Latest News from Rushbrooke Tennis
"I still hear his words in my ears and smile.
“Niland Minor. Feet dancing. Racket back early. Top of the bounce. Top man.”
He taught ‘Niland Minor’ solid groundstrokes. Put the ball in the court. That was the name of the game. Survive when defending. Hit the same old boring winner in attack.
We spent a lot of time together, talking tennis and all sports. From Becker to Bergkamp, Federer to Faldo.
He was in the Minor Football Final with Westmeath in ‘63 and the Senior Football Semi Final with Mayo in ‘69. A lot of sports experience - the wins and losses, the ups and downs.
He hadn’t played tennis growing up, but mum had, and they both fed lots of tennis balls to me out of a yellow tin bucket on our court at home. Mum was brilliant for me too.
30 mins a day with mum Monday to Friday and an hour with dad and Gina, Ross & Ray on the weekends. Lots of other sports, fun times with friends in our club and countless tennis matches made me very solid.
Solid enough to play main draw at Slams and to be ranked #3 in the NCAA’s. Solid enough to win 3 ATP Challengers, with dad courtside for 2 of them. He and mum were courtside cheering me on when I played Wimbledon. Watching from home on Sky for the US Open vs Djokovic. Pity that match only lasted 3/4s of a bottle of beer, as my brother told me.
I’ll never forget the call. It was April 2013. I was exactly 1 year retired from tennis. “I’ve some bad news. I’ve been diagnosed with cancer.” I couldn’t find the words to speak.
As the weeks went by, numbness turned to pain. Over the following weeks we learned the cancer was highly aggressive. You imagine and expect solutions. But there weren’t any. There was nothing anyone could do about it. My dear dad Ray died on October 24th, 2013.
Love you dad. And thanks. Catch you on the other side. Top man."
~Conor Niland~
Conor is a Patron of Tennis4Cancer Ireland. For more information on how to support the charity contact [email protected]
#HumansOfTennis
Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club would like to offer its condolences to the family of Michael Enright past Chairperson of the club (1980-81) who has sadly passed away.
May he RIP.
Colin’s Tennis Challenge 2!!
Today we are going for a time challenge, 60 seconds to see how many hits on the side of the racket you can do.
Colin got 168 on his go, see if you can beat him !!!
Back on Sunday with a technical challenge and we will stepping it up 🤯
Remember we want to see as many as possible try it juniors and Seniors!!
Be the top in your family...
Maybe even in the club ??
When we get back out on the courts maybe a Senior/Junior competition to see who is the “side of the racket king”
So get going and WhatsApp your videos in, it will be open till 6pm tomorrow (Saturday)
(If videoing please turn your phone length ways if you remember 😉)
Best of luck 💪
Colin's Challenge 1 completed.
Thank you to all who took part.
Remember this is all for fun and a few laughs and we all could do with that at the moment.
Keep an eye out for Challenge 2 coming soon !!!!!
Other clubs wanting to get involved then just send in the videos by Whatapp to Colin 👍
One big tennis family at this time.....
