By NATHAN DE VRIES and BRODIE EVERIST

AS the Alpine Shire and indeed the rest of the world continue to reclaim some sort of normality not felt since 2019, summer sporting clubs like the Myrtleford Lawn Tennis Club (MLTC) are calling on previous members to retake to the courts and pick up the racquets once more.

Sporting participation has fallen since the pandemic, but as the start of the tennis season looms, MLTC president Peter Ternes has put the call out for players who have stepped away from the sport to return.

"We were up around 150 members with juniors and senior players (pre–pandemic) , but we had strong competitions on Saturday afternoon, Thursday morning juniors and also a strong Tuesday twilight comp," he said.

"We were getting families down there on a Friday night to have some sort of social tennis, and then stay on for tea, but obviously 2020 and '21 knocked that completely for six.

"We've got probably 120 active members now and we know there are a lot of people out there who play tennis, and we want to somehow get them involved back into the tennis club.

"Back in the late '80s and early '90s, when tennis was really booming, we had 450 to 500 members, we had 80 people playing every Saturday afternoon on the grass courts.

"We know we'll never get it back up to 80, but we'd love to get 20 to 40 people playing tennis on Saturday afternoon."

The club boasts nine pristine grass courts at their facility by Happy Valley Creek in the heart of town, albeit currently a bit damp, and six hardcourts at the McNamara Reserve for members to use at any time.

With a range of programs and competitions, from juniors all the way to senior grades, there's a perfect fit for anyone interested in having a social hit.

Registrations for the club's Saturday juniors, Saturday afternoon pennant, Tuesday twilight competition and Thursday ladies format are now open.

There are also HotShots and NetSetGo programs for the youngsters.

Committee member and Thursday ladies' organiser, Jayne Pozzan, said the family aspect of the club is a huge positive for prospective or returning players.

"We're definitely looking forward to getting the season up and running and hopefully to get more adults and children involved in playing, it's a great family club," she said.

"Hopefully we can get some more mums and dads playing in the afternoon and more juniors playing in the mornings.

"Since COVID it's died off a bit, but we need to try and keep encouraging people to get out there and enjoy playing sports together, especially as a family.

"That's what my mission is to be able to, to get more families and children are playing sports."

The Saturday pennant and Thursday ladies competition will hold a social hit up next week, with competition set to start the following week.

For more information and to find registration links, visit the Myrtleford Lawn Tennis Club's Facebook page, or check out the website at www.myrtlefordtennis.com.au