Hurley urges fresh approach for clubs

Wairarapa tennis selector Steve Hurley is a man on a mission.
Adamant that fresh life needs to be breathed into the inter-club scene here, Hurley is proposing that these matches be changed from their normal Saturday dates to midweek. And he says he will pushing hard for that to happen from next season onwards.
Hurley believes it vital that Wairarapa tennis officials recognise that while Saturday has long been the traditional day for inter-club play, the sport was losing its appeal because the fabric of society had changed.
Families and the younger generation in particular were now more interested in using the weekends for other activities like shopping or going to the beach and work had become an issue then as well.
"The old situation where Saturdays and even Sundays were all about playing sport no longer exists and we have to accept that is the case," Hurley said. "It's all about moving with the times and tennis can be a leader in that respect."
Hurley is convinced that by playing inter-club matches midweek many players who were currently not prepared to play at weekends would be enticed back into the sport.
"A lot of these people like to have some form of exercise after work anyway so they would probably jump at the chance to do something a bit more serious" he said.
Hurley sees daylight saving as being another important factor in midweek play being given serious consideration.
He pointed out that most inter-club matches could be played within a three-hour time frame and the extra hour of daylight available through the summer meant light would not be a problem.
"Daylight saving actually provides a strong argument for midweek play, it's definitely a plus for it," Hurley said.
The popularity of business house tennis competitions which are currently played during the working week in Wairarapa also gives credence to Hurley's views.
"You get huge numbers of people playing there because the timing of the games suits them," he said. "So if you move inter-club to midweek more of them might be encouraged to join clubs too."
On the representative front the annual quinrangular tournament with Wellington, Hutt Valley, Kapi-Mana and Manawatu will provide the Wairarapa senior squad with their biggest challenge of 2007-08. It will be played in the Hutt on December 7, 8 and 9 and Wairarapa have a hard act to follow after registering their best-ever result, second, last year.
Boosting that Wairarapa squad was the inclusion of national age group rep Marcus Daniell but he is now playing on the international circuit and is very unlikely to be available on this occasion.
However, the news is better as far as another of last season's top performers in Jono Hurley is concerned. He is now coaching professionally in Wellington but father Steve says he will "very definitely" be available for Wairarapa again.
"I think it's fair to say that with Marcus gone we won't be quite as competitive as last year but there's enough talent around to still give a good account of ourselves," Hurley said.