Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance tennis clubs recently came together for their annual challenge, with the rivalry between the combatants getting the competitive juices flowing at Bairnsdale Tennis Club.
The unique aspect this year was that both clubs fielded teams for both tennis and new boom racquet sport, pickleball.
Both Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance offer up this relatively new game to their communities in addition to the traditional game of tennis.
The sport has grown to such an extent across the world that both clubs have got on board and the growth in participation and club membership has been exciting.
The combined event was the brainchild of well-known Lakes Entrance tennis and pickleball coach Mike Spruzen.
Lakes Entrance brought down 14 tennis players and 10 pickleballers for the event, with Clifton Creek pickleballers Robyn Hermans and Judy Ireland bolstering the numbers for the Lakes team.
Bairnsdale provided 10 pickleballers and 26 tennis players with club providing top up players for Lakes.
Four tennis rounds were completed with a great lunch provided by Bairnsdale in the middle of the day.
Both adults and juniors competed, highlighting the desire at both ends to encourage family participation in this event and other events run by both clubs.
In the tennis section, the matches ebbed and flowed with Lakes holding a slight advantage going into the final round.
The last round was an intense timed round where teams had 30 minutes maximum to stay ahead at the final buzzer.
Bairnsdale ended up getting the chocolates 18 sets 185 games to Lakes 16 sets 179 games, the lead changing several times.
The pickleballers played many matches, as their games were completed in shorter time than the tennis matches.
Lakes Entrance pickleballer Shannon Murdoch set up the day’s competition using his online match draw system.
The Lakes contingent found the softer Bairnsdale court surface much different to the usual hard courts at Lakes Entrance and with the advantage of a lot more experience under their belts they prevailed.
Some Lakes players have played for two years as opposed to the Bairnsdale players who have less than six months experience, the Lakes crew coming away with the win 39 games 457 points to five games 165 points.
Overall, a sensational day was had by all with the importance of inter-town connection reflected in both the friendly and competitive spirit the challenge was played in.
Both clubs are now looking forward to the next inter town challenge to be hosted by Lakes Entrance.
