Senior Aussie tennis official pays tribute to East Glos
By Frank Leavers
Leslee Holmes (left) with Andrea Butland
On Sunday, 25th June, Leslee Holmes, Director of Tennis West, Western Australia, and Shire President of Dandaragan W.A, visited East Glos.
She was accompanied by her husband Peter – a former Australian tennis coach of the year and high-performance tennis coach.
Leslee and Peter spent valuable time with our chair, Andrea Butland, discussing the growth of East Glos and the club’s plans for the future.
The visit came about following the Australian Open in January when Leslee had lunch with LTA President Sandi Proctor. During their meeting, they discussed all things tennis and the similarities of the sport between the UK and Australia.
On discovering that Julie Bussell, Leslee’s sister, is a member of East Glos, Sandi Proctor spoke in glowing terms about our club and emphasised the importance of encouraging the growth of tennis by having a dedicated racket club model, just as East Glos had achieved over the past few years.
During their visit, Leslee and Peter were extremely impressed with the facilities and size of the club. Both felt that East Glos had established itself with points of difference that gave it an advantage over other clubs that concentrate solely on tennis.
Leslee has said that she will take all the information regarding the success of East Glos back to Western Australia and encourage clubs to follow in the footsteps of what she described as a “…very impressive model” for Western Australian tennis clubs to follow in the future.