We have the following club doubles tournaments coming up at St Ann’s Tennis in the Spring.
These are competitive doubles tournaments aimed at intermediate and advanced players. Players register individually, and inform the tournament director of their pairings in advance (with the exception of the Women’s Doubles, which will use an American format). Tournament entry is £12, and all tournaments are open to non-members.
Sat 07 March, 1pm: Men’s Doubles
Sat 14 March, 1pm: Mixed Doubles
Sat 21 March, 1pm: Women’s American Doubles
These are Open tournaments, aimed towards St Ann’s Team players and aspiring team players, but open to non-members too.
We have a LTA Grade 5 Mixed Doubles tournament taking place Saturday 04 April. Booking link (make sure you register for the mixed, and not the mens/ladies doubles). Book here
All these tournaments are part of our regular (traditional?) preparation for the Parks League season, which starts Tuesday 14 April and runs through to August.
Find out more about Parks League here
For St Ann’s, tennis will be tougher in 2026! After two promotions last summer, we now have TWO teams in Division 1 for the first time. Also, we have one team in D2, two teams in D3, and no teams at all in D4. That takes away our important ladder up for our entry level stars. With that in mind we would like to gather and field a ‘D4’ team, with the option to play some home and away friendlies, plus matches against our D3 teams. This will give us some useful opportunities to bring in new players.
There will be a final team gathering at St Ann’s on Saturday 11 April, in which we will invite players to join in, with a staggered start for different teams/divisions. Details TBC.
Some important Parks League rules
You have to be registered as a St Ann’s Tennis team member, AND registered with the Parks League (BHPLTA) in advance before you can play a match. You cannot register on the day. It has to be by the evening of the previous Sunday. St Ann’s had to forfeit a hard earned victory last season because one player was not registered (my bad). Yes, they do check. We will strive to get everyone fully registered before the start of the season. Teams are allowed to register new players mid season, one week in advance of any fixture.
You cannot play a competitive fixture for a private club (eg. County league matches) AND Parks League during the same season. This is the sacred rule of the Parks League: this competition is not for private club players. You can play for a private club in winter, but you cannot compete for a private club even once over the spring or summer AND also play Parks League. To clarify, if you play a match for, say, Wickwoods in April then you are effectively barred from Parks League for the entire summer season. You may play for Wickwoods in Winter, but you cannot play for Wickwoods in Summer, and also play Parks League. The rules are clear. BHPLTA actively scours names and results across Sussex, and will not hesitate to a) suspend a player and b) dock team points for any infractions. You will not receive a warning. This happened to two different players last season (including a player from Stanford, who were really struggling to put out a team. Stanford complained. The BHPLTA did not budge). The reason this rule exists is essentially because the Parks League is a) dedicated towards grass roots, community parks tennis, not private club players, who have plenty of their own competitions), and b) the Parks League is very popular, so a lot of private club members want to play in it, and would swiftly fill all the places if The Rule were not in place.
Subs & Registration
Team St Ann’s subs are £28 per player, paid in advance, covering team sessions, BHPLTA team registration, fresh match balls and court time. All players must be registered in advance with the BHPLTA, with the deadline for all fixtures the Sunday before matchday. No exceptions. Finally, all registered players are allowed to enter the Parks Cup singles and doubles competitions. The current cost per entry is £5.00 per player per event.
