Mitchelstown Lawn Tennis Club gears up for 24-hour marathon

The weekend of Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24 will see Mitchelstown Tennis Club pull an all-nighter for a great cause.

Seeking to raise funds for the purchase of a defibrillator, the club will hold a 24-hour tennis marathon from 6pm on Friday evening until the same time on Saturday and places are filling up fast.

Club PRO Scott Kent outlines the importance of having such a vital resource on hand, not just for the club but for the local community as a whole.

“Our target is €1,600 for an automated external defibrillator,” he says, “basically of the same calibre as those used by the HSE as part of their intermediate-care ambulance networkand the Irish Defence Forces.

“You saw it in the Euros with Christian Eriksen when he collapsed, the defibrillator saved his life. You can’t overestimate their importance.

“It’s a good way to get the club out there and, in addition, the defibrillator will be available to the entire community and not just the tennis club.”

While the on-court action is limited to club , donation is open to anybody and there has already been a positive uptake.

“We’re running a 24-hour tennis marathon,” Scott says.

“On Friday, July 23, it’ll kick off at 6pm with our junior class and it’ll run until 6pm on the Saturday.

“Someone goes on the website and books an hour and they pay €40 to play that hour. There’ll be at least two people on the court for the whole period or you could get a gang of four paying a tenner each and play doubles.

“It’s open to but if you’re not a member, you can donate towards an hour, for whatever amount you want.

“Currently, we’re about a third of the way there. The Friday is completely sold out and there are a few early slots gone for Saturday morning so we’re just trying to fill the rest of the slots.”

The addition of the defibrillator will be the latest in of developments around the club, with the announcement of a recent sponsorship deal with Kerrygold Park having been a huge boost. With the club’s 130th anniversary on the horizon in 2022, a new clubhouse with shower facilities was recently completed. The club’s underage section continues to go from strength to strength, as evidenced by the fact that the young ‘Smashers’ will be on court at the start of the marathon at 6pm on Friday and again from 11am-12 noon on Saturday.

For more information on the tennis marathon and the club, see www.mitchelstowntennisclub.com.