#022 - Interview 4, Gavin Henry. Miami tennis Club President.

John speaks to Gavin Henry in our 4th interview. He discusses grass court tennis and how to enjoy the fun and fitness

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi, and welcome to Sports Biz, the only podcast you'll ever need in your life. Firstly, I'd like to introduce myself to John Briggs or Briggsy, as some of you prefer to call me. I apologize for the lack of Mr. Martin Winnell here today. However, today's special guest is Mr. Gavin Henry, president of Miami Grass Tennis Club. How are you going, Gav? I'm fantastic, Briggsie. Thanks very much. It's great to be with you today. Cheers, mate. Now, bit of byplay. You were the acting president. Now you're the real president. What's the difference between the two? Does it feel any different?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, well, early last year, the uh the uh president we had uh for six years, Allison, decided to step down. Yeah, so I was acting president for the balance of last year, and then at the AGM I've been voted in the the president for uh for this next year we're in now. So yeah, so I'm full fully fledged president now.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Wonderful, a unanimous vote, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It was unanimo uh yeah, uncontested.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah, thank you. You've obviously got the credentials. Okie dokie. Alright, so I mean, you've obviously played a lot and you've got a bit of a background in tennis yourself. Why don't we just kick off with Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Well my my mother was a keen tennis player, and I learned to play tennis up at uh at uh Queen's Park at Southport back in the oh god when I was seven years old. Yeah. Um so uh played there on the uh on the clay courts back in the day with John Penny, he was the coach. Yeah, uh yeah, and then I played right through primary school and high school. Then I kind of um moved on to other things like surfing and BMX and golf and things like that. Yeah, max. And then I got back into tennis back in 2018, uh joined the Miami Tennis Club and started playing in the Wednesday night uh singles comp and then you know joined the committee and um been uh been heavily involved with the club since then. Wonderful. I also played doubles on Thursday nights. Okay as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Do you prefer singles or doubles?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Um I like the physicality of singles. Um it's a uh a much more physical um thing, but I do like the social aspect of of uh doubles, but I feel like I'm at a sprightly 58. I feel like I'm too young to uh give up singles.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, so yeah, they're both good.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

The tactics and the strategies in doubles as well play a big part, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah, definitely. I've never really played much doubles before, so I've really enjoyed it actually.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

And it's more of a team game.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, but anyway, and you but you can always blame your partner, can't you? If you let me know.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

That's right, you've got that advantage. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Alright, so you have a lot of input into the the fixture the future of the club. The fixtures of the club, the competitions and things like that. So where is Miami Grass heading from now?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Well, we've it's um there's nothing wrong with our club, it's pretty perfect the way how it is, so it's just about maintaining what we do. Um I as I said, I took over from Allison, the previous president, and we've only had in 40 years, we've only had three other presidents prior to me. Um so the club's been really well run over the years. So our as a club, our our responsibility uh for the committee is to you know ensure that the courts are kept in top nick so we resurface our our courts. We've all got synthetic grass on all our courts, so they get replaced every seven to ten years, depending on how they wear. Um, keeping the facilities all perfect. We just did uh bathroom renovations. Um we're building some shade structures down uh by some of our um our courts so there's you know people can watch watch on in the shade.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Uh so yeah, just keeping the club um facilities up to scratch, and then we also have a lot of um uh you know, we get our regular uh competitions, so uh we have Monday and Wednesday nights, we have singles, comps, doubles, as I mentioned, on Thursday. Um the Gold Coast districts um have their ladies' days on um Tuesday and Wednesday at our club, and the men play Saturday afternoon and Saturday mornings for juniors. So yeah, we've um we've got a lot of different um yeah competitions all through the um the week, and of course you can come in higher courts whenever you like.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Okay. So I mean the competitions are great there. Um how many comps are there?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, well, mention those ones. I don't know, probably there's about eight different comp comps during the week. Yeah. Um we um also have um a graded doubles comp on Saturday afternoon um where um yeah, you come along um and they'll pop you into a level that suits you. Um so that's a good way to get started. There's also some other social uh groups. There's a guy called James who hires out about 14 courts on a Friday night and just charges$12 a person. Yeah. Um and he'll just pair you up uh with uh people of your standard as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Right. How long does that last, Folk? Does it have a trip?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Uh that's about an hour and a half, I think. That's pretty good, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah value.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Yep, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

And a lot of tennis.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yep, you get to meet a lot of people as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Yeah, exactly. So I was fortunate enough to work with Nick Watkins many years ago as head coach and owner of the High Performance Tennis Academy, which works with Miami Grass Tennis Club. Yep. So uh he was really focused on kids. Is that still something which is quite prominent at the moment?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah, so Nick Nick's the director of uh HPTA. So HPTA uh manage uh the pro shop for us um at the club, and they um so if you ring up and book a court um or come in and pay a comp fee, their staff will help you. Nick's actually got 12 coaches there um that that um you know help people with it coaching. I'd say the emphasis there isn't one uh particular emphasis on any um particular age group. Um it's all inclusive really, so they they've got whole um the coaches can teach kids right through to to you know adults or all age groups. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, so it's uh and the the the coaches I mean I I mean I know the way Nick works and uh uh as a player as well, he is known as a servant volley and he's all a brilliant volley. So the emphasis these days uh in the professional circuit is that tennis is more of a baseline game. The way Nick and his crew because I presume that he would try to get his coaches to coach similar to him, um, although obviously they'd have their own style as well, and their own personality. So how is is servant volley still something that is taught, or is it more baseline, even though that is Nick himself's natural uh the servant volley is more of his natural game?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

You're right, Briggs. There's no doubt that the game tennis uh all around the world is probably gravitated more to a baseline game. Uh we uh play on a synthetic grass surface, which is a slower surface. And you know, historically, if you like if you watch Wimbledon, there's that there's a lot more serving volley on grass compared to the hardcourt um and even the um the clay court um you know majors and tournaments we watch. Um but at Miami uh there still is definitely a focus on getting people to volley. Um a lot of social tennis uh is doubles, and you know, if you're playing doubles, one person's at the net, you need to know how to volley. So we we certainly do want to include um you know um volleying, servant volleying um as a um as a skill that everybody can learn.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

And of course the coaching is uh very high standard and they would coach virtually all the skills, but if somebody I'm thinking about a beginner here, they would would they start in a group or might they start on their own or in a squad or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, yeah, they they do squad and group lessons. Yeah. Um, you know, we even have schools and things like that come and um do group lessons. Brilliant. Um yeah, but then you know, if you yeah, you can certainly hire a coach one-on-one and work on the the weaker parts of your game and and strengthen the your strengths as well. Yeah. So um, yeah, it's definitely um the the coaching is definitely tailored for every um individual.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah. And obviously the the more detailed skills, the more advanced you get. You know, like a a kick surf, for example. I mean I mean I can't do it. You're getting out of my league now. I'm just happy to meet two lines and I can't do it either.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I'm just happy to get it in that box, mate. Indeed. Yeah, no, I'm I'm sure they they, you know, it's like any anything you like you watch a um yeah, commentators, they can pick all sorts of things that we can't see.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah, well that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, specialist coaches know exactly how to train people.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many uh there's a membership base though, isn't there, as well. So how many members do you have?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah, we have 485 members in the club. It's uh$75 a year to be a member, and then if you are a member, you can then get discounted court hire and competition fees. Um yeah, and um it's$35, I think, for children uh to um to be members. Yeah, wow. Yep. Yeah, and we but our club, because of all the different um competitions we have, ladies' groups, all the different uh court hires and everything like that, we we probably have two thousand people come through our club each week. That's incredible, yeah, yeah. Um just on the court hire, if um if you are a member, it costs twelve dollars a day, uh sorry, twelve dollars um to play for an hour in the daytime. Yeah. Uh 18 if you uh uh in the evening, um versus um it's roughly six dollars, six to eight dollars an hour dearer if you um are are a non-member. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah. And it's such a good I mean, apart from it being a wonderful sport, I'm being biased because I love it too, but it is such a great way to meet people, get fit as well. Social aspect is fantastic, and you're improving your skills and have fun at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, that's right. Now, tennis is um probably one sport where you do use every muscle in your body, uh running cross, you know, right chasing after balls back and forward, and um, yeah, so it's a good all-over body workout. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, yeah. You you see generally when you watch tennis players, they all look pretty fit and healthy. Yeah. So it's uh a testament to uh the you know the speed and agility you need to have to play tennis.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Absolutely, endurance, speed, all of strength, all of those things are going to improve, aren't they, the more you play.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

That's right, absolutely. And like you see, a lot of um tennis players can play in late into life, um, especially on our surface, the synthetic grass is easier on the body, doesn't knock your knees around as much.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Um, and um, yeah, so we've got members in our club that play you know well into their 80s.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, you you've talked about one previously, uh Dennis, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yeah, Dennis, yeah. Dennis was playing the Wednesday night comps. Yeah, um, yeah, he's crafty I'll bugger. It looks like he can't move very well, but you hit it near him and he'll put put the ball away in no time.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Great placements, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And uh and the gentleman who used to have your position, Ray West, who was a fantastic player as well. And I mean, without giving his age away too much, I think he's in his is he in his seventies.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Oh, I think he's um mid-70s. Yeah, I think uh and um yeah, he beat me at the last year um uh in the club championship last year. Beat me the year before. Did he?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, or the year before, I can't remember. He's a tremendous player.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Oh, he still is, of course. Even with knee reconstructions, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, yeah. So with that in mind, you mentioned that the grass is easier on the body and everything else. And look, I mean, obviously there are no professional tournaments, as far as I know, of any major standing on grass. Is that an issue for when you get someone who is potentially going to go further? You know, or would someone like Nick, who's the coach, simulate the situation to be like a hard court, for example, and play similarly?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Well, you can still train people to play baseline tennis on you know on synthetic grass court. Um, I I think just the speed of the court um is allows you the time, you know, to run into the net and volley. Uh like yeah, yeah, Wimbledon's uh the only major still on the on the proper grass court. Um and you know the the actual um uh grass court season is only like you know after the French Open, they just go you know to Germany or England and have a few different tournaments in the lead into Wimbledon. So yeah, I think if you want to be a professional tennis player, you've got to probably focus on hard court.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Uh because the majority of the tournaments are on there.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Um but yeah, you can still learn all the skills, like you know, the the way you hit a forehand is still the same. Yeah. Uh way you hit a backhand still the same, no matter where you play.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

So you mentioned earlier that you played on uh clay as well. And again, that plays completely differently as well, doesn't it? I mean the French is on play.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yeah, you slide around a lot on clay. You do a little bit on our court too, um because the the synthetic grass has like a a s a spread of sand across the top of it so you can move around so your feet don't stick to the um hard court or to the surface. That's right, yeah. So you don't you can slide a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

So it's designed for the slide.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

And probably to keep the court from wearing out more, I don't know. I'm guessing on it though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, it probably does. Yeah, right. Because the sand sits down inside the pile of the of the of the carpet grass, synthetic grass, and um it helps the fire the sand falling in there, uh helps the fibers stand more vertical. Oh yeah. Otherwise, if you don't have the sand that it'll fold over and kind of turn into like a flat rubber.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So it's like an hard court eventually.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah, yeah. The courts aren't cheap, it costs us fifty thousand dollars every time we want to get them resurfaced. So um, but it it it's quite a luxury to play on on the on that surface. Yeah. There's not too many clubs around that.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

And what maintenance is involved with the courts.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah, we we get a company come in, they actually extract all the sand out of it and re redo it. Uh that increases the life of the courts. Um we burn them down um basically daily.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Um so you don't get, you know, if you get a lot of rain, the sand can wash around a bit on the court, so we've got to kind of level it back out. Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit of upkeep with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Um can you can you play in the wet on those calls? You can to a degree, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, you can probably be a little bit longer than you would go off on a um on a hard court. Yeah. Because hard court will become very slippery. And puddly. Yeah, and puddly, that's right. Yeah, you can play, it's a little bit forgiving.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

There you go. Until it until it gets bad enough that you're getting puddles on the court, then it's no good.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

And I stay on the courts for a while because it's you know, I'm interested in in how they play. So does a synthetic grass court bounce differently than a hard court, apart from the speed?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, it definitely doesn't bounce as high. Um but when it bounces, it tends to take a bit of pace off the ball. Uh-huh. So like through the air, the ball's still coming at the same pace, but when it bounces, it then it it slows the ball up a little bit before it gets to you. Yeah, right. So you get that little bit more time to react.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

And that might tell me if I'm wrong, but would that then dictate how much spin or the type of spin you put on the ball? So for a slice, uh a slice backhand, maybe keep it lower.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, I don't play a lot on other surfaces, so I can't really comment um on the technicalities of of uh yeah, the straight play. Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Um yeah, probably leave that one to an expert. Oh, okay. I only mentioned it because on clay, when I'm watching the French, it seems to favour the heavy top spin, high bouncing sort of player, you know, like Raphael Nadal or back in my debt, you know. So where they get a rip at the back of the ball and it bounces really, really high. But I've got a lot of time to get there as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

So run is a longer and the certainly on the clay they stand a lot deeper. Yeah, right. Yeah, they're behind the baseline.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah. And are there different balls for different surfaces?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah, I think um the the technic technicalities of a tennis ball are uh consistent surfaces. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

But the great advantage is anybody can play at any age. Uh less injuries on the synthetic grass as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

That's right, yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah, so not just knees, but lower back.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

That's right, yes. Not as much jarring on the body, yeah, yeah. And um, yeah, it's yeah, definitely it's um a nice surface to play on. Yeah. Um, I certainly enjoy it. Yeah, yeah. Well, you're playing me next week. Yeah, I know, I'll be enjoying that too. Do you have a plan? Well, yeah, good good thing we're um having this conversation today while we're still friends.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Exactly right. Because it's gonna be very serious next week.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Oh ho, look out, brace yourself, hope it doesn't rain.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

I keep forgetting you're left-handed, I've got to bear that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah, a lot of people don't I can get through a whole match sometimes and people don't even realise I'm left-handed. It's it's a good little um thing to have in your ass.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Well it is, isn't it? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Hey, can I just mention this? Um, we have a uh a program for children. Um it's actually a state government initiative called the play on program. Yep. So every kid in Queensland is eligible for a$200 um uh uh what you call it grant grant grant, I suppose. Yeah, and they can use it uh for all sorts of different sporting things, but our club is certainly part of that program. So kids uh can come and use their play on voucher at at our club. Wonderful. And if you want to contact our club, um you can go to MiamiTennisclub.com.au or you can call the pro shop on 0479-157893. And speak to J Nick Georgie or whoever answers the phone. Yep, correct. Yep, Nick uh and his partner Georgie do a great job heading up HBTA and and and all their um ten other coaches. Uh so yeah, that you'll get any of them that we we we pride ourselves on being very, very inclusive. So any anyone of any level is very welcome to come. You don't have to be a great tennis play. You know, you can uh there's somewhere we can slot you in and you can get involved and improve your skills and meet meet new friends and yeah, and stay active.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

And that is absolutely 100% true. I'm a member of the club and I've actually seen lower grade players suddenly become not suddenly, but over a few months, become like very, very good. Really good. Amazing actually, how they've gone from let's say, I don't know, on a Monday night, the section four to section one. I've seen it. It's remarkable. But yeah, you know, you're going, oh yeah, I think I'll beat you, and then you don't.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if I was a better tennis player and probably would win more points. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Yes, exactly. But I've actually, you know, I can say ex I can just confirm what you're saying about it being a very inclusive, friendly club. It's a very friendly club, and you you just feel welcome and you know, it's I just think it's a lovely place to be. You know, if I had more time, I'd be there every day.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah, well, it's definitely growing. I know that there's other sports like pickleball and paddle ball, which are certainly um uh they're bringing a lot of new people to racket type sports, but tennis numbers are still growing, and we we've got 14 courts at our club and and they're frequently all booked. Um all our competitions are generally uh brimming full. Uh we might have a few people on a reserve list. Yeah. Um, but they're um yeah, it's it's it's uh tennis is certainly very, very popular, and our club is doing well. Our um our court hire was up 15% on last year. Yeah, well um, so yeah, it's definitely growing. Yeah. Um and I think a lot of people uh that maybe try pickleball and um paddle ball, then they might even that might even give them a bit of confidence then to come and give tennis a go.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Um yeah, so and and there are okay uh people in tennis when they get on maybe a bit and they don't want to run around a quarter bit, then maybe they'll gravitate to to the other paddle sports. But um yeah, we don't see um pickleball as a um in competition really to tennis. Um and at our club where our numbers are still super strong, yeah. And um yeah, the only sort of sad thing is pickleball um all around the world seems to think that they should just take the tennis courts away and make them all pickleball courts. Yeah. I don't agree with that. They can go get their own courts. Absolutely right, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

But you're right, it could be a stepping stone to the the real game itself. Yeah, you know. I mean, squash is uh a good rocket sport, but it y it ruins your tennis. Um what you're doing, though, Willis. So that was a different stroke. That was a terrible joke. Oh, it's a terrible joke. Yeah, I can't.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Sorry about that. Yeah. Gary Coleman. Yeah, good old Gary, yeah, Arnold. Yeah, Arnold, yeah, Arnold. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

I'm from the same era as you, you see. Yeah. A few more months on than you apart from that. So okay, look, look at yeah, it's a fantastic club. There isn't so the address.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Number one. Yeah, that's not right. 26th Courtside Drive.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

26th Courtside Drive.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yeah, 26th Courtside Drive in Miami. Yeah. So it's off a lot of people get a little bit confused. Pizzy Park, there's the side round where there's the Burley Bears and the and the swimming pool. Everyone probably knows that entrance where the rugby league uh entrance is. But if you go around past Merrimack High School, uh primary school down Oceanic Drive, there's another uh exit down there just before you go over the bridge. Um, that takes you down to our tennis club and and Miami Seniors Tennis Club. Yep. And also if you continue down, there's the athletics and soccer fields down there. So we're kind of around the back side of Pizzy, on the western side of the Pizzy Park complex.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Yeah, I'm glad you didn't say the continue with the back side of the area. No, so we're on the western side.

unknown 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

And there's another club just across the road, not to be confused with the Yeah, the one closer to the water is is Seniors.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Um and but ours is called the Miami Tennis Club.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yeah. Yeah. Ours is the better one, of course.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

A lot of people refer to it as Miami Grass, but it is actually the Miami Tennis Club.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

There you go. Yeah, we're called fascinating. I always thought it was Miami Grass.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah, uh Miami Tennis Club, we just happen to play on grass.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Right. Yeah. Okay. And so do they though, across the street.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, they've got some hard quartz, but most of theirs are synthetic grass as well. Right, okay. Yeah, they've got the same number of quartz as uh ours, but they've converted two of them to pickleball.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Yeah, okay. Yeah. But like I said, they're not as good.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Nick won't have a bar of that.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Good club. Good. I I couldn't agree more. I'm sure I used to play it on the street when I was a kid. I used to invent it.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Like I I'm pretty open-minded about uh pickleball, and um I'm not stuck um you know, rigid on um on uh like being anti-pickleball like some some tennis people are, but the sound off the bat is a lot um different to a tennis ball. And I think if you're trying to play tennis at our club yeah and there was a pickleball being hit on the court next to you, I think it would you'd find it quite annoying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Um it's got a hard sound, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's like a yeah, more of a pingy kind of sound. Hard plastic. Yeah, yeah. And uh I that I don't think you it it's wise to have them right next to each other. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

And I mean, I've never played, but um I think you have. I think you've had a quick garbage. Yeah, I've had a quick garbage twice. Do you would you say that if you became more interested in something like pick a ball, if you played it too often, would it would it spoil your normal tennis? I think so. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

No, no, and yeah, like I've I played it a couple weeks ago, and just to give it a whirl, and uh when to hit like a top spin ball, like like a forehand and I hit it halfway up the net, like it didn't come off the right the strings, so to speak, because there's no strings, it's a hard bat.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

A hard bat, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Uh so it didn't you couldn't you had to kind of hit more of a straight shot rather than like involving any sort of topspin. Yeah, right. Um so yeah, so if you play that enough, then you'd forget how to use top spin when you're playing tennis, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yeah, well fair enough too. Look, I reckon we've covered nearly everything. Is there anything else that's No Briggsy?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Um, thanks very much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

You're very welcome. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Thank you. And I I just encourage anyone to come down to our club, check it out. We've got fantastic, we've got barbecue facilities and shade and trees, and um yeah, there's plenty to do there and enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

And there's a practice wall as well, isn't there?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

We do, we have a practice wall. You can come down, hit a ball against a wall.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

I might do that.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

That's how I started. I remember as a kid, I was back in the against the uh the tilter door on the garage. And mum didn't like the sound, but I kept doing it.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

I wasn't allowed to do that. Because of the same reason. There was a cordice at the road. I used to get sent up there. So anyway, look, there's you go. Fantastic. Thank you very much. And that's the last handshake I'll be giving you before I play you next week.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah, yeah. Bring your A game.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Oh, you'll need it. I certainly will. All right, mate. I'll see you then. Thanks, Evan. Thanks, Valley.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Bye bye.