Managed play, social tennis, clubhouse, and court hire.

I’m very pleased to announce that from Thursday 20th August Hemyock Tennis Club will be making some changes to the restrictions that have been in place as a result of the presence of Covid 19. Managed Play.

On Thursday 20th August, and on future Thursdays (unless notified otherwise), mixed social tennis sessions will recommence, (immediately following junior coaching at 6.30 pm). This means that members will no longer be required to book a court prior to play, There will however, be some management of numbers on the court, and recording of attendees, in order to comply with our requirement to meet ‘track & trace’ obligations. The detailed steps being taken by the club will be sent to every member via email and will demonstrate how numbers will be managed and names recorded. Whilst we don’t anticipate any problems, the committee have decided that in order for the procedure to establish, mixed social tennis will initially be on Thursdays only, but will be introduced on Saturday mornings as soon as the committee feel confident.

On Sunday mornings, because of the relatively low numbers, it is expected that 2 of the 3 courts will be allocated to social tennis, and a record kept of attendees. Members will be very welcome to attend, but to ensure that they get the most out of the session, they may wish to consider booking the vacant court and arranging numbers themselves, although this will in no way influence participation in the social session.

Clubhouse.

It is expected that steps will be taken to permit the use once more of the clubhouse, but again, this will come with some restrictions. Details will be communicated along with information on the resumption of mixed social tennis.

Court hire.

Since the courts were closed in March, the court key has been removed from the Spar. However, this will be returned and the courts will be available for non members to hire in this way. To ensure that the hire doesn’t clash with a court booking, information will be given to the hirer so that court booking can be checked, and also giving the hirer a means of contacting a committee member who can book the court to avoid any clash.

General.

Since the courts reopened, much use has been made of the Whatsapp group to arrange play, either for a doubles format challenge (DFC) match, or something more casual and we anticipate that even when social tennis sessions are fully back to normal, this may well continue, indeed, the committee welcome the increased use of the courts.

Finally. The committee share members frustration in any delay in returning to ‘normal’, but in these extraordinary times have an unenviable responsibility in managing the risks associated with the possible spread of Covid 19, and have followed LTA advice by taking time to properly consider managing the risks when implementing updated guidelines.