New coach aims to boost club numbers

MEMBERS of Teesdale Tennis Club are looking to grow their member base.

With coaching back at the courts in Don Wallace Reserve on Thursdays, secretary and juniors coordinator Judy Evans said club members are keen to take advantage with a boost in numbers.

“We’re actively looking to build our members. We have a lot of people wanting to play tennis but it takes a lot of volunteer time to make it happen,” she said.

“Most of out members work so we’ve needed someone to volunteer with the schoolkids so hopefully we can build our junior numbers that way.

“There’s a great need. I’ve been here for 40 years and when my boys played, we had 14 junior sides and they were playing in all the spare courts I could find in the area.”

The club currently has seven mid-week women’s, 14 senior, and 10 juniors players, four of whom are social.

Teesdale has been without a tennis coach for two seasons after the club’s previous trainer left having worked in the role for about five years.

The past coach regularly taught about 16 kids, none of which were able to go onto competitive play.

Ms Evans said in recruiting for seniors, the club members are aiming to revive their nighttime social competition once interest returns and lighting is installed to all four courts.

As part of the effort to increase participation in the club, Attack Tennis Academy founder Julian Arnold is set to head up Teesdale’s coaching program.

The long-time supporter of the sport at the grassroots levels has more than two decades’ experience.

Having undertaken a similar coaching initiative at Bannockburn in October, Arnold said he’s confident the interest will grow for Teesdale.

“We’ve got about six weeks of coaching until the end of the year so hopefully it fills up and we’ll continue into next year,” he said.

“There’s the option for clinics in the holidays as well. There’s been a few clubs I’ve had over the years that have had hardly anyone to start with so it’s just about getting into the schools to build it up.”