Welcome to Bourton Vale Lawn Tennis Club!

We’re really happy you have joined and super excited to see you on court enjoying tennis!

We want you to have the most fun playing tennis at Bourton so here’s all the info you need to get playing. If you have any questions at any time please feel free to drop me an email or phone call.

Regards

Alex Peyton (Junior rep)

07710 281387

alexpeyton74@gmail.com

Getting Started

If this is the first time you’ve played tennis there’s one important thing you’ll need: a tennis racket!

If taking lessons with Kingsley, he can provide rackets initially, but you’ll want to get your own as soon as possible so you can play every day on the courts, and at home (driving your parents mad!).

Other than a racket, juniors will need to wear sports attire when playing tennis. All juniors must wear appropriate footwear. Trainers are fine, but school shoes are strictly forbidden. Not only do hard soled shoes damage the court surface but they can also cause injury when playing so please don’t forget your trainers or you won’t be able to play!

To access the courts (and clubhouse when restrictions allow) outside of coaching you will need the code to the lock on the court gates. You will have received this code when signing up to join the club.

Taking Lessons

Bourton Tennis Club is very fortunate in having two LTA qualified coaches.  Kingsley Harris and Clare Bell both offer individual and group coaching for juniors. You can read more about them on the Coaching page.

If you have joined up to take lessons with coach Kingsley Harris then he will be in contact with you directly regarding time/day, etc. Kingsley is a fully licensed and qualified LTA coach available for individual or group coaching at the club. Coaching classes for junior members are run on Mondays. Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons and early evenings. Please speak to Kingsley directly if you would like group or private lessons. He can be contacted by phone on 07879 644218 or kingsleyharris@hotmail.co.uk

Booking a Court

As a junior member at BVLTC you are allowed to play tennis anytime up to 18.00 any day except when pre-arranged Club tournaments, league or friendly matches and weekly club events have priority.  Juniors aged 13 and over can book their own courts but younger juniors must ask an adult to book a court for them.   You may take a chance on finding a free court and just turn up to play but it is easy to check court availability and book a court on the LTA ClubSpark online booking system. You can find it here:

https://Clubspark.lta.org.uk/BourtonValeLawnTennisClub/Booking/BookByDate

Juniors under the age of 12 must be supervised by an adult member. (We ask that parents also join the tennis club if they wish to play with their children.) Parents/guardians have responsibility for accompanying and supervising their children at all times. The Club is run by volunteers and has no staff on site.

Please note that should the players who made the reservation fail to arrive within 10 minutes of the allocated time, the reservation is annulled.

Junior Club Night

Junior Club Night is on Thursday evenings from 17.00 to 18.00 from April through to school summer holidays. The courts will be available for Junior members (aged 8+) to use for free in a fun, relaxed setting. Junior members are welcome to turn up and play with other juniors. Play will be supervised by Junior Rep Alex Peyton. This is a great opportunity for juniors to meet other players and have some fun tennis outside of coaching. Please encourage your children to come along!

Competitions

At present we will be holding a Junior Club Championship. A date for the competition will be set in advance so please check the website. I will also be in touch when entries are open. Tennis is a fun, active sport good for coordination and encouraging good sportsmanship. But tennis is also very competitive! Some children shy away from competition which is understandable – after all, we all want to win! Tennis is a great sport for developing competitive spirit Encouraging your children to challenge themselves through competition will no doubt pay dividends when they are older. That said, any competitions at BVLTC will be far from overly competitive! I try to keep it as “fun” as possible as, especially for the younger children, it is important to first have them enjoy the game and to give them confidence. Please do encourage your children to get involved in any competitions as the more juniors we have sign up, the more fun it will be!

For junior members who are looking for more competitive tennis, the Gloucestershire LTA run leagues for different age-groups and abilities. More information can be found on their website: https://gloucestershiretennis.co.uk/

Court Policy & Etiquette

Please observe these simple rules to ensure tennis is enjoyable for everyone.

• Please dress appropriately – sportswear is perfect, but please try to avoid playing in school uniform (you’ll look much better in your sports kit!).
• Juniors should always wear appropriate footwear with non-marking soles to protect the playing surface. School shoes are strictly forbidden.
• When booking a court please book the far court (No.2) where available to avoid interruptions to play and even out surface wear and tear.
• Please do not play with the nets. Do not sit on the nets, pull the nets or try to lower the nets. They are expensive and you don’t want to break them (besides, we can’t play tennis if we don’t have any nets 😊)
• Parents should check court conditions are safe before allowing children on court and all under-12s must be accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult member.  Parents must be club members if they wish to play tennis with their children - the Adult + Child/ren membership package is ideal for this. 
• Courts are for playing tennis only - no dogs, footballs, skateboards, etc.

Guests

As a Junior Member you can invite your friends to play for free on up to three occasions per year! By all means bring your friends along to try it out and we hope they have fun and become members too. If you invite anyone to play please make sure you write their name on the court booking system (ClubSpark) when you book the court.

Juniors can invite adults also but we ask for a guest fee of £5 to be paid by bank transfer (Bourton Vale Lawn Tennis Club a/c 00574557 Sort Code 30-95-75).  Or pay in cash in the box inside the clubhouse.

Accident and First Aid

The First Aid box is located in the clubhouse.

Help yourself to the medical equipment you need. Please tick the list to show what items you have taken/used so we can make sure the box is re-stocked for other members. Please enter details of the incident including your name and the date in the accident log book in the drawer to the left of the sink. Please advise a committee member of any serious injuries or incidents.

Safeguarding and Other Policies

Bourton Vale Lawn Tennis Club strives to ensure that all children are safeguarded from abuse and have an enjoyable tennis experience. Our full safeguarding policy is on our website, however when signing up to be a member of BVLTC all children agree to:

• Be friendly, supportive and welcoming to other children and adults
• Play fairly and honestly
• Respect club members, volunteers and officials and accept their decisions
• Behave, respect and listen to your coach
• Take care of your equipment and club property
• Respect the rights, dignity and worth of all participants regardless of age, gender, ability, race, culture, religion or sexual identity
• Not use bad, inappropriate or racist language, including on social media
• Not bully, intimidate or harass anyone, including on social media
• Not take pictures of others in the changing rooms, or in the clubhouse
• Not smoke, drink alcohol or use drugs of any kind on club premises or whilst representing the club at competitions or events
• Talk to the club Welfare Officer about any concerns or worries they have about themselves or others.

Should you have any safeguarding concerns please report in confidence to BVLTC Welfare Officer Suzanne van Heyningen on 07909 110004 or Junior Rep Alex Peyton on 07710 281387.

The Club has the following policies and documents which are all available on the clubhouse notice board, on this website's Safeguarding page and by request from the Secretary, Membership Secretary or Welfare Officer (contact numbers on the clubhouse noticeboard).

• Code of Conduct for Members
• General Data Protection Regulation
• Safeguarding Policy
• Reporting a Concern
• Equality and Diversity Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy
• Changing Rooms Policy

For more information visit the LTA’s “Reporting a Problem” and “Safeguarding” pages:

LTA Safeguarding Policies & Procedures