Court Usage Issues
Two issues concerning court usage have surfaced recently, with lessons for the membership and the committee.
The first one came a few days ago in the shape of an amusing petition from members playing mid-week. Eight members had signed a paper petition left near the pavilion, presumably for the attention of myself and the rest of the committee. The concern expressed related to the court usage by boys from St Anthony's School on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. They have the right to use two courts in specified hours. Coupled with the two courts allocated to coaching, this restricts general play to the block of three courts. Given the growth in mid-week play (consistent with the growth in membership over recent years) this means that players are sometimes obliged to wait for a court to become free.
The second issue concerns court usage by junior matches at the weekend. Complaints were expressed verbally to members of the coaching team who were running these matches. The complaints caused upset to Marina and her team over last weekend.
So, what actions are resulting from these two sources of concern over court usage?
Regarding the first one, involving St Anthony's School, the club will be in touch with the school regarding our contract with it. As it happens, a new contract has to be signed as the club has now incorporated, and the concerns expressed by the petitioners will inform the discussion with the school. Nothing can be done regarding this summer's term but the arrangements for 2017 might be reconsidered.
Regarding the junior matches, the committee had agreed that, just like adult members, juniors can and should participate in inter-club matches. These can only be arranged at weekends. We try and schedule them to cause the least impact, and that's why they start at 12:00, when general play begins to reduce. However, given the success of the overall junior programme the number of matches, related to age and gender, has increased, resulting in some weekend days having two matches scheduled. The committee will consider the impact of these matches when it next meets, but it's unlikely that the response will be to curtail them. The plan to address court usage issues is to build more playing capacity. This is in hand, but, as you can imagine, will take time and effort on the part of several tennis and club committee members. The match schedule is published in the website calendar, which might assist members in deciding when to come to the club.
In future, if any member has a concern regarding court usage when junior matches are held, please do not address your concerns to the coaching team. They are running these matches in their own time because of the care they take over the progress of their charges. Please feel free to contact me at any time in person, by email, phone, or, by leaving a paper petition at the club.