It’s been a flying start to the season for Strathfield Sports Club in the 2018 Autumn Badge, with our teams dominating the early rounds of the Tennis NSW competition.
Three of our six teams find themselves top of their respective tables, while a highlight will be this weekend’s top of the table clash between Strathfield 5 and 6 in the Men’s 2.5 division.
After checking in with our captains, here’s an update on how they’re all faring and the challenges ahead!
Strathfield Premier League
Our Premier League team currently sit third on the ladder after notching wins against Sydney University and Tennis World – SOP, while they went down in close contest against Hills District.
The teams are again being led by John Field, while other members include: Kyle Stoker, Tom Evans, Miladin Tepsic, Greg Evans, Michael Evans, Jay Andrijic, Nathanial Maraga and Patrick Staunton.
They play away from home this weekend against Sydney Lawn Tennis Club.
Strathfield 2
“Our 1.2 team has started the season very strongly and is currently undefeated after the opening three rounds to sit eight points clear at the top of the table.
We have beaten Sydney Uni 2, Collaroy and Easts and are looking forward to a tough match-up against the similarly unbeaten Sydney 3 this weekend.
There has been a great camaraderie amongst the team, helped by some intense training with Inhwa and Mac.
Our new players Hiroki, Imad, Louie and Jimmy are all going very well since joining the team and we look set for a great season.”
– Mark Padd
Strathfield 3
Our Strathfield 3 team are also topping the table in the Men’s 2.1 division, following convincing wins over Killara and the two Sydney University teams.
Remarkably after three rounds the top four teams are all undefeated (with the bottom four failing to pick up a win between them).
They’ll be confident of continuing their winning streak this weekend when they play the remaining team in the bottom bracket, who are also from Killara.
Strathfield 4
Our Strathfield 4 team are also performing strongly in the Men’s 2.3 division, notching a convincing 8-0 win against Marrickville last weekend.
The team have also beaten Chatswood, after going down to Killara on the opening weekend of the season, which sees them sit second on the table.
The team have a road trip ahead of them this weekend, as they prepare to play away against Manly.
Strathfield 5
“Strathfield 5 under the coaching of Inhwa has had a flying start to the season, winning our first 23 sets straight, however we did drop our last set so we are 23-1 right now.
We have won a total of 141 games and lost just 30, however we face a stern test this week playing a local derby against Phil Low’s SSC6 team who has a similar strong record.
We’re really looking forward to having a friendly chat and a beer with our fellow members (along with a few sets of tennis of course!)”
– Robert Moh
Strathfield 6
“Participating captains of Divisions 2.5 and 3.1 unanimously voted this year to merge the four teams in Div. 3.1 with the six teams in Div. 2.5 to form an expanded Div. 2.5 to 10 teams.
This welcome decision ensures that all teams have quality and competitive matches during the 2018 Badge season.
With 3 rounds played so far, SSC6 is presently placed second behind SSC5, having won two rounds and drawing a third.
Our results so far appear to show that the team is holding our own following an ‘upgrade’ into a higher division.
Round 1: vs Syd Uni 9 – Won 7 sets to 1
Round 2: vs Manly 7 – Officially a draw at 4 sets won to 2 with remaining sets incomplete. Our team considers it a win anyway as we get 6 points to Manly’s 4 points.
Round 3: vs Royal Syd 7 – A hard fought win of 5 sets to 3. As our new bright blue uniforms couldn’t be worn, we used our previous years predominantly white ones!”
– Phil Low