24 January 2017 | Tennis Queensland

Gone are the days of picking up a key from the corner store for your local tennis club – with an exciting new online booking system allowing keyless entry and 24 hour access to clubs across the state.

Three tennis clubs in Brisbane are leading the charge, implementing the exciting new Book a Court technology in time for the New Year.

“It’s been up and running for about two weeks now and it’s going really well,” said Mark Toohey, head coach at Kangaroo Point Sports and Tennis Club.

“Our club sits on a corner and is visible to passing traffic, but in the past people weren’t aware the courts are available to the public. A lot of people have been asking after the new [booking] system since it was installed, it’s a good thing.”

Book a Court is an online court booking and payment platform available for clubs affiliated with Tennis Queensland. Once a court is booked online, it connects with pin pad technology at the gate, turning on the lights when a player enters their unique booking pin.

“Over Christmas, we picked up an extra 10-15 bookings in the first few days of the system being implemented,” said Sandgate Tennis manager Brett Plant.

“Book a Court allows us to cover the diversity of age groups that hire a court. At Sandgate, the bulk of our profit is court hour, and as manager my main concern is to fill the courts, and this is an exciting way to do that.

“I think the combination of having a fully staffed facility, as well as the online booking system, will give us the best of both worlds.”

Redland Bay Tennis Club have also recently installed the system, and are working with Tennis Queensland on launching the service. While on the Gold Coast Burleigh Heads Tennis Club has also showed interest in the system, and hope to have the pin pad installed on their gates soon.

A further 20 clubs across the state have registered with the pilot program, and are at various stages of installation.

“It’s exciting to see this new technology being rolled out at clubs across Queensland. Tennis as a sport is constantly evolving, and so is the way people engage with it,” said CEO of Tennis Queensland Geoff Quinlan.

“Book a Court is an innovation that’s bringing the sport into an exciting new era, allowing people to access their local club with the click of the mouse. I’m certain it will bring a new generation of players to the game.”