5 minute read
Court Development
by Richard Dalzell
After many years where the T&RA was reactive to any new court development initiatives, the decision was taken in 2019 to take a more proactive role with the appointment of a Director of Court Development. Following ten years as Treasurer of the T&RA, I volunteered for this position with a brief to encourage schools, sports clubs and other institutions to consider the development of new courts.
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Background
Due to the very different business and financial models evident for Tennis and Rackets, the emphasis has been on Tennis where there is a reasonable prospect of return on investment from a well organised club with good court utilisation. For Rackets, we are certainly keen for new courts, particularly at universities, but we would need to find substantial benefactors, as at St Paul’s some years ago.
Prioritisation
The current strategy, endorsed by the T&RA Board, is to improve the coverage for Tennis throughout the UK and to fill in the gaps. To this end, analyses have been produced for each of the 48 counties of England as well as the major cities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These analyses cover the overall population, the biggest towns and cities as well as the major schools, sports clubs and universities; in addition, former Tennis courts have been identified. Armed with this information, the Chairman of the Tennis Committee, the T&RA Chief Executive and I met to discuss and agree which counties should be the priorities for new Tennis court initiatives.
It was agreed to focus on well-populated and reasonably affluent parts of the country which are currently without a Tennis court. The top targets are: Buckinghamshire; Cheshire with Merseyside; Devon; Derbyshire; Gloucestershire; Kent with East Sussex; Shropshire; Somerset; Wiltshire; Worcestershire; Yorkshire, and Edinburgh in Scotland.
A Tennis-playing and well-connected local resident has been (or hopefully soon will be) identified as Champion for each, with a brief to identify likely locations and then to carry forward the most promising of these.
Ambition and Financial Consequences
The ambition is to develop at least one court in each of the counties specified, including Edinburgh, although it is recognised that this is likely to take an extended period of time.
Key Requirements for Successful Developments
There are number of fundamentals which are required for a new court project to succeed, the most important of which are: - A well connected and driven individual to market and champion the project - A path to a successful fundraising which will almost certainly need to be under-pinned by a small number of large donors - An enthusiastic institution (supported at the top level) which will need to remain onside for the duration of the project, say 5 years - A suitable site where planning permission is likely to be obtained - A good catchment area, with 100,000 population within 30 miles
If any of these fundamentals is not in place, it is considered that a project is unlikely to get off the ground.
The gestation period for any new court is at least five years and, in many cases, it is likely that one would be required to fit in with the institution’s development programme which could well have academic, cultural or different sporting priorities before a Tennis project would be considered. There may be other sites which appear in counties which already have a court, and these projects will, of course, still be supported by the T&RA.
The T&RA Board has discussed the provision of grants up to 15% towards the total cost of new court developments in strategic priority areas (and up to 10% otherwise). Following on from the above, the Board have set an achievable and financially affordable target of developing four new sites over the ten years up to 2030. In addition, two new professionals will need to be recruited for each new court and, over the next ten years, with retirements and natural turnover, eight further new professionals will need to be recruited and trained. This aspect of the T&RA’s development programme is being addressed by the Investing in Professionals initiative.
T&RA Support and Advice
The T&RA is able to draw on the experience of various members who would be happy to help and advise in one or more of the following areas: court design; quantity surveying; construction & engineering; property matters including planning applications; fund-raising; starting and running an efficient club; employment of professional staff; achievement of charitable status; preparation of business plans; presentations to boards and/or potential investors.
Current Status
We are currently engaged in conversations with representatives from five schools, one university, three multi-sports clubs and one out-of-use court; these are all located in the priority target counties mentioned above. All are in the preliminary stages, and we do not anticipate the approval for the commencement of any court development activity within the next twelve months. There are ongoing discussions elsewhere but, again, with no immediate expectation of authority to proceed.
T&RA Website
There is an entirely new chapter on the Tennis section of the T&RA Website devoted to Court Development which contains all you would wish to know if considering building a new court and organising a new club. This includes the Unique Selling Points for Tennis, Alternative Models for Development, a Financial Model and Case Studies of all the recently developed courts in the UK. It is well worth a look, and comments would be welcome.
There is an entirely new chapter on the Tennis section of the T&RA Website devoted to Court Development.
Succession
Having successfully established the need for a proactive Court Development programme within the T&RA and having reached a certain milestone (both age and handicap related!), I will be stepping back in the Autumn of this year in favour of Simon Talbot-Williams who will bring huge energy and enthusiasm to the role of Director of Court Development. Good luck to him!
