Athole Herbert is 90, but you wouldn’t know it from his tennis schedule.

He still takes to the local tennis courts four days a week – and has for decades.

Herbert joined Pāpāmoa Tennis Club 36 years ago and helped shape its courts, clubhouse and community as Pāpāmoa grew around it.

Ask him about what he has done, and he is quick to brush it off because for him, it’s always been about the people.

“When you look around today, everybody’s chatting together, and it’s absolutely just like being home.

Longtime players said showing up at any age is what keeps the club thriving. Photo / Kelly O'Hara.

Exercise

“All these people that you know and everybody looks after everybody else. It’s great.”

Herbert first picked up a racket at 50, after years at a desk job left him wanting more exercise.

He said staying active had long been important to him and his wife Anna shared the same attitude.

She’d been going to the gym four days a week for more than 40 years and was working her way back after breaking her hip.

“It’s important for everybody to do some exercise,” Herbert said.

“Even if they do a bit three or four or five times a week, just half an hour or an hour, that’ll make a huge difference to your life in the long term.”

Splitting his time between Pāpāmoa and Mount Maunganui tennis clubs, he found what started as a way to stay fit became so much bigger.

Herbert said lots had changed since he first began playing tennis.

Herbert helped drive the expansion from four courts to a major tennis hub. Photo / Kelly O'Hara

Off the courts

The Pāpāmoa club had four courts at the time, before Western Bay Tennis added another 10. He was heavily involved in that expansion, helping establish the trust that would own the additional courts, and played a role in getting the club’s current clubhouse built.

Herbert was also president of Mount Maunganui Tennis Club for three years. But his community involvement had extended well beyond tennis.

Herbert spent 12 years as a regional councillor and worked at the Port of Tauranga, witnessing the port’s transformation, including the development of Sulphur Point and its first container crane.

In 2008, he was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for his community service.

Paul Hickey, who organised the Tuesday and Friday tennis groups and had been part of the club for 19 years, said Herbert had always been a formidable opponent.

“He was a big challenge; he was a spinner and a lefty and everything.”

As both men aged, the fact they were still turning up mattered most.

“But now that he’s gone from 70 to 90 and I’ve gone from whatever to whatever ... there’s something for everyone in this club, whatever your level is, there’s something for everyone,” Hickey said.

Club president Kevin Mayall said Herbert was one of the people responsible for creating the strong community spirit around the club.

“He doesn’t know it, but that’s just who he is. He’s just such an awesome guy.

“That’s a really cool thing about the Pāpāmoa Tennis Club, that Pāpāmoa vibe, and it’s because of him.”

Herbert said the club’s strength lies in its friendships, not its facilities. Photo / Kelly O'Hara.

Nothing to incredible

Mayall said Herbert had helped shape the tennis club into what it is today.

“When you look back at what Athole actually did, you’ve got to remember Pāpāmoa had nothing here,” he said.

“Athole’s actually made what we’re standing on now. It’s incredible.”

Mayall said the club had close to 500 members when school programmes were included, with a focus on getting families involved and making tennis accessible to people of all ages and abilities.

“Getting people active, laughing, enjoying life – that’s what we’re about.”

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post.