Crablands Tennis Club

Aim

1) Floodlighting 2 courts to enable members to play in the evening after work or school. 2) Paint 1 new court to match existing courts

Who are we?

We are an LTA registered tennis club founded 100 years ago. We want to expand our facilities to meet current demands.

During the pandemic lockdown it was made abundantly clear how beneficial outdoor exercise is.  In 2019 our membership was 48 seniors and 23 juniors but it currently stands at 114 seniors and 80 juniors.  This figure is constantly increasing.  

Men’s and ladies’ teams compete in the Sussex leagues and we run many inclusive tournaments throughout the year.  We have a top level coach for both junior and senior members.  Our junior numbers are particularly encouraging and we run an apprenticeship scheme for coaching.  We are hoping to establish a link with the local schools within the area to expand our apprenticeship scheme.

Due to extreme pressure on court availability we have constructed a fourth hard court.   This has been partly funded by a grant from Chichester District Council but there is a shortfall.    However, it is essential that we complete this work and install floodlighting to extend the opportunity for working members to play through the winter months.  We have recently introduced a court booking system.   Our increased facilities will offer the whole community the chance to participate in important outdoor exercise by means of a pay to play scheme.

Crablands is the only tennis club outside of Chichester offering tennis facilities to a community of 12,000 residents.  We have an excellent clubhouse with changing rooms,  which enables all members to enjoy the use of the bar, kitchen and an indoor sports hall for short tennis and table tennis.  The club is entirely run by a team of volunteers and survives through the support of members’ fees and social and fundraising events.

Community impact

Having survived COVID and all it threw at the club in respect of managing to just stay afloat, we have created this Crowd Funding page to appeal to our community to assist in our exciting expansion plans.  We are totally committed to improving the club by:-

Completing the fourth hard tennis court by painting the surface.

Floodlighting 2 courts to enable after work and after school play to all members.

Offering pay to play access to the whole community including offering reduced or free access to those who are financially disadvantaged.  

Investment in well-established technology will enable us to deliver this.

We also intend to both continue with our existing coaching  apprenticeship scheme for young players and to increase the number of apprentices to meet the planned increased membership.

The  skills gained from the apprenticeship scheme  have proved beneficial  for both future life and careers.

We are also introducing Pickle Ball (the fastest growing sport in North America) to the club which, because it is easier to learn to play initially than tennis, should encourage both the youth of  Selsey and the less mobile adult residents to take part.

Walking tennis

Indoor short tennis and table tennis is also available.

The above gives an indication of what we want to achieve in the short term. 

Our ambition is to offer tennis facilities and associated ball games to as many members of the community as is possible.

HOW OUR PROJECT WILL BE UNITED BY BIRMINGHAM 2022

Many of our members were lucky enough to attend the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and all returned back  home enthused with the community spirit displayed by everyone involved from the bus drivers , stewards, parking attendants , food distributers and of course the athletes.

We would like to emulate this community spirit in our area and our club by providing outstanding and inclusive facilities as detailed above.

In so doing we will improve both the mental and physical health of our community and  increase peoples confidence, self esteem and overall well being.

The increase in tennis participation and the increased apprenticeship awards arising therefrom will we hope enable our area to both flourish and succeed.

Success for us is participation and what that brings.

We thank you for any support you can give to enable us to achieve our ambitions.

Why are we crowdfunding?

To provide floodlighting on 2 courts to enable all members to play in the evening after work or school. 

To paint the new court to match existing courts

How we’ll spend the money raised

As detailed previously we plan to spend any monies raised on:-

1) Floodlighting 2 courts to enable members to play in the evening, after work or school or any other time when dark.  Lowest quoted cost £20,000

2) Paint and protect the new hard court, colour to match existing courts.  Lowest quoted cost £5,000

Any additional monies raised will be used to set up the "Pay to Play"operating structure, new pickle ball court layout and equipment, etc

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made