Abbeyleix Tennis Club is situated in the heart of Abbeyleix town just off the N8 and beside the local GAA grounds, the Fr. Breen park. The club is very active and boasts over 200 members of all ages. This year, the club is headed by the chairperson, Emily McDonald and her dedicated committee of social, competitions, fundraising and developmental. The club itself has 4 synthetic grass courts and has recently been upgraded with the addition of improved court lighting, changing facicities, a meeting room, sports room and balcony. Abbeyleix Tennis Club caters for all ages with numerous competitions and club days/nights being held throughout the year from the Juvenilles on a Saturday morning to the adults Monday nights. During the year, various fundraising events are held to support the upkeep of the club. More can be read about such events above under Events and Fixtures.

In general, Abbeyleix Tennis Club is very active and is always looking to improve and cater for the needs of the community.

Development 2008

Our club development Committee has worked closely with the Park Committee over the last few years not only in relation to the tennis area and surrounds but also on the general appearance of the Park itself. Great progress has been made with the roadway & parking area, entrance to the park & lighting there, and a stone wall from our entrance right around to the practice court wall. The first phase of the clubhouse development has now been completed with an upstairs area & veranda overlooking the club grounds.

The long suffering problem with lighting on Court 3 & 4 was rectified in 2007 with a full replacement of lights. In all, over €100,000 has been spent over the lifetime of on the 5-year plan 2004 – 2008. As this plan is almost expired a new 5-year plan 2008 -2012 will be one of the most important functions of this years Development committee. We expect to present a draft plan at our April main committee meeting. If you would like to have an input to this plan please contact me or any member of the Dev Committee before then. Once plan ratified it will be placed on club notice boards. We have made an application for Sports Lottery funding for 2008, which includes work the completion of the Clubhouse and on development the area at end of Court 4 into a multipurpose area, as a forerunner to a 5th court.

Centenary Committee

As agreed at our AGM we will be setting up a special sub committee to look at how we might mark our Centenary year in 2009. We will be contacting all former chairpersons and former & current active club members to start the process off, and again if anyone has ideas or would like to be part of committee please contact me.