Ferndown Tennis Club has managed to overcome the dark winter evenings by using temporary floodlights with a little help from Ferndown Town Council
Head Coach, Chris Biddle, teaches during the day and then starts his evening lessons using the floodlights. Extremely thankful his day doesn’t finish when the light fades, Chris says “If I didn’t have the use of these floodlights I would lose so much teaching time in the winter. Plus, it wouldn’t be fair on the youngsters and working people who want early evening lessons.”
With such a show of dedication, Chris has managed to put a new spin on Ferndown Tennis Club, and Lynn Chong (Chair) is the first to admit it, “When Chris came to us three years ago, most of our members were over 50 and many were retired. Since Chris has been coaching here the membership has rocketed by 120% and the club is reaching new members of the community.”
As well as being head coach, Chris runs school tournaments, holiday clubs and cardio tennis. There is even a parent and toddler course too. Chris is a Level 4 licensed coach for all abilities and also runs courses at local schools for teachers. The club’s motto is ‘Tennis for Everyone’ and Chris is certainly achieving this. Not only that, membership is not as expensive as you might think and once you join the courts can be used for free.
As for the floodlights, these will eventually have to be returned and the club is in the process of applying to Sport England, through the King George V Charity and with help from the LTA, for the money for permanent floodlights
(Photo: @mags4dorset)