Term Time Tennis For Women - A Success Story!
We have a thriving club in Bewdley, but in recent years have not attracted younger women members.
A brainstorming session on recruitment held in the Spring of 2010 resulted in the club holding free Taster Sessions in addition to our traditional Open Days. We also decided to be more proactive towards the ABC (absolute beginners’ courses) held each Summer, with a member attending the penultimate lesson to talk about the club and offering a good deal on subs if they joined at the end of the course. Both these approaches worked well but as always women were in short supply amongst those recruited.
Two of us came up with the idea of a tailor made course to target the elusive female of the species!
We decided to run a 10 week course, called Term Time Tennis for Women (TTT)
We were joined by the Ladies’ Captain and put together a plan for a 2 hour session 9.30-11.30am,consisting of 1 hour’s formal coaching and 1 hour of social tennis and refreshments. We offered this at an attractive price, and also provided racquets if needed.
Funding was obtained from Wyre Forest District Council, the club itself and Bewdley Town Council, and when Geoff, our new coach, joined us in February 2011 he enthusiastically supported us.
The rest, as they say, is history....
The first Monday morning of the Summer term saw 28 women arrive in varying stages of excitement and apprehension, 24 of whom completed the course!
It became clear that we had struck a chord with the women of Bewdley!
The Autumn term course has 32 registered members, 16 of whom are improvers from the Summer, the rest new recruits.
Why did this initiative succeed so spectacularly, and has it translated into new women members for the club?
The timing of it works for the women. Racquets were provided.
The 2nd hour of social tennis is facilitated each week by club members with coaching/teaching experience.
Different members helped each week with the refreshments.
Last but not least we had an effective advertising campaign. We used free space in the community magazine, local school newsletters and the town website, as well as our own. We also targeted baby clinics, play groups, hairdressers, gyms and parents of existing juniors.
We offered a good deal on membership fees.
At the end of term 7 women joined the club, 1 with her husband and 1 with her family. We are confident more will join at the end of this term too. ( 1 has already.)
We had originally set ourselves a target of 1 or 2 new members from a possible 12 course participants, so are delighted with the success of our idea. We feel the considerable effort has been worthwhile, so much so that we wanted to share the results with other clubs, who may be having similar problems. Likewise, if anyone else has come up with a successful scheme we should be interested to hear about it!
Jenny Frow