To help you to get off to the best start possible we have put together some important information about the club, and how you can get started playing as soon as possible. 

COURTS and BOOKING

We have three all-weather courts and six hard courts. Other than for organised club sessions or club groups, courts must be booked in advance using the ClubSpark system (the booking system allows bookings up to 2 weeks in advance).  Click here to book a court. There are no charges for this. To try and ensure all members get reasonable access to the courts, each member can make up to three bookings per seven-day period, and each booking can be from 30 mins to 120 mins long.  You can also book the practice wall and the ball machine.

CLUB SOCIAL TENNIS

As well as just making your own court booking, there are a huge number of ways to get out there and start playing some social tennis. We also run a number of sessions throughout the week where you can join in a pre-organised session with other members.

Club Sessions

These are the club's flagship sessions each week with the following characteristics.

- They are organised by the committee or their nominees
- They are open to every member regardless of ability
- They occur every week, winter and summer
- The appropriate number of courts will be allocated and booked by the committee
- There is no cost, floodlights (where necessary) and decent balls are provided by the club
- There is a social element, the bar is generally open after the club session

We have three club sessions;

Wednesdays from 6pm until 8pm –contact Paul Walton (07838 218994) or James Porter (07733 047305) to join.
Tuesdays from 9am until noon (Hardy Perennials) - contact Ken Mitchell on 01260 276348 to join
Saturdays from 1pm until 4pm - just turn up and play!

Club Groups

Club groups, like club sessions, are an opportunity for people to come together to play social tennis for fun; they are not a competition. The difference to a club session, which is open to all members, is that each club group will be aimed at a certain playing standard. The table below shows the different levels and the playing times of the current club groups at each level.

Club Social (Level 1) – Saturdays from 12pm until 1pm
Club Social (Level 2) – Mondays from 5pm until 7pm
Club Social (Level 3) – Fridays from 6pm until 8pm
Club Social (Level 4) – Saturdays from 12pm until 1pm

To work out which level is suitable for you we can arrange a quick hit with some friendly members to gauge the correct level for you, or you can attend one of the adult coaching sessions and Craig Leese/Smash Tennis will advise you. Please do this via the buddy system.

Additionally, there are other more informal groups that you may join, listed on the summer and winter weekly social tennis schedules shown below;

Summer Schedule
Winter Schedule

Singles

If playing singles is more your cup of tea, we also operate a WhatsApp group for like-minded players to set singles matches up. To find out more please email singles@congletonlawntennis.club

Winter Tennis

As well as the club sessions and club groups, as there is less league tennis going on during the winter, we also operate a number of other social competitions from October to March.

Doubles ladder - Each league on the ladder consists of four or five doubles pairs, of similar ability, who play each of the other couples in their league. Matches are organised by the pairs themselves at a mutually convenient time. Each month the top pair in each league is promoted and the bottom pair is relegated. You can enter as a pre-formed partnership or as an individual and the organisers will endeavour to find you a suitable doubles partner. For newbies, it will be a good way to meet other members. This runs for six months from October. For more info, please see the information displayed on the inside noticeboard at the club.

Foursomes – Again groups of 4 players in a ladder. In each round, the 4 players arrange a doubles match between themselves and play three sets of tennis, swapping partners each time until all three combinations have been played. The winner (most games won) goes up to the next group in the ladder and the loser (least games won) goes down.  This runs for six months from October. To find out more please email foursomes@congletonlawntennis.club

LEAGUE TENNIS

The clubs enter teams in the South & Mid Cheshire League. During the summer there are usually Men’s Teams (A team down to G team), Ladies' teams (A team down to F team), and Mixed teams (A team down to D team).  The Men and Ladies play on Tuesday and/or Thursday evenings and the Mixed teams play on Sunday mornings. The number of teams allows for competitive tennis to be available for a wide range of standard of players.

There is also a Mixed league played throughout the winter with matches on a Sunday morning which is less competitive, concentrating more on retaining fitness through the winter. An email is sent out to all members asking if they want to participate in league tennis before both the summer and winter seasons so if you are interested please look out for this and reply.

COACHING

As with the club groups, we have categorised all coaching from levels 1 to 3, using the same standards as the social tennis levels. Adult tennis coaching is held on Saturday mornings. These cost £5 per session. The session times are:

9am till 10am = Level 3 (advanced coaching)
10am till 11am = Level 2 (first levels of team tennis, mid and upper Intermediate coaching)
11am till 12pm = Level 1 (acquiring basic tennis technique, beginners and lower intermediate coaching)

Team Practices are sessions for existing competitive team players or those wishing to play in a team in the future and are only in place only outside of the competitive league season.  Please refer to the weekly tennis schedule on the website for more information, you can find this by clicking here.

If you prefer a one-on-one coaching session, these can be booked for any time, day or evening, and available to members and non-members. Please contact our Head Coach, Craig Leese/Smash Tennis to discuss anything coaching related, and to check availability.

We also have a full junior coaching programme run by Smash Tennis, with three groups;

Ages 5-8 = Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 4pm-5pm
Ages 9-12 = Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 5pm-6pm
12+ Improvers = Tuesday 6pm

For more information, contact Craig Leese/Smash Tennis or refer to the Coaching section of the website.

TOURNAMENTS

We normally run tournaments right through the year. These are often handicapped which means everyone has a chance of winning. Entry to all tournaments is made online here. If you have any questions or trouble registering please contact Andrew Giltrap at (07852 172429).

BUDDY SYSTEM

To help new members that don’t yet have a partner to play with or don’t yet know anyone at the club (yet!), we operate a buddy system. When you join you can be added to a WhatsApp group, and in that group, you will find plenty of friendly members happy to meet you at the club for a friendly knock. Once you no longer need the buddy system just remove yourself from the WhatsApp group.  To be added to this group please contact Eileen Grigg (07786 782187).

FLOODLIGHTS

The floodlights can be used by members up to 10pm. The cost is £1 for 35 minutes and the slot meters are located on the ground floor towards the rear of the clubhouse. The lights will give a red warning light when there is 10 mins left to give players a chance to feed the meter if they want to extend the session.

GUESTS

Members can bring along 1 guest per session so long as their name is indicated on the booking via the website, with a payment of £2 per half hour.

CLUBHOUSE and BAR

The clubhouse has ladies' and gentlemen’s changing rooms with showers, disabled facilities including a lift, a large function room with a licensed bar and kitchen, along with a balcony overlooking the courts. The clubhouse is available for private hire.  The bar is open each Weds and Friday from 8pm until 10pm or last leaver, and on Saturday from 3.30pm until 5pm or last leaver.

SHOE TAGS

All members receive a shoe tag as proof of membership, please wear it when you are on the courts.  Lindsay Newton (Club Secretary) will distribute these during April. Please contact her if you haven’t received your tag.

CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR

Traditional ‘whites’ are not required but shoes should be designed for racket sports. Black-soled shoes or trainers with ribs on the edge of the soles should not be worn as they damage the court surfaces.

TENNIS ETIQUETTE

It is also well worth brushing up on your Tennis Etiquette before you hit the courts...

CAR PARKING AND BIKE SHED

There are a small number of car parking spaces at the club and we kindly ask members to park within the marked lines. There is also a public car park on West Street, adjacent to the club, where charges apply during the daytime Monday-Saturday. As well as this there is an undercover bike shelter.

FACEBOOK AND CLUB WEBSITE PAGES

to keep up to date with any events and general news, please go to either the news pages of the website or Facebook. 

COMMITTEE CONTACTS

The main committee members are listed below.

Rob McNinch - Chairman (07498 794304)
Lindsay Newton - Secretary and Welfare/Safeguarding Officer (07825 417550)
Kerry Hall - Membership Secretary (07595 672940)
Andrew Giltrap - Media Enquiries/Sponsorship (07852 172429)
Craig Leese (Smash Tennis) - Club Coach (07795 144154)

Thanks again for joining us on your tennis adventure, we look forward to seeing you on the courts

The CLTC Committee