Over the weekend of 6-8 September a friendly CTC exchange took place in The Hague at HLTC Leimonias with the teams from Carrickmines (Ireland) and two London teams, Westside LTC and Cumberland LTC. The start took place on Friday 6 September 24 with training. The nice weather made it possible to have drinks outside afterwards. Pleasant conversations and enthusiastic reunion of players who know each other from previous CTC meetings followed. The cordial tone was set!
On Saturday morning, September 7, 2024, the four teams gathered at Leimonias. The Westside players had a short night because their booked flight from London on Friday was cancelled due to fog, after which they only landed in the Netherlands around midnight with different planes.
Honorary member, former chairman and non-playing captain of Leimonias Tom van Dijk created a playing schedule for this day and from 10 am, no fewer than 60 (mixed) doubles were played by a total of 37 tennis players, in which no one played the same opponent too often, everyone regularly changed double partners, and many tight even-leveled games were played, only interrupted for a joint lunch, outside in the beautiful weather.
In the evening a long, festively laid table awaited on the grass. Erik Jan Uleman, playing captain of the Leimonias team, took the floor. He complimented all teams on their efforts, endurance, performance and the sporting matches played. Not unexpectedly, every team appeared to have performed well. Westside had the best result to its name. Between courses the Irish surprised with their impressive Riverdance (Irish step dance) performance. After dinner the teams danced and under leadership of the tireless Irish, the party continued till closing hours.
The teams went on the next morning to visit the Mauritshuis before heading home.
This CTC friendly doubles meeting was a huge success, took place in a great atmosphere, where everyone enjoyed playing tennis and all the fun surrounding it. New friendships have been made, many memories to look back on fondly.
Many thanks to all visiting teams, Leimonias is looking forward meeting you again on future events!
