Club Rules & Procedures

 

  1. Membership

Membership fees for existing members is payable on or before the 1st April every year until these rules are amended.

Anyone who has not paid their membership fees on or before 1st April each year may have their membership paused/revoked and their ability to attend the club or use the court booking system paused/revoked.

 

  1. Court Bookings

Members are able to book courts up to 14 days in advance.

Court bookings shall be permitted for between 30 minutes and 2 hours per day.

Each member shall be limited to one court booking per day, to ensure that each member is given a fair opportunity to use the facilities.

The club coaches will be able to book one court for an unlimited period per day, for up to 120 days in advance.

 

  1. Social Tennis

The club runs social tennis events every Monday from 6pm to 9pm, and every Sunday from 10am to 1pm.

All courts will be unavailable for members to book between these times.

The usual format of social tennis will be doubles matches, although these are intended to be social and not competitive matches.

The matches shall be a maximum of 8 games with no tie-break.  If there are more than 12 members taking part in the social tennis at any point, then matches must be kept to a maximum of 6 games.  This is to ensure no members are kept waiting for a long period of time. Members are of course welcome to organise their own rules for matches if they wish. However, a mutual agreement between all players must be reached with regards to any changes.

Warm ups before each match must be kept to a maximum of 5 minutes if there are more than 12 members taking part in the social tennis at any point.

Both Monday and Sunday social sessions are aimed at everyone.  Beginners/less confident players, intermediate and advanced players are all welcome.

These social sessions are designed to encourage interaction and participation between members, and as a way to introduce new members to existing members. The club therefore encourages all members to participate in social sessions.

 

  1. Use of floodlights

The club does not charge for the use of floodlights.

Members are requested to ask the committee how to operate the floodlights if they are unsure how to do so.

If a member attempts to use the floodlights without first asking a member of the committee how to operate them, they risk having the right to operate them removed or face the cost of having to repair any damage caused.

Use of floodlights is permitted until 10pm Monday to Friday. Planning permission does not allow the floodlights to be used after these times and so all play must end at 10pm at the absolute latest, otherwise the club risk having it’s planning permission reviewed.

Use of floodlights is not permitted at any point during the weekend (Saturday or Sunday). Planning permission does not allow the floodlights to be used during these times.

 

  1. Box Leagues

From time to time the club may run ‘box leagues’ where members can take part in organised singles/double matches as part of their membership.

Each league will be open for a period of 2 months to allow members sufficient time to play their matches.

Members will be awarded with 2 points for a win and 1 point if there is a draw for whatever reason.

After each league round members may be assigned to a higher or lower league.

The fixtures Secretary will contact each participating member at the beginning of each new league, to inform them who is in their group.

It will be left for members to arrange their matches.

If it is clear that a member in the group is not interested in playing matches or is intentionally avoiding matches for tactical reasons, the Fixtures Secretary may at their discretion award points to other members.

Matches will be best of 3 sets, settled by traditional tie break at 6-6 for all three sets.

Any member interested in taking part in the box league should contact the Fixtures Secretary with their full name and standard (members may be reassigned to another league or deducted points if the Fixtures Secretary considers any member has been intentionally dishonest about their standard/ability)

There will be no restriction on when these matches can be played as it will be between members.

 

  1. Club Matches

From time to time the club may take part in matches against other tennis clubs.

The Fixtures Secretary shall arrange and organise these matches.

Any member interested in taking part in the box league should contact the Fixtures Secretary with their full name and standard so that the Fixtures Secretary may place you in the appropriate standard of team.

The Fixtures Secretary will be able to book any matches held at the club up to 120 days in advance to avoid as much disruption as possible to other members.

Any matches being held at the club shall be played on Courts 1 & 2 only.

If there are any fees/costs involved with club matches (i.e. new balls if matches are held at home or floodlight costs if held away) each player shall contribute equally towards these costs.

Each team’s respective captain will be in charge of collecting these fees and paying them as appropriate.

 

  1. Matches between Members and Non-Members of the Club

The committee does not discourage anyone from taking part in organised matches with members of other clubs or playing with non-members.

However, the club cannot have a scenario where a non-member is taking court time away from an existing member.

If any member wishes to play, competitively or otherwise, with a non-member, they will not be permitted to book a court to do so during the following times:

Monday to Friday, between 5pm and 8pm / Saturday, between 10am and 1pm.

These are what the committee consider peak hours and so shall be given as priority to members only.

If a court is free during these times then members are permitted to use them, but they are not permitted to book a court, specifically for the purpose of playing a non-member during these times. Therefore, if a member sees that a court has not been booked and wishes to take the risk it will not be booked during this time, they are permitted to do so. If a member then turns up having booked the court, the member and non-member must immediately vacate the court for the member(s) who have booked.

The club operates a free session for anyone who has not played at the club beforehand. This concession is designed to encourage non-members to come to the club to see if they like the facilities.

Therefore, if a member wishes to bring a non-member down to play against, competitively or not, they are permitted to do so free of charge (provided they have not been to the club before).  For the avoidance of doubt, members are not permitted to book a court for this purpose during the following times:

Monday to Friday, between 5pm and 8pm / Saturday, between 10am and 1pm.

If it becomes clear that this concession is being abused by members to allow non-members, who have no interest in joining the club, to use the club facilities for free, then the club may withdraw this concession from these members or entirely.

(Updated October 2022)