By David Nagel
The switch is about to be flicked on another exciting chapter for the Harkaway Tennis Club after club members came together for its Rally For Lights on Saturday.
The Rally For Lights fundraiser saw 12 hours of non-stop tennis action, from 9am to 9pm; all aimed at raising funds for new lighting on courts three and four that have been two years in the making.
The new lights are required to cater for the amazing growth of the club, which is showing no signs of stopping soon.
One of the event’s organisers, high-level student Kate Smith, said the club was now in a position to put some exciting new plans in place.
“I’ve been a member at the club for 12 years now and in that time our club has gone from 26 kids training and one competition team, to around 100 kids training and 10-plus teams competing,” Smith said.
“We have a high number of high-performance juniors which is very exciting for our club and the area.”
Four students from Harkaway have recently received international rankings, while multiple students have been training with the national development squad and Super-10s.
Others have just returned from a training camp at Bardo Tennis Academy in Spain, while a large portion of players are competing in Australian junior tournaments.
Smith said the Rally For Lights would add additional funds to those already provided by the City of Casey.
“Recently our club received two grants to assist in the lighting of the two courts which will go a long way in helping the facilities of the club grow and help the progression of our players,” Smith said.
Under the guidance of Smith, and fellow event organiser and head-coach Alex Hogan, the club has raised more than $3,700, via an online platform and proceeds from barbecues and raffles held on the day.
Local business and community members donated prizes for the raffles, while the Harkaway Tennis Club also provided free coaching to the local community on the day.
The club is expecting the lighting to be installed and operational over the coming weeks.
