MAKE YOUR TENNIS CLUB MORE SUCCESSFUL.

I have been involved with successful tennis clubs over the years and the object of this site is :

1/.      To pass on information that I have gleaned from these clubs

2/.      Give my own thoughts on how a club can be successful

3/.      And I hope – To receive advice and information to add to this site, from any club or coach – to add on, to help others.

Anyone who belongs to or has ideas about their club, can pass the information to me and I will review this and if it has merit, to help other clubs, will add it to the site.  We are all in the tennis game to make sure we have the best club we possibly can for the benefit of it’s members.

I find it particularly sad, that I have been asked for help and advice by some clubs and then they have ignored my suggestions because it will upset some of the members. I have found this, in particular with some of the older clubs where the members of long standing, feel threatened by change, and also do not want their regular Saturday morning four to be challenged.

It is also unfortunate that some clubs will not survive if they are not prepared to make some changes. I have been extremely fortunate to have been a founder member of a large and extremely successful club and have as such been heavily involved in the growth and management and the setting of the policies.

The intention of this website is to:

A/.     Set out some guide lines on what a successful club should be.

B/.     Give a number of ideas that can be incorporated in the club to the overall benefit of the club and it’s members.

A point that should be considered at an early stage, is where do you want your club to go. In many instances, clubs cannot grow because of the site on which they are placed. There are many two court sites and the club cannot get any larger, therefore it is necessary to take these points into consideration. But, in spite of this, I am certain even those clubs will find some points of interest and will be able to institute some of the ideas.

One of the major areas that I have found with the smaller clubs concerns the lack of members, and invariably they do not know what to do to increase membership.

I hear all manner of excuses from the ‘’area is not conducive to finding more people’’ to ‘’there is too much competition’’ – especially from the large commercial centres etc.

These really are excuses and hint that the members are not prepared to make some changes.

The main club with which I have been involved with for a number of years, has over 500 members, is situated in a small village, has competition all around from the indoor centers, has to take 70% of it’s membership from the village community, but has always had a 2 – 3 year waiting list