Tennis Club Management

Tennis Clubs and facilities come in all shapes, sizes and business models. In the USA and Europe there is a much more private model and Australia we predominantly have community clubs with a private coaching business intertwined.

A private enterprise could be a total club ownership with a Manager and Director of Coaching positions or it may be a contracted coaching business who also has some club management responsibilities. A community club is normally voluntary committee run and committee’s work tirelessly to help club’s ensuring that the facilities, members and club calendars are being serviced.

The benefit to the club of having private business involved is that customer service is an expectation. The benefit to having a committee run ‘front of house’ is that the club will save money on staff or contractors. The downside for anything volunteer run is that the time required to meet a decent standard of customer service can overwhelm someone volunteering on their club committee. The expectation to respond to any immediate email, phone call, text, social media message,  or to serve any walk ins to the club, is a must in this day and age and if a potential member cannot get in touch with someone then they will likely not become a member.

I can see tennis clubs either being a blend of committee and private management or full private management. You can get volunteer committee members who are amazing at their role and can meet the demands of a modern tennis customer. The problem when there is a new committee member may not be able to meet those same expectations. This creates an inconsistency in customer service over any specific time frame. My own tennis club at Scarborough Tennis is a blend of volunteer committee and our full time tennis professionals at the tennis academy who are responsible for the main phone and email lines, court management, marketing, sponsorship and new members.

Rick Willsmore

Scarborough Tennis