Episodes
Send us a textGemma Hargrave joins the show this week from David Lloyd West End. We take a little walk through hot topics like club-hopping before getting into the heart of what it means to captain teams at a mega-club like David Lloyd. Can you bring the small club feels to big club environments? We find out more. Gemma shares her vision for getting young players through those tricky late teenage years, and shares her thoughts on why participation in inter-club competitions is different ...
Published 11/16/24
Send us a textTom and Dave man up in this episode and get stuck into seven divisions of Winter Men's Doubles Tennis, the fastest-growing tennis format in the county.One in five fixtures have been played already, so we have a sense for how things are going. But not everyone will have the stamina to hold onto top spots until the end of the season. Do Absolute Men have the coolest team name in tennis? Why do they play all their pictures before Christmas? Why does Tom wait until midnigh...
Published 11/02/24
Send us a textWe took a few weeks off to get the summer done once and for all, and spiff up the website. Check out the new inforgraphics on THPod.UK! It's just the start of how we think about visualising tennis data in ever more compelling ways. And please send us your feedback, it helps make the content better and all your ideas have been excellent so far. Meanwhile... we take a run through how the summer ended, including a pretty ugly end to affairs in Division One, where a new ch...
Published 10/12/24
Send us a textSeptember 22 is the final day of summer, according to the astronomical calendar and, indeed, the Apsley fixture list! Dave reckons Tom has had a Brat Summer without realising it, but Tom won't be drawn into that one. Very wise.We talk about who had Apsley seasons to remember, and what going up to the Premier would mean for giant-killing Twyford A and the players there. There are five fixtures this weekend, and we look at what's left in the races for promotion and relegation...
Published 09/20/24
Send us a textChampions are being crowned in the County Cups and in everyone's favourite club competition, the Apsley League. We look at who the big winners are as the summer leagues start to wind down. Meanwhile Tom and I rolled up for separate clubs (awkward?) at the Winter League Meeting in Southampton and had very different experiences. As the veteran of the two, Dave shares what YOU need to know about Winter League meetings, and his Top Five moments from any Winter League meeting.&n...
Published 09/06/24
Send us a textThe County Cup burst into life over the last Bank Holiday weekend, and some players have gone deep in the competition just when their clubs might need them for the end-game in Apsley. What will the players choose... cup glory or take one for the team? We know what Tom would do!We take a little look at who the favourites are for this coming weekend's County finals at Winchester. Meanwhile champions could be crowned by Saturday night in at least two Apsley divisions.
Published 08/29/24
Send us a textThis week we look forward to a weekend with five fixtures, but one of them is already done -- sending us into a bit of a statistical melt down in the forward look. Dave is wondering if it's time to start a Senior team, bit will it be chill or a date with a future of fiery fixtures? Also... can we get those midweek fixtures in? We learn more about the Senior Doubles tennis tournaments.Meanwhile, everyone's favourite Hampshire tennis tourney is near its denoument - time for a...
Published 08/23/24
Send us a textAnother week of Hampshire tennis is in the books, and divisional leaders up and down the Apsley League are peering nervously into the depths to see what could be coming for them.Thornden dish out a merciless win in the Premier to move up the table, while South Hants A are quietly circling the top three in Division Two with intent after another statement win.We look back at a full weekend of action, and forward to August 17-18 in this quick hit update to keep you all up to date o...
Published 08/15/24
Send us a textThis week we welcome Edwin Lau, who recently landed in Hampshire after a glittering career in Berkshire tennis. We talk county comparables, whether or not there's anything quite like Apsley across the border, and what the future may hold for one of the young guns in the county game. Is it harder to get a driving license or a level three coaching badge? Who's the model tennis player for Generation Z? And how do you keep the love for tennis on the day you realise you might no...
Published 08/08/24
Send us a Text Message.With Hampshire's favourite inter-club event heating up AND now going weekly in its schedule, we drop you a quick update on how last weekend went, what it meant for the tables, and who's next on deck over the August 3-4 weekend.
Published 07/30/24
Send us a Text Message.One of us makes it back from the beach just in time to release this edition ahead of July 27's Apsley matches. Not that we need to see any more action, because Tom has built a crystal ball that tells us all how the divisions will end anyways! Deep stats ahead!Meanwhile it's Dave's turn to research a Hampshire tennis event, and we dig into Hampshire & Isle of Wight Tennis' Mens and Ladies Doubles Leagues. And it's just in time, too, since it turns out they're pretty ...
Published 07/27/24
Send us a Text Message.Tom's started his own National League team, which prompts the question... what's this National League, then? And how did Tom get into it? Hold on tight as Tom explains how the upper reaches of club tennis work in the UK, and how Hampshire's clubs are faring up there. Back on terra firma, the heat is on for the Apsley League's Premier Division as Thornden and Riverside go head to head at the midway point of Hampshire's favourite summer tennis competition. At th...
Published 07/12/24
Send us a Text Message.A Doom Cloud hung over Hampshire's festival of tennis on June 15, but somehow the county's hardy players shivered through ten and a half fixtures of English summertime yellow ball.In our special topic, we find ourselves wondering about the rules for rain. Do Captains really know the rules? And should we send some proposed amendments of our own to the league? Might be a bit rich for a podcast two episodes in.After Episode One, Thornden tell us they won't give up the Prem...
Published 06/26/24
Send us a Text Message.With a third of the season played, Tom and Dave discuss the state of the Apsley League, Hampshire's biggest inter-club competition. Two big weekends lie ahead that will do a lot to settle scores across all five divisions, and we look at who plays who on June 15, the second busiest day of the summer for club tennis.We also talk about our resumes in county tennis (spoilers, we're on very different paths) and hopes for the podcast.
Published 06/12/24