BRIAN Richards has given most of his life to tennis.
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The 80-year-old has only this year stepped back from running the Bega Tennis Club’s night competition after more than 60 years of service, to pursue time with his family.
It’s been about 10 years since he stepped on the court with a racquet in hand, but Brian continued running regular competitions and stayed active on the committee.
Beyond active.
Brian has been treasurer since 1980 and also served as secretary and president for a number of years since joining in 1952.
“My family returned to Bega in 1950 when I was 16,” Brian said.
“My sister took up tennis with our uncle Jack Kirkland.
“I had played a bit of tennis at school and so started as a young B grader,” he said with a laugh.
Brian advanced through the ranks of the fours competition to A grade and “loved it” so joined the club.
Just one year later he signed on with the committee.
“I was on the committee by ’53 and put my time into administration,” he said.
In those days, the club had just been rebuilt and had five courts.
In 1973 the club relaunched the night tennis competition and Brian soon found himself as the sole coordinator.
Members of the Evans family, Sue and Don, had launched the competition.
“Sue retired after a year, Donny ran it for a couple of years and I ran it from then right through until currently,” Brian said.
If you do the math, it adds up to 41 years of running the event.
In that time, the club grew explosively and saw a rebuild of the club house in 1980 to accommodate the extra members.
“Tennis was thriving and we needed more room, I am sure I was the one to suggest we needed a new building,” Brian said with a laugh.
The new clubhouse was completed that same year.
The night competition, which had at one point been a single division was now four strong divisions played over two nights.
“It started and then developed into a big thing,” Brian said.
Brian has loved his time as the coordinator and fondly looks back on the time before a bung knee took him off the court.
“I’ve always enjoyed it because I’ve always had a marvellous time playing tennis,” he said.
“My knee started to give way and it’s been about 10 years since I played.”
Brian’s daughter Joanne remembers how tennis was an ever-present part of her and her brother Michael’s life growing up.
“As kids, whenever the phones rang we knew it would be about tennis,” she said.
“Also, when we'd come back as adults and the phone rang it was still about tennis!
“I don't think he'll be getting as many calls now.”
The calls had been a regular feature of the family home, and Brian was still getting them at the time of going to print.
Beyond running the night competition, Brian also took over coordinating the annual Easter tournament since 1966.
Brian wanted to see continued growth in his beloved Bega club and took the competition over from the association to ensure the revenue was used locally.
“Everyone involved was from the Bega club so we put it to them [association] and they were happy to hand it over,” he said.
Unfortunately, it meant he was not at home over the holidays and one year prompted a surprising question from his then four-year-old son - “Does dad still live here anymore?”
Joanne joined her dad at the courts regularly and sometimes spent part of Easter at the club with him and it was spending time with family that made Brian give up the competition in 1999.
Over his 33-year vigil, the competition had grown to a major yearly event for the club.
“It had grown magnificently to a point where we had 250 to 300 players,” Brian said.
Those players injected over $200,000 in to the Bega economy based on a survey done by entrants at its peak.
The competition ran for just a few short years after Brian had stepped back.
“I told them I would help prior to Easter, but I wanted time with my family,” Brian said.
“It never really got back off the ground.
“It was a sorry day when it stopped.”
At the same time, Brian was also addressing shortages in junior development programs in the 1960s.
He took on a coaching role Saturday mornings and taught kids the art of the game for almost 40 years.
“Dot Kermode had started a Saturday morning junior program because her daughter Helen was playing,” he said.
“I kept it going, every Saturday morning of my life I coached juniors up until about 15 years ago.
“My daughter used to come down with me a bit, but my son wasn’t as interested.”
Mind you, this was at the same time as running the Easter competition, the night competition and serving on the committee.
For the past 34 years, Brian has served as treasurer of the club, while previously serving as secretary and president, titles he also held with the association during his time.
In his 62-year history with the Bega Tennis Club, Brian has needed the occasional break, which he filled in with golf and lawn bowls.
“I had a break in the 70s and played golf with mates,” Brian said.
“And again in the 80s.”
Since an artificial knee forced him to put down the racquet, he has taken up lawn bowls.
“I gave away one sport because of age and my knee problems,” he said.
“But I’ve done quite well with bowls.”
He’s a three-time major triples, fours and double major pairs winner at the Bega club.
Looking back on his illustrious career, Brian is most proud of how the club has developed.
“When I joined the club had five courts,” he said.
Now, it has seven artificial surface courts, modern lighting, a two storey clubhouse and upgraded surrounds.
“It’s a real community facility and a great asset down there,” he said.
If you talk to him, you can tell Brian loves his club, but doesn’t like promoting himself and has a simple philosophy as to why.
“I am a worker, not a promoter,” Brian said.
“I’ve done it for the love of it.”