Slight change of tack here...
I will never have the pleasure of cycling with a fine friend I met this spring at my local tennis club. As a similarly young engineer with a love of bikes, he and I thought we'd try our luck as a doubles pair over the summer. His passing is a great loss to all who were lucky enough to know him, and the following is our team's tribute:
In spring 2013 Stan joined Moseley Tennis Club where his warm, sociable character and excellent standard saw him quickly gain friends, regular playing partners and a place with us in the Moseley 5th team. He was a core team member in what’s been our strongest team to date, ending the summer season with promotion to the highest position we’ve ever reached. Stan himself achieved the best match stats of any player in the league:
Stan the Man, it won't be half as good without you.
I will never have the pleasure of cycling with a fine friend I met this spring at my local tennis club. As a similarly young engineer with a love of bikes, he and I thought we'd try our luck as a doubles pair over the summer. His passing is a great loss to all who were lucky enough to know him, and the following is our team's tribute:
In spring 2013 Stan joined Moseley Tennis Club where his warm, sociable character and excellent standard saw him quickly gain friends, regular playing partners and a place with us in the Moseley 5th team. He was a core team member in what’s been our strongest team to date, ending the summer season with promotion to the highest position we’ve ever reached. Stan himself achieved the best match stats of any player in the league:
As a player he was prolific and reliable, and would start
each match with a hearty “Good Game!” followed by a booming serve we came to
know as one of his ‘bombs’. He played a clever game, always composed and
managing to tuck his shots into impossible gaps with a fine touch you just
don’t expect from someone with his power.
Stan’s quest for the perfect racket setup never failed to
amuse us, with an ever-growing collection of rackets (12 at the last count, we
think) and his experimental approach to restrings seeing him try a new tension
practically each week - a luxury the
rest of us might only indulge a few times a year! We’re sure this
experimentalism in pursuit of improvement led him to become the brilliant
player he was.
More than just being a successful player though, he was
great to have around. You couldn’t miss
him coming with his bright yellow cap, big headphones and England shirt. He
always met us with a smile, was sociable, easygoing and warm hearted - happy
to play with anyone and happier still for a catch up afterwards.
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