Te Tohu Hāpai 2022

Sam has provided service as a leading administrator at a regional level, being involved in 40 years of regional governance at Canterbury Tennis (now Canterbury Tennis Region) in the years 1954 to 1994. He has over that period of time sat on the Management Committee and on the Wilding Park Committee (for 24 years, 16 as Chair) having responsibility for the 40+ court complex at Wilding Park which included leading the preparation of Wilding Park for a dozen Davis Cup ties. Sam was the regional tennis coach for many years and a founding member of the NZLTA Professional Coaches Association along with Stan Painter and influenced the establishment of the Australia Pro Tennis Coaches Association. In an era where Canterbury Tennis (like almost all tennis organisations), had no paid administration staff Sam was one of a number of core volunteers who effectively ran the organization for some decades devoting many hours a week (all while also performing his day job of running his sportswear shop).

Sam served as President of Tennis New Zealand in 1988-89 and is an Honorary Life Member and former Patron of Tennis Canterbury Region.

David has provided long service both to tennis in a leading governance role and in officiating.  He was a member of the Management Committee (and subsequently Board) of Canterbury Tennis (now Canterbury Tennis Region) for 32 years, being Chair of that Board for 18 of those years.  David also chaired the Wilding Park Indoor Centre Project Committee which oversaw the construction of the Indoor Centre and Administration Building at Wilding Park.  David was also a Board Member of Tennis NZ for 5 years.

As an official, David was an umpire and referee at an international standard.  He has officiated as umpire at Davis Cup World Group ties and has been an ITF Gold Level referee, in which role he has acted as referee or Chief of Officials at a number of ITF World Championships held in New Zealand.  Over some decades he mentored generations of Line Officials in those tournaments and in more than a dozen Davis Cup ties. 

David served as President of Tennis New Zealand and is an Honorary Life Member of Tennis Canterbury Region and NZ Tennis Umpires Association in 1994-95.

Cilla in many ways has been a prominent figure in tennis in the lower North Island for over 40 years, in Wellington, Taranaki and particularly in Wairarapa where she has been the leading administrator and public face of tennis in that community.

Cilla has also performed a wide variety of coaching roles over a 30 year period but her mentoring and encouragement of players has extended well beyond any formal positions that she has held.

Over that lengthy period of time Cilla has also continuously held a number of administrative roles, particularly in the Wairarapa area.

Cilla’s contributions to the sport have previously been recognized by her appointment as Tennis NZ Honorary Vice-President and she has received a Service to Tennis award from Tennis Central Region.

Nigel has provided over 60 years of service to the tennis community in Marlborough.  Throughout those 60 years Nigel has served in a variety of roles at Club level while also serving on the Marlborough District Association (later Tennis Association) for some 40 years again in a variety of roles including as delegate to many Tennis NZ AGM’s.  He further served a variety of administrative roles for the Marlborough Veterans Tennis Association.  His service extended to officiating where, upon receiving his umpire certification in 1958 Nigel has officiated in Marlborough for many years and has trained and mentored many officials over some decades.

Nigel, being a keen photographer has also over the decades with his photos have created a visual history of the sport and its players and occasions.

In 2017 Nigel was awarded the Marlborough Medal and in 2022 received the Royal Honour of Queens Service Medal for his contributions to sport. 

He is a Life Member and Patron of the Marlborough Tennis Club, Marlborough Tennis Association and the Marlborough Tennis Veterans Club.

Allan’s service to tennis is in the Morrinsville and Thames Valley area where he has provided over 50 years of service since 1957 both as an administrator at Club and Sub-Association level and for his umpiring duties.  Over that half century, Allan has performed a large variety of administrative roles, which included the founding of the Thames Valley Veterans Tennis Club of which he was President for two decades.  As a result of such long service Allan has been awarded a number of honours as well as life membership and patron roles for a number of tennis organisations.

Allan was awarded the NZLTA Long Service award in 1987 and has also received the Trevor Withers Memorial Trophy awarded by NZ Tennis Seniors for his contributions to Senior Tennis.

Beth has served as an administrator in Taranaki for over 40 years.  She has been secretary of a number of clubs within Tennis Central Region since the 1970’s and also has served as secretary to Taranaki Seniors Tennis for 25 years, currently still in that role.

At a regional level she has served on the board of the Taranaki Tennis Association and has been on the Management Committee of New Zealand Tennis Seniors for 25 years, a role which was recognised by her being awarded the honour of Administrator of the Year in 2010.

Beth is a life member of the Kapi Mana Tennis Association and Taranaki Tennis Seniors.  In 1982 she was awarded the NZLTA Long Service Award (and has continued to serve for another 40 years since that award!) and in 2019 she was conferred the Tennis Central Region for Service to Tennis award.

Sylvia, who hails from Tauranga, has provided service as an administrator foir over 40 years both to Tennis Central Region and Tennis Waikato Bays Region.  She has particularly applied her strategic planning skills across the many roles that she has fulfilled over that period, which has resulted in various clubs significantly increasing both their memberships and their capacities to deliver the sport, as she has as well established a number of tournaments over that period which continue to this day.

Sylvia has served on the boards of the Wellington Tennis Association and Tennis Western Bay of Plenty Association.  In those two regions she has been particularly prominent in interclub management over a 25 year period as well as providing tennis coaching.

Sylvia has been on the board of New Zealand Tennis Seniors for the last 15 years and is currently the Vice President of that organisation, a role which she has filled since 2010.

Based in Auckland, Kevin has been very prominent in tennis in New Zealand across various formats over several decades.

Kevin was a leading player in his time, playing Davis Cup for New Zealand and being a former NZ Hard-Court Champion. He has played internationally at Grand Slam level.

Following his playing career, Kevin turned to coaching.  In New Zealand he has coached at the highest level and was the NZLTA National Coach for 7 years before becoming a Regional coach at Tennis Northern Region.

He has served as the Fed Cup Captain for New Zealand as well as the team coach of the New Zealand team for the ITF World Youth Cup tournaments over a 4 year period.

In his coaching role, Kevin has chaired the Committee of the NZ Tennis Coaches Association and has served in a variety of volunteer roles across the sport, in coaching and governance and in mentoring many young tennis players, as well as having significant prominence as a broadcaster at tennis events. 

In 2018 Kevin was awarded the Tennis NZ Spirit of Tennis award.  He is a life member of Tennis Northern Region, Tennis Coaches NZ and the Upper Hutt Tennis Club.  He served as Honorary Vice President of Tennis NZ in 2020-21.

Brian is a very well known and highly influential figure in tennis in New Zealand as a result of his contribution to the sport over several decades.

Brian was first a leading player in New Zealand, playing for New Zealand in the Davis Cup and at Grand Slam Level internationally.

His governance and administration service to the sport started in 1965 and continues to this day, presently some 57 years of service, over a wide variety of roles.

A highlight of his service has been for the International Club of New Zealand, an affiliate of Tennis New Zealand, to which he has contributed in a variety of roles including Treasurer and Vice President.  His service was such that he is not only an Honorary Life Member of the International Club of New Zealand but also of a number of associated International Clubs around the world.

Brian served on the Board of Tennis New Zealand for two terms, a total of 6 years.

Brian is best known for his devotion to the mentoring and support over several decades of many in the tennis community including administrators and particularly players in the high performance area.  In that regard, Brian has also been prominent as a financial benefactor to tennis in a number of ways and was particularly involved in the establishment of the Seed Foundation which provides support to players in the high performance area.