Get Set 4 Tennis in the Community

Who are we?

Get Set 4 Tennis are an award-winning fully inclusive community tennis club providing free or affordable tennis to over 900 children and adults every week. We now have two venues; Denham Way Recreation Ground, Maple Cross and Manor House Grounds, Abbots Langley. We run a comprehensive range of well-supported outreach programmes with a large focus on disability tennis, teaching in 15 Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Schools across Hillingdon, Harrow, Ealing, Three Rivers and Watford, as well as programmes in areas of deprivation. We receive outstanding feedback for these programmes (see our website).

As a result of this work, we were named Middlesex LTA Disability Providers of the Year 2021/22 - not our first award.

Community impact

Thanks to our strong community support, last year we ran a hugely well-supported crowdfunding page that enabled us to raise enough money to purchase a clubhouse. With the help of local volunteers, it was installed in September 2021 and this vital building now allows us to offer a safe space for our local community to use.

GS4 Tennis has also been working with the local council to provide free holiday camp places with a hot meal for local children who are entitled to free school meals as well as a range of enrichment activities. Again, this can now take place in our new clubhouse building.

Equally vitally, our players, both disabled and non disabled have much needed shelter from the rain, sun and inclement elements throughout the year, making us a truly all year round venue.

We are proud to currently offer free family tennis, 11-16 tennis, 16-25's tennis, ladies only group, child fitness, SEND tennis, inclusive tennis and key worker tennis across our clubs. We also offer highly subsidised (up to 60% less than other venues) pay-as-you-go lessons for children and adults aged 3 upwards. 

We run fun activities throughout the year to ensure everyone on our community feels welcome and can come and have a go at tennis in a supportive friendly environment. Importantly there is no membership fee or big lessons charges to pay out. Our aim is anyone can have a go and make new friends regardless of their ability/disability and financial circumstances. Sport should have no barriers.

All equipment provided and EVERYONE is welcome!

Why are we crowdfunding?

As mentioned above, we are proud to offer a range of fully funded or low cost lessons across all of our programmes to ensure tennis is accessible to absolutely everyone - we aim to be a hub for our community. This year with our new venue, we face increased lease costs and, like everyone, our core costs have grown dramatically so we are crowdfunding to maintain our hugely valued affordable programmes as well as our free courses too.

From feedback, we know how incredibly important it is to our families that we continue to offer these sessions throughout the year. People tell us how good it is for their physical and mental health and how our club helps them meet friends in their local community. Children with SEND make friends with children without SEND, helping to break down the barriers and misconceptions around SEND and sport. Local families rely on our inclusive programmes to keep their children active as there is virtually nothing available in our local area that is affordable and accessible. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

It costs £6000 per year to provide 8 hours per week of free tennis across our two sites, which is our primary goal for this crowdfunding. 

This doesn't take into account our highly subsidised pay-as-you-go lessons. Most local clubs charge upfront membership fee and then over £10 per hour for lessons. We are between £4.50-£6.50 with absolutely no up front fee, making us unique in our area. Therefore any additional funds over this £6,000 will go towards these subsidised lessons. In any event, absolutely all money raised will go towards supporting these programmes to ensure we continue making tennis accessible to those most in need in our community.

We know that since the pandemic, local families have really struggled financially with the cost of living increases. Sadly we know sport is the first thing to be stopped when money is tight but often has the greatest detrimental impact on both physical and mental health. This is why we feel that it's so important to continue offering our programmes to the local community and why we hope you will consider supporting us, thank you.

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. Create a fundraiser of your own. Use the button on our page to get started. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!