Avon Tennis’ volunteers from the Tennis Development Group (TDG) have just completed some autumn Club/Venue Forums with coaches, volunteers & representatives from around the county Zooming in. Those who attended learnt more about what your county association has on offer in the way of expertise and support, plus they heard some of the latest news from the LTA. There were two longer breakout group discussion sessions firstly sharing success to inspire each other and secondly to share ideas on retaining your members/players through the winter months.
Simon Spalter, National Volunteer Champion and founder of the Tennis Volunteer Community Facebook Group, (join here – https://www.facebook.com/groups/517145319449375), joined us to explain this new free initiative for anyone in tennis to connect together to solve challenges and share advice online in a supportive way for the benefit of the sport.
We heard about: introducing Pay & Play using Smart Gates; the revamping of club houses; the addition of a defibrillator & cabinet at a venue; transitioning juniors into adult tennis; league success; the return of social events; managing fluctuating demand as indoor courts reopened; linking with schools; clubs considering introducing Padel Tennis; bonding communities to encourage more volunteering; and an increase generally in players at clubs and in coaching programmes. Participants also shared ideas such as: friendly inter-club matches through the winter; the use of WhatsApp Groups and increased social events (including online) to keep communities connected when the weather stops play; technical clothing for year round outdoor tennis; increased demand for holiday camps due to less international travel; floodlight challenges & successes; winter Cardio sessions; and organising exhibition matches.
We also had presentations on other topics: our county safeguarding team gave updates; we talked about county performance for juniors; we heard about Open Court Disability Tennis (how to be an inclusive venue, adaptive equipment, grant funding, workforce development, & inclusive LTA Youth Start courses); LTA Awards; LTA Youth Schools & online learning for schools; the introduction of ITF World Tennis Number; Coaching level courses and CPD course opportunities at the new Team Bath Coach Development Centre; and Padel in Bristol.
Finally, we asked attendees to vote on which subjects they would like to see prioritised in future, topic-specific Zoom sessions for a more targeted audience (eg Safeguarding, Grants & Funding, Marketing & Comms, etc) and we will be looking to introduce these new style shorter, Hot Topic Zoom sessions in 2022, so watch this space!
The TDG would be happy to run through the presentations individually at a suitable time with anyone who missed attending these Forums, if you would like to arrange this, please email events@avontennis.org.uk.