7. When thinking about the nomination period, what is the highlight for the club/centre that you are most proud of?

What makes the club/centre the most outstanding?

300 words maximum.

*See attached documents.

Our 2024 highlight was being recognised as *Australia’s #1 Book-A-Court venue, and Tennis Australia’s media event at OTC in October, celebrating our part in reaching 1,000,000 nationally-booked hours.

This recognition is very special to us, as our #1 aim has always been to MAXIMISE PARTICIPATION, be it competition, social tennis, coaching, tournaments, member bookings or casual non-member hire.

It underlines the outstanding growth we have achieved in all the areas since relocating to our new facility in 2019, especially the following massive measurable increases:

2018-19           2023-24

116                  672                              Memberships             

26                    64                                Competition teams

106                  246                              Coaching (average number of participants per term)           

0                      17,423                         Book-A-Court participation (hours booked)                          

$38,049           $327,811 (current)      Club Savings                                                                           

Our recently-gained status the venue with Australia’s most Book-A-Court hours for 2024 confirmed that all the hard work our volunteers, coaches and members have put in is helping us achieve our core goals (especially #2), as laid out in *our constitution, which (summarised) are to:

1. Provide a safe, well-maintained tennis environment.
2. PROMOTE TENNIS TO ANY INTERESTED PERSON.
3. Arrange competition tennis for our members.
4. Provide coaching for any interested person.
5. Arrange social activities for our members.

Another highlight was *winning WDTA’s Premier Club Award, based on the average ladder position of all our teams compared to the 38 other clubs in the Summer 2024-25 competition.

Monash Council’s agreement with our 2017 proposal to relocate the newly-merged Oakleigh & North Oakleigh Tennis Clubs to a new tennis facility at Caloola Reserve presented a massive and challenging change for us, but we are always willing to innovate, as we constantly seek ways to promote and accommodate the ever-increasing tennis participation in our area.  

Our recent success was NOT a 1-year effort, but the culmination of the journey that OTC has been on since 2017. 

Our answers to these questions and the attachments aim to sufficiently illuminate that journey.