Cam and Dursley Tennis Club are flourishing both in terms of quantity and quality.

Their membership figures are good – more than 70 – and they are performing well in the various leagues.

Their mixed team have won promotion to the Premier Division in the Gloucestershire Winter League while their leading men’s and ladies’ teams are playing in the upper reaches of the Gloucestershire Summer League.

“In terms of performing in the league structure, for a small club we do very well,” said club secretary Phil Morris. “We punch above our weight.”

And Phil said the membership numbers are also encouraging.

“They are increasing which is something we’re very pleased about,” he said. “Numbers are dropping at quite a few tennis clubs, although not by much.

“Pickleball and padel have taken a few players away but we’ve been quite active trying to encourage non-members to get involved in the club.

“The plan is to introduce as many people to the sport as possible.”

The club also encourage members to play pickleball and Phil continued: “We’re a very inclusive, family-orientated club. One of the many things we do is run children’s sessions which are very popular.”

Phil, who is 47, is in his fourth year as secretary at the club which has three courts, two of which are floodlit.

His wife Angela is membership secretary and social secretary and it was she who introduced him to the club back in the mid-noughties.

“She used to play for Dursley Tennis Club before they merged with Cam in the 1990s,” explained Phil, a former Maidenhill School pupil who lived in Stonehouse when he was younger.

“I used to play tennis recreationally but it’s only in the last 20 years that I’ve played competitively.”

Phil may have been a relative latecomer to league tennis but he’s been a key player over the years with the two senior men’s teams playing in Division 2A and 2B in the Gloucestershire Summer League.

The club also have a men’s C team who play in Division Six while the ladies’ flagship team play in Division One and the B team compete in Division Four.

It is the mixed team whose performances have really caught the eye, however, and Phil said: “We did very well to get promoted, the Premier Division is a very, very high standard.

“We tend to do well in Division One but it is much tougher in the Premier Division.”

Phil was partnered by Becky Kaye in the winter campaign and during the summer his regular partner is Simon Fullard.

He used to partner his wife in the mixed doubles and Cam and Dursley Tennis Club is clearly very much a family club because as well as Phil and his wife holding prominent positions, the Matthews family do as well.

Peter, David and Paul Matthews are brothers and they are the chairman, club captain and welfare officer, respectively.

“They’ve been involved with the club for about 10 years,” said Phil. “The committee is well balanced, the club are in a positive position.”

Phil, just like the Matthews brothers, loves his tennis.

“It’s quite a physical sport, especially if you’re playing singles,” he said. “You need good hand/eye coordination and you need the ability to move.

“You have to be able to anticipate where the ball is going rather than react because the ball moves very quickly.

“It’s a difficult sport to play because you have to be pretty dedicated and put in a lot of practice.”

That focuses the mind, of course, and Phil says all the hard work is certainly worthwhile.

“Tennis is a social and competitive sport,” he said. “It’s just good playing a sport outside that is active.”