New Year's speech Erik Koster

Speech Erik Koster at the New Year's reception on January 13th.

Park renovation

Literally and figuratively, we are in a very different position than before. Literally now that we are standing in the completely renovated clubhouse-sports café with a view of the new terrace. We are now entering the first full season with the renovated park. Also here many thanks to Rein, Marc, Cees, Eric, Han and many others from Park Startbaan who worked very hard on this with a great result.

Administrative

We are also in a different position figuratively now that Milko resigned as chairman in November. Unfortunately, the search for a new chairman yielded no results. This is also why I have the honor to address you today.

The board has been nicely expanded with the addition of Mirjam Groenland, Wouter Cosaert and Harry van Tongeren. We are legally required to have a chairman. That is why Harry has declared his willingness to serve as interim chairman for the time being. However, we are still looking for a permanent new chairman. Now is a great time to get in. We have a large and enthusiastic board, which has divided the tasks in the current composition. A new chairman can put his or her own stamp on this. It is also ideal that a new chairman can already shadow the current board before actually taking up office.

Tennis school The Majors

Our position is also different because The Majors tennis school will provide tennis lessons and fitness training from the summer season. On the one hand, this is a huge change, but in practice members should hardly notice this. The way in which we organized the lessons from the association has a historical origin. There are now virtually no associations left that organize it the way we did. The burden on volunteers is disproportionate, also considering the financial interests. For a treasurer it is at least a part-time job and JC members, the trainer coordinator and board members also spend a disproportionate amount of time on it.

The desire for a tennis school was therefore there and we are very lucky that, with Xander and Rachel, two club members have the ambition to start the tennis school. The careful way in which Xander and Rachel have prepared everything gives us a lot of confidence.

As mentioned, much remains the same, so the coaching staff of Wim, Xander, Björn and Gosse remains intact. We have also made good agreements about court occupancy, so that there are always free courts to play on freely. But at popular times there will be pressure on the courts. Also because the number of members of the association continues to increase and we are still an active association with many activities such as the ladder, toss moments, competition and Old Stars tennis. Therefore, also consider playing at less usual times, such as later in the evening or before the Saturday competition or on Saturday and Sunday evening after the competition.

From the board, Harry led the entire process of the tennis school and, given that he was able to complete all agreements in three or four months in a very pleasant atmosphere, he immediately made his mark on the board! We look forward to a very nice collaboration with tennis school The Majors of Xander and Rachel.

New website

In recent months, Paul Gabel has created a new website with the help of Wouter Cosaert. The result is a beautiful website that offers us as an association many more options. If you haven't seen the website yet, you should definitely take a quick look!

Volunteers

This year will also focus on the volunteer. Another volunteer event will be held at the end of the season to emphasize the importance of the volunteer. Volunteers are absolutely indispensable for the proper functioning of an association. We are also grateful for all the good work that the many volunteers do. In addition to the new chairman, we are still looking for volunteers for the sponsorship committee and the new members committee. These committees have provided great added value in recent years by really involving the sponsors in the association and collecting a lot of sponsorship money, as well as by giving new members a warm welcome to the association. We would very much like to maintain this and hope for enthusiasm for these volunteer positions. You can contact me for questions and registrations.

Dick Hulst cup

We would like to put a volunteer in the spotlight. To this end, I will soon give the floor to Dick Hulst, our chairman for many years and of course an honorary member. He will present the Dick Hulst trophy to the volunteer who has made very special achievements last year.

Finally

Then it remains for me, on behalf of the board, to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and sporty 2024!