THE 2013 Tyke Petroleum York Men’s Tennis League season kicks off on Sunday, with a change at the top for reigning division one champions Poppleton.

The title holders host newly- promoted Wetherby Castlegarth in their opening match and John Moore has stepped down after 14 years as captain.

During his time at the helm, Poppleton have won seven league crowns and the task of filling his shoes goes to 19-year-old Nick Turnbull.

Turnbull is a product of the esteemed Poppleton junior coaching programme. The teenager has been a regular Poppleton first teamer since 2009, and won the Nestlé Family Tournament’s Father and Son Trophy with his dad, Paul, that year.

Club officials believe he has the credentials to carry on Poppleton’s prodigious success in the top division. Having secured a hat-trick of successive titles with last season triumph, Moore is taking a back seat following the birth of his first child, daughter Arabella.

The league will comprise seven divisions of eight teams and one division of seven teams.

The uneven number of teams is due to the withdrawal of Dunnington’s third team from division seven. The club have decided they no longer have the numbers to service three teams. Division seven will have only seven teams, with each playing 12 matches.

The divisions are this year arranged into a pyramid of four different levels. League secretary Ian Hillman said: “It won’t make any difference to the weekly matches but, at the end of the season, promotion will be between levels rather than divisions.

“The new structure will help teams quickly attain a level of competition best suited to their abilities.

“All divisions within one level now have equal status. With level four being made up of divisions six, seven and eight, there will be six teams to be promoted to level three – divisions four and five – at the end of the season.

“An additional feature of the pyramid is that the teams who aren’t promoted or relegated will be mixed up within their level, so that everyone gets to play against new opponents next year not just the movers and shakers.”

He added: “The league will be continuing with the 12-point scoring system, pioneered last year, as it proved almost universally popular.

“With 63 teams from 34 clubs across North Yorkshire, this is going to be the biggest and best men’s tennis season yet.”

The latest results, news and league tables will be available by visiting the website http://www.communigate.co.uk/york/tykepetroleummenstennisleague/index.phtml