This summer has seen terrible weather and many people seem to have got out of the habit of playing at social sessions.  Many stalwarts have been playing as usual and its great to see everyone who turns up but the rest of you – please come along again!  Many of us will play throughout the year for as long as the weather permits, so cast off the idea that winter is on its way and come and enjoy playing at the courts.

See you next Saturday morning or Monday evening?!

New Tuesday evening sessions for adults and juniors

Would you like somewhere for your child to go after school to gain some sports experience?  They will enjoy playing tennis!  We have organised supervised sessions on Tuesday evenings up until when the clocks change in October, (it will be too dark after that).  The sessions will start next week from Tues 18^th Sept.

The sessions will be organised, supervised and looked after by Matt from CD Tennis and the emphasis of the sessions will be to play games to gain some court awareness and experience of playing.  Matt will supervise and offer advice but the idea is to get people playing each other.  If you would also like some coaching then please contact CD Tennis and come along to the coaching sessions on Sunday mornings (see website for details).

The Tuesday session times will be 4-5pm for mini-tennis/juniors and 5-6pm for older juniors and adults.   If you want to keep on playing after 6pm then of course, please do so although the supervised session will end then.

If you haven’t been coming to the courts because you have not felt confident enough to join in the social tennis sessions, or you simply have not been able to come on Saturday mornings or Monday evenings, then come along on Tuesday evenings!  There will be a small charge of £1 per hour session to help the club defray the cost of the professional assistance – just turn up at the courts at the appropriate time and pay the £1 to Matt.

We would also like to encourage adult players to come along on Tuesdays who are prepared to play with juniors or adults who are beginners and play in a manner that will encourage and help them.

Attracting new members

September marks the start of a new year for those in the education business and for that reason we are targeting this month to try and attract new blood to the club, in particular from the schools, the colleges and the University of Derby students.  If you know someone who might be interested in playing, please encourage them to come and try it out.  Playing standard is no handicap!  If they are beginners, they can come along to the coaching sessions and sessions with others who are starting out such as on Tuesday nights.  If they are skilled players, then they can always be the sought after partner at social play and the teams are always looking for new blood!

New Plans

The Tennis Club committee has two projects that it would like to see through in the near future to encourage play and make the club a more enjoyable experience for all.  The first is landscaping the area at the entrance of the courts in between the courts and the car park.  We would like to dig out the area that at present is the grassy bank with the wooden seats so that most of that will be at the level of the courts, there will be steps down from the car park and it will be more sheltered from the weather and have storage for club equipment such as the ball machine, notice boards and tables and seats to watch the games on court.  This proposal is still in its infancy and we will have to gain planning permission from the Council for any changes like this.  If you have relevant skills such as ability to draw up plans, knowledge of planning law, own a JCB or can suggest a contractor to request a quotation, we would be delighted to hear from you!  This plan is subject to affordability of quotations.  (Any suggestions to Allan Ramsay thanks!).

We also have a long term project to set up floodlighting at the courts.  Planning permission was granted almost 5 years ago and actual construction must be started before next spring if we are to carry out the project.  The LTA has paid for a consultant to study the clubs’ plans and make recommendations.  Such a project is very expensive of course and our club could not afford to undertake it if we had to find even a large fraction of the cost.  Fortunately, the LTA may be prepared to offer considerable assistance to the club which would bring the project within our financial means without compromising essential expenditure such as planning for court surface renewal, mortgaging our future or imposing additional burden upon our members.  A proposal to the LTA is being assembled at present to try and achieve this.  If any of you out there have skills in proposal writing or anything else that may help this project then we would be delighted to have your assistance.  Again, please contact Allan Ramsay

The committee believe that floodlighting will help all of our members to play throughout the autumn and spring plus the late winter afternoons, will make year round coaching and play possible which is vital to keep up junior interest and make team match play possible for much longer throughout the year.  Making the decision to go ahead with floodlighting is a big decision for our club but, the committee believes, the right one to keep our club going in a positive and growing direction.  This must be done concurrently with attracting new members and new blood coming into our club along with members demanding more time on the courts so please get encouraging people to join!

If you have any comments on any of the issues or proposals described above or are able and willing to assist and offer help (particularly if you have some appropriate professional skill), then we would be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks

Allan Ramsay

Chair, Buxton Tennis Club

10^th September 2007