What is Caro Bowl?
Caro Bowl is Auckland’s top Interclub competition. It took its name from the trophy “Maurice S Caro Memorial Bowl” which was donated in memory of the late Maurice S Caro, who was killed in action on the 2nd of July 1916 in the first battle of Somme (WW1).You will notice the ladies' trophy only has results from 1990 onwards displayed on it, this is because until then, the Mens' and Ladies' Caro Bowl had been played together so only the one trophy (now the mens' trophy) was presented.
In the current era of Caro Bowl, the club looks to create a pathway for tennis players to progress and develop their skills from junior interclub level through to senior level and the pinnacle of the interclub format, Caro Bowl. We pride ourselves on not only the standard of tennis that our elite players reach but also in the quality of their character. Royal Oak team members are notoriously loyal and true ‘Club Members’.
In recent years the ladies team has made the final 11 out of the last 12 years and has seen players such as Rewa Hudson, Irena Yarikova, Abigail Guthrie and this year will see young Tennis NZ stars Leela Beattie and Emily Fanning fill the top positions in the team. The balance of the team will be Nicola Kaiwai, Angela Swinkels, Rachel Dive and Kirby Wotherspoon.
The Mens team has consistently fielded a strong team which has seen NZ’s most successful professional tennis player, Brett Steven, take the court for The Oak both as a junior and senior player more recently. Other players of note are James Greenhalgh, Teo Susnjak, Willie Laban to name a few. For the past 7 years the team has been based around local legend Andrew Allan and he will be accompanied in 2009 by Kiril Tchervenaichki, Wei Wei, Scott Winnard, Jaden Grinter and Bryce Hayr.