Ainslie Tennis Club turned 92 this year and recently held its 2020 AGM. With a current membership of 110 it was great to see that 12 of the members agreed to join the committee for 2020/21. Having over 10% of the membership involved with the committee is fantastic for a community based club run by the members for the members. Unlike some of the bigger tennis clubs in Canberra, Ainslie does not have any staff and our coaches operate at Ainslie but are based at Braddon Tennis Club.
As a result, most committee members have each contributed several hours a week to the very many tasks required to successfully offer members and guests the opportunity to play tennis at our boutique three court tennis club. COVID-19 has certainly added to the workload and the committee members have found themselves deeply involved in constantly changing the tennis offerings depending on the national and ACT rules that have governed sports over the last six months. We have been required to become experts on sanitising and cleaning courts and the clubhouse, as well as experts in communicating using video conferencing products like Blue Jeans and Zoom and to be able to amend our court booking system to ensure it is operating appropriate to the needs of users and in accordance with the rules.
At times we have been seemingly overwhelmed, but we have managed to get on top of the problems and are heading in the right direction. Our clubhouse is still closed due to the risks associated with COVID and having regard to the current rate of infections in Victoria and NSW. However, the Committee has agreed that when the ACT moves to the next stage of opening up sports in the ACT, the clubhouse will be fully opened and operate having regard to social distancing and other rules in place for the stage. This will include users of the kitchen, bathroom and/or toilet being asked to wipe all surfaces that they touch before they depart the clubhouse. The Club will be providing all the necessary cleaning products to do this and there will be signs in each room providing guidance on how to use the products.
Over the next few years as things return to normal the Club will be raising funds and seeking Government grants to further improve the court complex. Included among the improvements will be the replacement of the court 3 surface which has started to deteriorate (it was installed in 2003 unlike courts 1 & 2 surfaces which were replaced in 2014); and the installation of LED lighting on court 1 to replace the old mercury lighting system. Fund raising will therefore continue to be a make activity for the Club and all members are encouraged to assist from time to time so that we can all benefit for the improvements. If you have questions about anything above, wish to make suggestions about how improvements can be fostered or you wish to get involved with the Committee your first point of contact should be the Club Secretary, Susan, who can be contacted using the address secretary@ainslietennis.org.au