THINGS
TO DO TO IMPROVE YOUR CLUB.
1/.
Juniors – You need to have a positive programme for juniors
and I am not within this context talking about their coaching
programme.
Many clubs do not allow juniors to play after a certain time,
and they come up with all sorts of excuse. ‘The juniors do not
pay as much as seniors’ so therefore seniors should have
priority. ‘ Juniors can come to the club from 4.00 pm.’
therefore after 7.00 pm should be for seniors.
This
is not the correct way to view your junior membership,
the
juniors in the club, are The Future of The Club’ there
are
many ways that you can actively support juniors. It is
unfortunate
that lots of seniors feel threatened by the juniors
as they
are better trained and can in many instances play
better
than the seniors. This is no reason for holding
juniors
back
2/.
It depends on the number of courts available in the club, but one
court should be set aside for junior members (if at all possible).
Coaching should take place on a court but it could be the same
court.
3/.
How about a junior night, with one court set aside for seniors,
and on this particular night have free coaching for juniors (paid
for by the club – in some instances you can get a grant from the
LTA for free coaching.
4/.
Junior standards run by the coach for each grade, be it
age/standard
and juniors move up the grades depending on
standard. This could lead on to a club
colours scheme. The
junior
is recommended to the club playing committee by either
members and the coach. The junior is invited to attend a club
session where they are viewed and played with by committee
members and if they are considered good enough and integrate
with those players, they are awarded their club colours and are
then considered to have equal status with members at all times.
5/. Juniors
with club colours are entitled to play in senior teams as
their standard permits. I once had a
twelve year old junior
playing
in my mens second team, he was as good
as if not better
than some of the other team members.
6/.
Have a senior player mentor a good junior.
7/.
Run junior tournaments.
8/.
Have a 50 and/or 100 ball rally. A junior can request the
opportunity to participate and must rally for the 50 or 100 hits
without
it breaking down, if they succeed their name is written
on the ball and it resides in a particular spot at the club house.
9/.
Let the coach or the playing committee organise a junior fun
day, when they play not only tennis but a number of other
sports. This can be very effective if all the participants are
divided into four groups and each is given a name. They score 4
for a win, 3 for second and so on, make this an annual event.
Each age group should be divided into
the four groups. The
trophy resides in the club house and is won each year.
10/.
This concept can also be used effectively within the overall
coaching programme.
11/. L.T.A.
licensed coaches can get accreditation and take juniors
to
Wimbledon. A coach can also get tickets
to take three juniors
with them to Wimbledon, Have a competition for the top three
juniors to win. Not necessarily a playing competiton.
12/./
Have a M.I.P. award (Most Improved Player) for a junior and a
Senior, this can be difficult to decide but the playing committee
and
club coach put names forward to the committee.
This is
very
popular even though it is arbitrarily.
13/.
Always intigrate the Junior club annually tournament finals
together with the senior finals, it give more encouragement to
the juniors and the seniors also watch these matches.
14/. Organise
a fun week for local school children at the club, with
coaching and fun games. You will need plenty of helpers in
addition to the coaches don’t take on too many to manage.
Invite them to join the club, this is a good source of new
members.
15/. Organise
inter-club exchanges, both senior and junior, play
some games and end up with a bar-b-que. Do you have a
permanent brick built B-B-Q!
16/. Organise
an ‘It’s a Knockout’ day – great fun.
17/. Hire a local leisure centre for an afternoon and have a interclub get together –
say 3 –4 clubs, organise basketball, short tennis, football, swimming, badminton etc., Have a trophy.
18/. Organise an American tournament or an Open tournament, make it an annual event.
19/. What about an exchange with an overseas club, is your town twinned with another, this is an obvious start. Can be both seniors and juniors.
If any clubs –
coaches would like to add their ideas, this will then
benefit all clubs.
RAINY DAYS.
Are you ready for rainy days !
See my rainy day tennis - Quiz that can be organised with
teams etc.
Should always be available at the club.
Video analysis - On those sunny days video the different strokes that
your students do and then use the videos for those rainy days.
But, obtain the parent's permission before doing this.
I have an LCD projector and can show the video on the club house wall.
Have a video evening, showing to club members only - instructional videos.
Obtain permission to show them.
OTHER IDEAS
Bring a Friend.
Increase participation in your junior programme. Participants can bring
a friend to junior squad twice without charge for them to get a taste of tennis.
Pay a Fiver.
If a junior introduces one of their friends, who signs up for a 6 week course,
the introducing junior gets Five pounds.
Crash Course 40 – 15
To introduce new members to club.
For a set fee participants get 15 one hour lessons (8 – 1 ratio) and
can be organised in two ways: 5 days for 3 weeks or M-W-F for 5 weeks. Friday being reserved for matches.
Summer Camp.
Providing activity for kids during summer holidays.
Camp runs from 12.00 – 3.00 pm, all asges and abilities with lots
of extras including music, pizza, prizes etc.
Early Bird Doubles.
Provide a Pro supervised and organised programme. Members can just drop
in to play with the pro being the odd player in or out.
Ladies Coffee Morning.
Ladies turn up and play or talk over coffee – no pressure.
Pro makes the coffee.
Games Fun Day
To provide a break from routine.
Each court has a different game that lasts ½ hour. Players can switch courts
with the chance to win prizes on each court.
Adult Advanced Week-end
Provide an intense two day instructional programme for advanced beginners
and above. Saturday and Sunday, three hours each day.
Compass Tournament.
Everyone ends up in a final, full day event, see details separately.
Lunch time League.
Special tennis format to ensure it finishes within the hour. See separate details.
Stroke of the Week
To help players improve their stroke producion and also introduce them to
other lesson programmes.
Different stroke each week for seven weeks then the schedule repeats.
Hit and Fit.
Programme to improve players’ firness and tennis.
3 courts with a pro as a monitor. instructions for each court are written
out. one court is a playing court, one court with drills and one court is a fitness court.
Generation Gap.
Can be a league or one day event. An adult is paired with a junior player,
play is organised depending on ability.
Family day.
Parent and Child enter as a pair, any mixture (i.e. Mother/son, Fater/son
etc)
may need handicapping.
Hit Till You Drop.
To improve fitness while playing. Each court has a pro conducting drills
on a particular shot. Players rotate courts, high intensity drills accompanied
by music.
Junior Theme Nights.
To provide some extra fun with the tennis programme.
Friday nightm just turn up with a different theme each week, players don’t
know the theme until arriving. examples: pizza night, team tennis, Davis Cup, Carnival night.
Tennis Aerobics
Provides a complete workout, players receive instruction and aerobics.
Different drills are set up and run non-stop. Players are moving the whole
time and the class is set to music (lively)
Strwberries and Cream.
Use Wimbledon as a focus for members and their guests.
Guests play with other members to socialize and increase likelihood of joining.
Have afternoon tea with strawberries and cream.
Pro-Shop Day with Wine Tasting
Allows member to socialize, try out new rackets and have a fun sfternnof,
finish with a pro exhibition match and a glass of wine.
Points Make Prizes.
A fun junior day where they are given the chance to earn ‘Points’
for winning games, answering questions, picking up balls, behavious etc., The points are then added up and prizes won at end
of the session.
