Love Tennis Festival weekend to open at clubs across New Zealand
Jono’s Serve Jono Spring
The biggest event of the tennis calendar is upon us. This weekend the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club, Feilding Tennis Club and the Te Kawau Tennis Club, in Rongotea, will open their gates to the entire Manawatu¯ region on both afternoons from 1pm-4pm for fun, excitement, competitions and entertainment.
The Love Tennis Festival, brainchild of Mel Jensen from the Tennis Central administration team, has become a nationwide event. More than 120 clubs around New Zealand have spent weeks promoting themselves to their communities with school visits, public exhibitions and a significant number of social media posts.
Activities at the clubs include bouncy castles, free sausage sizzles, face painting, free coaching groups and hitting competitions.
Both Tennis NZ and Tennis Central have also put forward prizes that include free travel and tickets to this season’s ASB Classic in Auckland, as well as more local incentives, including vouchers from Hell Pizza. Sponsors have been incorporated into both a local and national level, with club and association administrators working to ensure a carnival atmosphere.
Last year, our Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club welcomed several hundred visitors from all over Manawatu¯ on to the courts, creating quite the spectacle.
Jensen and fellow Tennis Central administrator Florent Perrett came from Wellington to visit the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club at last year’s event and could not believe the number of people filling the clubhouse and courts.
The positivity and momentum generated laid the platform for the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club to have a prosperous season both on and off the court, leading to both myself and the club winning the coach of the year and club of the year awards, respectively, for the Tennis Central region.
The more interest created at a community level, the greater the opportunities for local sporting bodies to achieve positive outcomes. It is typical for these outcomes to be measured in numbers, for instance, club membership.
Over the 2018-2019 season the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club club membership grew almost 30 per cent, bucking the recent nationwide trend of diminishing memberships.
I have no doubt that with the way the Love Tennis festival has been embraced by so many tennis clubs, an increase in club memberships will be seen across New Zealand this year. As an avid tennis enthusiast, nothing could make me happier than seeing the sport I love grow in such a fashion.
It would appear that long gone are the days when an open day for a tennis club would consist of a small group of people turning up, outnumbered by club committee members running the event.
I have a built-in philosophy that success in sport is a numbers game and this predominantly begins with management off the court.
Anyone who has followed my column over the past year would remember me saying such a thing repeatedly.
With the Love Tennis festival making its way across the country, my belief is that tennis is finally heading the direction it needs to. Mark my words, the next 10 years could see New Zealand tennis beginning to reach unprecedented heights.