HOW SUCCESSFUL DO YOU WANT YOUR CLUB TO BE!

What do you mean by successful ?

1/.      Do you define success as winning tennis matches – competitions -  Tournaments – Leagues.

2/.      Do you define success by the amount of money in the club?

3/.      Do you define success by the number of members in the club.

We each have our own idea about a successful club, but

surely success should be viewed taking into account each

of the above points!

I have known clubs who have failed because of their

policy of only catering for the good players in the club, i.e.

focusing too much on winning.

I believe that to be successful, a club must have a happy

balance of every aspect of the areas I’m going to

highlight.

Another most important point, I believe is concerning the

large commercial tennis centres, I feel that many could

also benefit by taking on board some of the aspects which

we will raise. Only too often, there is a lack of a

belonging feeling to these centres, because they only focus

on the ‘making money’ aspect and could well do even

better by creating a club atmosphere.

WHAT DO WE DO TO IMPROVE OUR POTENTIAL!

If we are really looking to create a club with a friendly

outlook and to equally generate sufficient funds, my

advice is to major on family memberships.

The fees should be fixed to allow a family to join the club

as well as senior and junior individuals. The fees should

also be carefully considered to maximise  both the number

of members and the required revenue. This is a difficult

equation to come up with and will also depend on the

area, whether a wealthy neighbourhood or not. I have

seen incidences, however, where the fees are over priced

and this has restricted the growth of members.

A useful tip is that the senior membership is

A further point to take into consideration is whether the

club is to be a self-help club or whether the members are

willing to pay extra for all of the services required.

Without doubt a self help club has to my mind a far

happier and a closer-knit population, members help is far

in excess of what you would have to pay someone to do

the work. Then you also have the problem should you pay

for some services and not others; the volunteer members

will feel aggrieved to see someone else being paid and not

them.

Taking these points into consideration, it has to be

appreciated that with a self help situation, some members

will not be interested in doing anything to help, and these

points must be kept in mind.

Suffice to say, there is usually a body of members who

enjoy doing their bit for the club.

We will start by looking at the format of the club.

1/.      I believe the most important aspect that you should consider is to major on family memberships. This has a tremendous benefit to the club for a number of reasons:

          A/.  You might have people join for their children

                 who already play, and then decide to start

                 learning themselves – your coach should work

                 on them in this respect/

          B/.  You might get adults who play join and then

                 want their children to take up the game.

          C/.  You will have members in the club who do not

                 play but are happy to pay the fee for the sake

                 of their children and they quite often

                 participate in the social side of the club.

          D/.  You should have a management committee,

                 who look after the general running of the club.

                 A playing committee who deal with all matters

                 relating to the playing side.

                 A social committee who look after all the

                 aspects of the social side, this includes the

                 preparation of meals/teas at any tennis event.

                  It is also worth considering having a

                  maintenance committee.

                  What about a social tennis committee, to

                  handle the area of social tennis in the club.

                  And finally you should always have a junior

        representative who is a member of the playing

        committee.

2/.      You should have a club coach and he should be certified, either L.T.A. or P.T.R.  I am personally happy with both qualifications, you get good and bad coaches in both categories.  You need to interview them carefully, ensure they do some coaching to your request, during the interview and also find out what you can about them

This area is again a bone of contention in many clubs, the club coach is often considered as a part time hanger on, but to be quite honest, and in my opinion the club coach can offer a lot to a club and should be considered a very important part of the club. he should sit on the playing committee and should be afforded the opportunity to have his say. All playing committee suggestions should be ratified by management in any case.

The club coach can have a tremendous affect on the well being of the club as they can work in the local schools and ensure a steady stream of juniors into the club itself.