ETHOS
We try and understand the reason why people may play tennis or want to be part of a club. Whether 3 years old or 73 year olds everyone will have a reason. It is unrealistic to profile every single person but for club managers, committees and coaches a general understand will help the club attract and retain players. Many people will try the sport but we have found to retain them we have to satisfy the reason behind what motivated them to try the sport. Please see below what we have found to be key drivers.
- Social/Friendships
- Active/Fitness
- Confidence
- Competition
- Medical
- Enjoyment
- A general passion for Tennis
SCHOOL WORK
We have a solid understanding of PE premium and we understand the children and schools will try and play more than one sport. We just try and get our share of this by putting together some quality tennis packages and selling these to schools enabling us to put rackets in hands and deliver and promote tennis to hundreds of children. Below are the number of schools we worked with weekly.
- 14 primary schools
- 4 secondary school
- 1 college
These programmes see between 600-700 children a week receive 12 weeks of summer coaching. We then have a clear pathway to our club via our term time programme and holiday clubs. This has proved essential in driving our participation numbers.
HOLIDAY CLUB
We have holiday clubs running every school holiday, 11 weeks in total. Our holiday camps are led by LTA coaches and are focussed and advertised around tennis, however to attract children who we may lose to other sports we offer a football and multi-sport section.
700 children took part in these clubs over the 6 weeks of summer 2018. These numbers were strong due to our school links and local sponsors who all help promote what we do. Timing and organisation is key when promoting the holiday clubs. We find a solid 6 week lead time is important, however details of all our holiday clubs are available from January.
Being flexible around working parents also helps. 5 years ago we used to run these activities as half day camps (until 12) we now have options for early drop off and late pick up. This flexibility helps parents and makes it more accessible. We see lots of players try the holiday club and then go onto regular weekly sessions.
TERM TIME GROUPS
We have 28 weekly groups and approximately 300 players per week that attend regular sessions. Again working with schools and sponsors has helped promote this. We have a range of pathway initiatives to sign post players to the club from our school and community work. We have only 5 courts (3 floodlit) I strongly believe we can double these numbers with improved facilities.
SOCIAL TENNIS
We recognise that many adults and juniors play tennis for social reason. We have a number of social tennis evenings and days for both doubles and singles. Making players feel comfortable to attend is key. We also have a strong social calendar with regular club events and parties. Members love this as it makes them feel part of a club.
TEAMS/COMPETITION
We understand that many players play for the buzz of competing. Most players start out in small steps but keep them hooked and they usually end up playing club match play. Once players start competing then they become hooked on the sport and the desire to improve. We have the following:
- 15 club teams
- Monthly Junior and Mini Tennis match play nights
15 teams is a struggle on 5 courts but again seeing the courts full on match days and evenings is an amazing feeling as this is the end result as to why people play tennis, have lessons and want to improve.
COMMUNITY
We massively believe in supporting the community. Skipton TC won the community sport award from our local council and this helped raise our profile. Community work is goodwill and this can have massive benefits to any tennis club regardless of it size, it also helps promote the sport to the wider public. Some of the work we have done in the community includes:
· Yorkshire Dales Food Festival. We saw hundreds of people from all over Yorkshire and provided and afternoon of tennis games and activities.
· Supermarket forecourts for tennis demos
· Nursery’s
· Change 4 Life sports festival
· School playground tennis taster sessions
· FREE Fridays. We open the courts free of charge every Friday in July
· We support work experience programmes
· We recently gave away 90 FREE places for local children during a school training day
MARKETING
We do our best to promote and market what we do. Marketing combines all of the above but we also believe in using every source available. Other sports will be competing for their share of players and will also be doing everything they can in this department so we see it as very important. People need to know it exists and what is available.
· Organisation Skills
· Social media
· News letters
· Email
· Club sponsors
· Media
· Radio
· Notice boards
· Schools and work places
All of the above are key to a sound marketing plan.
NUMBERS
In total we get approximately 1200 rackets in hands per week through all of the work above and we know the bottom line is people enjoying playing tennis. We have a strong tennis network both at the club and in the community, having this is essential for growth, development and participation.
SUMMARY
Many of the ideas and initiatives mentioned above overlap but for us understanding the different fractions, having motivation, vision and most of all a passion to develop the club and the sport is key. I strongly believe that other coaches across the UK could lead similar schemes whether on their own or alongside committees and club managers.
2018 saw us pick up the UK Club of the Year award at Wimbledon. This was a massive motivator to myself and everyone involved at Skipton TC. Thank you to everyone involved at the LTA as we appreciate your support and time.