We all know playing tennis socially is a great way to catch up with your mates, stay fit and improve your skills at the same time. In fact, in a recent national participation study respondent’s listed ‘social interaction’ as their key motivation to play tennis.
The Old Ignatians’ Tennis Club (OITC) are no strangers to this, and through their emphasis on the social aspects of the Club, they have grown their membership from ten, to over forty (social and playing) members since 2008.
Tim Chia, President, who has shaped the Club’s success, has a clear vision for the Club.
“We don’t want our members to just play tennis, and then leave.”
“We’ve created a ‘team’ culture by focusing on the social events that we host, and have generated interest across a much broader cross section of our community than we otherwise would have.”
“As a result, we tend to pick up members who haven’t played tennis for years but want to be part of our Club. We’re indirectly bringing more people to (or back to) the sport.”
Whilst, Jack Warhurst, Vice-President & Secretary also attributes the success to the promotion of juniors at the Club
“We have always placed great importance on having talented juniors pushing through the ranks.”
“We have a number of members who have played at a high level over the years, but (they) are willing to let the younger members play higher in the order to develop their tennis.”
“This mentality is embedded in the Club’s culture, and is the reason why, despite being an “old scholar” club, we have many school-age members. Our Club has really sparked interest in the sport within our College Community; if this could be replicated in others, this would represent a significant increase in participation across the state.”
Most recently, Pembroke School followed in our footsteps and started their own old scholar club that also participates in EDTA. The development of old scholar clubs looks to be a fantastic opportunity to further increase participation in tennis in South Australia.”
Are you interested in playing social tennis? Tennis SA wants to make it easy for South Australians motivated by social interaction to locate their nearest social tennis venue check out the Play? Social Tennis webpage which lists clubs who offer social tennis programs.
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