smaller entry but good to see Ben and Mary Anne Redstone back on court after a few years absence who took the runners up spot. Youngsters Louis Bloodworth & Talitha Tanton finished third behind winner Alison Widdicombe who because of round robin event partnered six different men Gary Cook, Harry Chagger, Glen Parry, Lino Luongo, Paul Cook & Bradley Cloutman to go undefeated in all matches.

More events are planned in the Autumn.

Fantastic Weekend Of Tennis

U16 Boys

Saturday the 27th of April saw ARC U16 boys take on Exeter golf and country club in a team tennis fixture. It was a great display on tennis from both teams but saw ARC the victors in a 6 – 0 win over Exeter. Congratulations to Ollie Luxton, Alex Grigg, Kyle Tubbs and Ben Seaman. Great effort shown on the court form the boys.

Quorn Family Cup

Whilst the U16 boys were representing ARC on the Inside courts, outdoors there was some great tennis on display in our annual Quorn Family Cup. 10 pairs competing in a fun and exciting afternoon of mini red match play. Congratulations to Dom Letham – Gent and James Letham – Gent who were the winners on the day.

U14 Boys

Sunday the 28th of April saw the U14 boys travel to Torquay to play their first fixture of the year in team tennis. It was an extremely close match and with a nail-biting doubles match to decide the overall winner, Torquay were triumphant 4 – 2. Fantastic commitment from all the boys all the way to the end, Congratulations to Julian Hayter, Matt Daniel, Ollie Sussex and Ollie Ross.

Devon Training

While the U14’s were away at Torquay, back at ARC there was an adult Devon coaching session led by Tom Vinall. Players from all different parts of Devon representing all different age categories came to ARC to train ready for their season ahead.

Overall it was an awesome weekend of tennis and everyone playing and participating should be hugely proud of their efforts.

Cardio Tennis-a-thon!

A huge thanks and congratulations to the 67 people who took part in our 12 hour Cardio Tennis-a-thon on Sunday 7 April 2019 raising a whopping £505.64 for Cardiac Risk in the Young!! Constant Cardio Tennis from 6am - 6pm in the evening with 67 pumping hearts and hundreds of panting laughs! A great day for all involved!

Birthday Parties

Looking for a new and exciting way to celebrate your child’s birthday? Here at Atlantic Racquet Centre we offer fun, exciting and affordable birthday parties. No matter if your child has played tennis before or not, they are bound to have a smashing time playing loads of fun tennis games and activities whilst possibly learning something new!

After one recent party the parent emailed our coaching team saying this: -

“Hi,
Just wanted to say thank you for our child’s lovely tennis party yesterday. He and all his friends had such a great time and the parents all thought it was ace!”

For any enquiries or to make a booking email: - info@atlanticracquetcentre.co.uk

Or check out our web page to see our new 2019 party packages! - http://www.atlanticracquetcentre.co.uk/birthdayparties

ARC Open Weekend - January 2019

Thank you to everyone who attended our Open Weekend at the end of January.  We welcomed 188 visitors over the two days who were able to try out our fantastic Tennis and Badminton facilities with both coaching session tasters and free court play available.  

ARC Planning Application: Westward Ho! Park

Atlantic Racquet Centre is a Community Charity, which is dedicated to promoting, encouraging and facilitating the playing of tennis and other racquet sports, plus gym and fitness, to benefit the public health well-being of the whole community within Torridge from young to old at an affordable and accessible level. 

ARC have joined with Torridge District Council to submit a planning application for a mixed development, which includes two brand new tennis courts, a community building, and a children’s play area, all to be located on the existing tennis courts and park site in Westward Ho!

 It is ARC’s opinion that the proposed TDC scheme represents the best opportunity for high quality tennis facilities to be made available to the whole community in Westward Ho! 

ARC have no financial commitment to this project, and will not benefit financially in any way from this scheme. They are however prepared to promote the facilities and provide tennis related activities on the two new courts. 

They are prepared to provide Tennis Coaching for children and adults, holiday camps for local children and holidaymakers, and encourage local schools and other community groups to utilize the courts.  

 ARC Trustees