Coach racquet ends

BILL Kucks has cleaned up the courts and put away the equipment at Gloucester Tennis Club for the last time.
Kucks, 81, from Pakenham, is synonymous with tennis in the area and has an achievement list that would struggle to fit on a tennis court.
He founded the Berwick and District Tennis Association (BDTA) and served as its inaugural president for 11 years from 1984; spent 12 years coaching at the Beaconsfield Tennis Club; was president of the West Gippsland Tennis Association; founded the Gloucester Tennis Club in 1989, where he’s finishing up after 22 years, with an achievement list of 55 premierships and 66 runners-up.
On top of that, he’s a life member of the BDTA, Beaconsfield Tennis Club and an inaugural inductee to the Tennis Coaches Association of Victoria’s Hall of Fame.
Bill, and his wife Eva, finished up coaching duties last weekend after more than four decades of tennis coaching life with 31 years at St Margaret’s School and 22 years at the Gloucester Tennis Club in Berwick.
“We’d just come back from Bali in June and my wife said ‘no more’ because if I went to the end of the year, there’d be another tennis season going through to March and that’s well into 2012.
“So I said ‘if you want to stop, then I’ll stop’.”
“I announced it to the school (St Margaret’s) and they went hysterical; ‘you’re not stopping, you can’t stop!’
It’s no surprise that St Margaret’s and the rest of the tennis community are desperate to see Kucks continue, as he’s been their lynchpin for the best part of three decades.
“They (Tennis Victoria) found out the tennis club was just me,” he said.
“Eva was president and I was secretary, treasurer and everything else.
“We never had committee meetings, it was just the parents and us.
“It was like an extended family and that’s how we ran it.
“The idea of starting up the club in the first place was that I’d talk to kids and tell them to join a club and they’d say ‘nah nah I’m not good enough’ and they wouldn’t go.
“So I’d ask ‘what if your friends were playing’ and they’d say ‘oh yeah, we’ll play with them’.”
After getting the players and families together, Kucks went about conducting business at Gloucester, most of the time by himself up until this week.
“I proved by doing it just on my own, setting up the courts every Saturday for 22 years, that it works.
“We’ve had no problems and Gloucester is well regarded within the association and now they’re going to have to get a sports committee and all that.
“I used to be here every Saturday at half past six setting everything up, looking after kids and making barbecues and we’ve had a ball.”
Kucks began his coaching career four decades ago in Dandenong and, not surprisingly, started up a new club in the process.
“I started in Dandenong in 1970 and started the Dandenong Recreation Club, and I was there for five years,” Kucks said.
“I did a bit of private coaching in 1967, teaching all the blokes in my footy team how to play tennis.
“Someone said to me ‘why aren’t you out doing this properly’, but I had three children to raise and it was a bit dicey at the time.
“I was lucky that the firm I was working at took me on as a part-time accountant, so I could go out and do tennis as well.”
Kucks coached his way around Gippsland, with stints at Bunyup, Nar Nar Goon and as far as Yarragon before becoming West Gippsland Tennis Association president in 1980.
“I was president of West Gippsland and they had quaint customs.
“I couldn’t get the kids out of bed for an eight o’clock start.
“The seniors were supposed to start at one o’clock and they were always in about two.
“On Saturdays, when they had the men’s doubles and ladies’ doubles, they would take an hour off for afternoon tea at five o’clock and play three mixed games in the dark.”
After three years in the position at the WGTA, Kucks, with the backing of a few clubs in the Berwick area, started the Berwick and District Tennis Association.
“Away we went, and look at it now.
“Winter or summer, it doesn’t matter, the association has 21 sections and is growing.
“Most people have six kids in it (a team), when they’re supposed to have four.”
Kucks played off a few times against multiple grand slam winner Neale Fraser… but Kucks thinks it wasn’t much of a match.
“Embarrassed by him,” Kucks said.
“When I left school, I was 21 and Neale Fraser was 18. I ran into him in a tournament and told him not to make a fool of me.
“If you managed to return his serve, the bugger would be at the net to beat you with the volley.
“That’s how he won the American Open (US Open) twice and Wimbledon.”
Kucks attributes his longevity as a coach to the excitement and energy of the kids he teaches and intends to keep active once tennis no longer occupies the majority of his time.
“Being with kids all the time, and having fun with kids, it keeps you young.
People ask me what I’m going to do; I’ll probably be a stablehand for my son’s horses.”
“If the thing is falling apart, I’ll be down here with a stick.”
Unfortunately for Kucks, neither of his two grand final teams at Gloucester took home the pennant on the weekend; Gloucester Red lost in Section Nine 1 set, 30 games to 7 sets, 49 games against Upper Beaconsfield and Section 16 lost narrowly 3 sets, 32 games to 5 sets, 34 games to Beaconsfield.