After over a decade in hibernation, the Strathbogie Tennis Club was re-formed on Tuesday 6th October 2020 by a small, committed group of local tennis enthusiasts. The club has 4 synthetic grass courts in excellent condition, located at the Strathbogie Recreation Reserve.
The club’s main activities are:
- Social tennis on Thursday evenings
- Kids Hot Shots tennis on Thursday afternoons
- Tennis lessons run by club coach Mark Borthwick
- A team that plays the summer Benalla District Tennis Competition
In 2021 the club was awarded a Victorian Government Sport and Recreation grant for court maintenance. This has been used to brush the synthetic courts which involves collecting the old sand and replacing it with clean sand.
For regular updates please go to: https://www.facebook.com/bogietennis
2022 Benalla District Champions
After a great season of summer tennis, consistently maintaining their position at the top of the ladder, Strathbogie Tennis Club’s A Grade team won the Benalla District Grand Final on Saturday 5th March 2022.
It was an epic day of tennis playing against the formidable Terip Terip at the Euroa Lawn Tennis Club. Having watched the rain set in throughout the morning, the team were relieved to be able to play on the synthetic grass courts in what ended up being perfect tennis weather (not much sun and no wind). Everyone played their hearts out and there were some fantastic and very close matches, including two tie breakers.
After playing 8 sets, Strathbogie led the day by just 1 game. A crowd had gathered and tension was high going into the deciding final set. Craig and Meg stepped onto the court with determination, ready to battle it out in their mixed doubles match against Sally and Don. Murmurs rippled through the crowd half-way through the match as Craig developed a slight limp… oh no, not an injury! But our heroic club president held strong and Meg served the set out, winning 8-5 in a dramatic end to a great day on the courts. The final score was Strathbogie 59 games to Terip Terip 55.
History of Strathbogie Tennis Club
The Strathbogie Tennis Club was originally formed in 1910 with JR Donald as president and JR Smith as secretary. The first court was in the Recreation Reserve but later one was constructed on a site in Haley Street just below the butter factory manager’s residence.
In the 1930s courts were built at the rear of the Methodist Church and the then Public Hall (now a residence). Then in the 1950s, six tennis courts were constructed at the Recreation Reserve: three courts were built in 1954, one in 1955 and the remaining two later.
Many decades of social and competitive tennis were played in Strathbogie, with the Easter Tournament being a particular local highlight that attracted many players to the area.
For more information and wonderful photos of this history, please visit the Strathbogie Tableland History Group.
In the early 90’s things started to slowly change, the support for the club was intact but players and their families found they had to move from the area for work, education or health reasons, and so by the mid 2000’s the club was formally closed. At that time many local players joined the Euroa Lawn Tennis Club, which continues to be a strong and vibrant club to this day, with both lawn and synthetic grass courts and a very successful annual Labour Day Tournament.