SUCCESS has continued to come the way of the Home Hill Tennis Association with the presentation of awards to the local organisation and its secretary, Kate Casswell at the 2022 Queensland Tennis Awards ceremony held on Wednesday, October 26 at Queensland’s Parliament House.
The Association was represented at the Brisbane ceremony by their treasurer, Brad McAllister and secretary, Kate Casswell, who both were recognised for their contribution to the sport locally and state-wide.
It was only two months ago that we reported on the success of another former local player, Adam Walton, who commenced his playing career in Home Hill and after rising to the ranks of the professional tennis players, was named as one of the first recipients of the Ashley Cooper Scholarship for 2022.
Adam now has a world singles ranking of 431 and has reached number 20 in Australia.
Mrs Casswell said the Home Hill Club had been nominated as the Best Rural Club in Queensland, probably because of their work with their “Rally for a Cure” project, which drew 16 teams and a large crowd of supporters to the Home Hill Tennis Complex in August to raise funds towards finding a cure for brain cancer; for their Sugar Bowl Tournament, which had continuing success over several decades and for their online presence.
The award was accepted by Kate Casswell and Brad McAllister on behalf of the organisation from the LNP State Member for Scenic Rim, Jon Krause.
Kate Casswell said people were nominated for the Volunteer of the Year rural awards and were then required to submit information supporting the nomination.
However, she had decided not to send the information because she did the work for the Home Hill Tennis Association because it was “great for our community, it helped to improve their facilities in the town, and it brings a lot of business into the Burdekin”.
She explained that the Sugar Bowl Tennis attracted 320 players for the tournament, while many others just come for a day over the weekend.
“It helps to maintain our facilities,” she said as she pointed out that someone else had submitted her application five days later and she was joined by her friend, former beach volleyball Olympic Gold Medallist, Natalie Cook for the presentation. “I don’t do it for the recognition,” she commented, as she revealed that she had won the same award in 2014.
Kate Casswell returned to Brisbane on November 24 because she had subsequently been nominated for the Queensland Sports Awards.