Light Up Shenstone Tennis Club

Aim

We are raising funds for new court surfaces & floodlights to create a warm and welcoming facility for our members and the local community

OUR PHOTO

You may think the photo above has been taken by William Shatner on his latest expedition into space. In fact this is the surface of Shenstone tennis courts! The court surface is breaking up at an alarming rate and, coupled with the fact that there is no lighting sown on the courts, it makes it a doubly dangerous place to play. The tennis club has started fundraising work to improve the situation - £55,000 is needed to create all season, all day, playable courts.

OUR CLUB

SHENSTONE tennis club is a small but vibrant tennis club with high numbers of family memberships and a great resident coach who has encouraged all sorts of groups including seniors, older women, children and brand new players to start playing tennis. We have people coming who have never picked up a tennis racquet in their lives. Do you have an Andy, Dan, Cameron or Emma at home? Are they frustrated with playing against the side of the house? Then perhaps you would like to contribute to the fundraising efforts so they can play on decent courts!

OUR PROBLEMS

The tennis courts surfaces are in very poor condition which can make it hazardous to play. Additionally, courts have got no lighting. Due to these issues, our members and senior members have suffered injuries which could affect them and, critically, means they avoid using the courts in the autumn, winter and early spring months.

OUR VISION

 We would like to raise £55k in order to replace the surface and install lights. Our aim is to create a multisport courts which can be used all year round by the community. Tennis is a great social, fun and active centre in the village. Did you know tennis players can expect to live an extra 10 years, compared to sedentary people? This is due to the social benefits, the physical health benefits and the mental health benefits.

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED SO FAR?

We have a great professional coach in Zoe Edwards. She has increased membership at the club and has encouraged lots of different groups to start playing tennis, this is great for fitness, general health and people's social needs. 

We would like to see seniors playing all year round and enjoying the social aspect of the coaching sessions. We are hoping Greybrooks school, Shenstone scouts and others juniors will learn tennis and see Emma Raducanu and Cameron Norrie and Andy Murray as their role models. We are also exploring  the option to use the courts for coaching others sports like net ball, hand ball, football tennis and Pickleball tennis. At the moment, our courts are not safe enough to increase the usage.

We have always kept prices very low to make tennis accessible to every one ( for example junior membership is £10 per year and family membership £40).

Unfortunately, these affordable membership prices don't allow us to transform our club.

OUR APPROACH TO COVID 19 AND STAYING SAFE

During lockdown we engaged weekly sometimes daily through our WhatsApp group with quizzes, walking & running competitions, tennis tips, cooking and baking tips.  When the courts reopened, we were ready to go. Player numbers were limited to eight per court. Two or three cardio classes were set up each week instead of the original one so we could accommodate everyone who wanted to play and payment and booking moved to online so we could keep count of how many were coming and we weren't handling cash.  We have maintained this system which works really well although we do have flexibility for people who need to pay in cash (for example, one member only has a basic bank account). Additional days were added as demand increased.

By creating additional classes we kept the numbers lower and people felt safer coming along. Also with the booking system players would be assured they had a place and didn't have to hang around before or after.

We put notices were put on the noticeboard and on the outside of tennis courts on how to stay safe and we included guidelines from the LTA. The Website is  updated regularly with the latest Covid 19 rules/guidelines. Even though the rules have been relaxed, we are still aware of staying safe, giving people space and being respectful of those who have additional needs such as asthma, lung conditions and other vulnerabilities related to health or age as we have many vulnerable players. We still have sanitising gel available and we keep the court gates open so people don't have to keep handling them to get in and out, it does mean a few more lost balls though!

We stay aware of how Covid19 is progressing, Staffordshire numbers have been rising in recent weeks so we are alert to the risks and make adjustments accordingly.

WHAT ARE WE DOING TO ACHIEVE OUR FULL TARGET OF £55,000?

Our priority is getting the court resurfaced but we really need to replace fencing and we would like to put up lights to allow people to play on safely into the evening ( this would increase court usage by 35%). We are working on a range of initiatives to get our total funding target. For example, we are applying to Veolia Community Fund and HS2 and Biffa for grants. Some grants will pay for some elements, for example not everyone will pay for lighting so we have to cover lots of options. We can apply to the LTA for a loan but we would have to pay this back and that would mean raising fees which we don't want to do as we want to stay accessible. We are planning events in the community, for example a quiz night, a race night, a rock choir and a ceilidh. We have booked the village hall for these events once a month on a regular night. We are keeping an eye on Covid numbers and will have to adapt our plans depending on the climate. We are looking at the viability of a open air cinema evening and we are going to do a home based quiz for Christmas with a prize. We have joined the Lichfield lottery. We are advertising our crowdfunding page across Staffordshire through the Staffordshire LTA and we hope this will bring greater attention to our fund raising. We are extending the range of rewards available all the time so we are really trying to got as many people interested as possible. 

We want our courts to be safe and playable for everyone. We have already started Walking Tennis for older people and people with disabilities or injuries who want to keep active and improve their mobility. We can't offer these resources to more vulnerable people unless the courts are safe. We have received letters of support, here is a comment from one of these letters:

"I am fully supportive of this venue to do more and engage more at-risk groups in the future should their facility be in a position to do so. By doing this, it would become a fully ‘Community’ facing tennis club and allow more people to experience our sport in a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment – in line with the current LTA Strategy; ‘Tennis Opened Up’". (Matt Elkington, LTA Disability Support Partner).

We have an excellent relationship with the Staffordshire LTA, two of us are on the committee and we get lots of support from them, for example, during the winder when our courts are at their most dangerous, we have been allowed to go and use their indoor courts once a month. However, this is a trek and obviously has other consequences such as greater travel distances which isn't great when we are all trying to contribute to a reduction of harmful emissions and global warming.

Our cardio sessions aren't populated with 'bright young things', our oldest member is 67 and many of us are in our 50s and 60s, we also have younger members in their 20s so we get all ages to mix and enjoy sessions. We have both men and women at cardio sessions but we also have women only sessions such as doubles training and women's club nights and afternoons because we know that some women prefer single sex sessions and feel more confident in this environment. Our Coach is a 'She Rallies' Ambassador and has worked closely with Judy Murray on a project to get women into tennis.  We need to improve the state of the courts in order to achieve our ambitions. We have contacted local clubs and associations recently and many of them have told us they would like to play at Shenstone but they aren't confident about the playing surface, or they would like to play in the evening but we don't have lights. Clubs and Associations include everyone from the Cubs and Brownies, and toddler groups to our local special school, businesses, walking clubs and local care homes. 

We are also planning for the future and thinking about how we keep a rolling fund to pay for regular court maintenance as well as helping members who may have financial difficulties and can't pay for equipment or manage fees. We have a waiver arranged for circumstances where players are experiencing hardship which means they, or their children need some additional support.

WE DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP

We are  fund raising in many different ways. You might be a business that can support us or you might be able to run a raffle or do a sponsored run or set up a quiz night. We have set up this page for those who don't want to "do" stuff but can help us with hard cash and we are grateful for all donations, large or small, they all count. If you can help us with rewards, that would also be great, just let us know what your offer is!

Our rewards for supporters are varied and with Christmas coming up, you might just find that perfect gift here, do take a look. You will be supporting a worthwhile cause that improves people's physical and mental health and provides a great supportive social network. did you know people who play tennis live, on average 10 years longer than people who don't?

With many thanks,

Denise Tolson on behalf of the Fundraising Committee.

This project successfully funded on 1st December 2021