In other words, drop-ins are no longer permitted at Oakridge. Members who wish to use our tennis, squash, pickleball or speed badminton courts must book their court ahead of time via this website.

Rationale

Why we require players to book courts online:

1. Our court booking system can only be accessed by members. Therefore requiring players to book online helps to ensure that only members are using our courts.

2. By booking courts online, it is clear who has which court booked when. This prevents conflicts and disagreements. It also ensures members that the court they want to use will be available when they arrive to play on it.

3. Court time is rationed equally amongst members. By requiring online booking, administrators can monitor the system and spot the few who might abuse it.

4. Online booking creates data that we may choose to study when the time comes to improve our systems and/or rules.

5. The data created by online booking helps us answer questions on grant applications about who is using our courts and when they are using them.

6. Requiring online booking saves us money because we do not have to hire a receptionist to keep an appointment book.

7. Online booking help us with scheduling staff and coordinating maintenance.

The City’s tennis expert, Ron Riffel, pointed out that the tennis courts at the community centre are well beyond the end of their expected life cycle. He warned that the asphalt pad is crumbling from beneath and cannot be repaired. He also told us to expect the rate of decay to increase every year.

This corroborates what we were told earlier this year by Tyco Tennis — that the courts cannot be repaired and that replacement is the only option open to us at this time.

The good news is that representatives from the City of Calgary have agreed to work together with the Oakridge Community Association to find a solution that will allow us both to expand our parking lot and rebuild our tennis courts in a more suitable location.

Step 1A – Gather feedback from members over the current season (May, June, July, August)
Step 1B – Gather feedback from league participants over the current season (May, June, July, August)
Step 2 – Formulate a draft schedule based on feedback gathered in Steps 1A and 1B (August)
Step 3 – Incorporate feedback from tennis reps on the Board of Directors (August)
Step 4 – Incorporate feedback from facility manager (September)
Step 5 – Incorporate initial feedback from the Board of Directors (October)
Step 6 – Incorporate feedback from instructors (October)
Step 7 – Incorporate final feedback from club members (October)
Step 8 – Incorporate final feedback from Board of Directors (November)
Step 9 – Board of Directors ratifies the schedule (November)

Steps 1 through 3 are now complete.

Once the final step is complete, the schedule will be published and we will begin marketing it for the 2010 tennis season.

Summary of Feedback

Feedback from Step 1A

Approximately 80 per cent of members were satisified with the 2009 schedule; 20 per cent of members were dissastisfied with some features. Most members — including those who were generally satisified — were disappointed that we have had to introduce user fees to pay for court maintenance and improvements over the past three years.

Over the course of the 2009 season, most members became aware for the very first time that the City of Calgary does not pay for the maintenance of the tennis courts at Oakridge. Most were surprised to learn that the Oakridge Community Association must pay for all maintenance and improvements on the tennis courts. As a result, most members have come to understand and accept the need for user fees.

Dissatisifed Members

Dissatisifed members fell into four categories:

• some stated that all tennis activities should be free of charge at all times
• some wanted to see more court time available to play alone or with their friends
• some wanted policies changed so that they could “play around” group activities without participating in them
• some did not support either Ladies Night or Kids Night and wanted to see one or both removed from the schedule

Satisifed Members

Most members say they are generally satisified, believe they are getting good value for their money and have indicated that they will be returning next year. In general, satisified members enjoy group activities and feel obligated to make new members feel welcome.

Feedback from Step 1B

All league players expressed satisfaction with their experience at Oakridge; most expressed a very high level of satisfaction. They believed that they were getting good value for their league fees. They wanted to to see more players in every league and wanted to see a wider variety of leagues on the schedule for 2010. Almost all indicated that they plan to return to Oakridge and play next season.

In general, league players are very interested in group activities, are willing to help beginners learn how to play and feel obligated to make new players feel welcome. Not a single complaint was expressed by league players regarding league fees in 2009.

Feedback from Step 3

Board reps agreed that the Oakridge Community Association (OCA) should continue to charge user fees that accurately reflect the costs of maintaining and improving tennis infrastructure at the community centre.

Board reps agreed that the OCA should work harder in 2010 to communicate to members and the general public that user fees are necessary if the tennis courts are to be maintained and/or improved.

Board reps agreed that the Oakridge Tennis Club is maturing and that the 2010 schedule should incorporate more time for players who do not want to participate in group activities.

Board reps agreed that the 2010 schedule should create a better balance between time set aside for group use and time set aside for personal use.

Board reps agreed that group use should continue to be the priority during prime time simply because group use allows use of the courts by the greatest number of people.

Board reps agreed that Saturday and Sunday evenings should be left entirely open for personal use by members — except when the courts are needed for tournaments.

Board reps agreed that Friday should continue to be Kids Night and that Pizzaball should continue to occur on Friday nights.

Board reps agreed that weekday evening league activities should be restricted to 7:00-9:00 pm — except for Kids Night (Friday) — and that outside of those times members should be able to reserve tennis courts online in the same way that they now book our squash court.

Board reps agreed that our attempt to have volunteers supervise court usage in 2009 was not successful and that the only way to make the proposed schedule 2010 work will be to hire a tennis professional to supervise the courts from Friday through Monday.

Board reps agreed that members who are instructors should be allowed to book courts to teach lessons, provided 30 per cent of lessons revenue is paid to the Oakridge Community Association.

Board reps agreed that the OCA should purchase some additional netting for Court 3 so that it will be possible to keep Court 4 open while the ball machine is in use next season.

Board reps agreed that ball machine passes should be significantly cheaper in 2010.

Other Feedback

Our feedback process is continuing. As more feedback is gathered, it will be posted on this page.

Members of the tennis club will also notice new signs on the door proudly proclaiming OAKRIDGE TENNIS CLUB.

Please be sure to renew your community membership ($35.00 per family) and purchase your shoe tags ($20.00 per person over 11) for the 2009 outdoor tennis season.

Proceeds from the shoe tags will be used to pay for common tennis balls (a.k.a. court balls) that are used for drop-in programs, lessons, serving practice and the ball machine throughout the season.

These balls will be added to the two cases of tennis balls donated by the Oakridge Boston Pizza for our Pizza Ball Program and the balls donated by Tyco Tennis following our annual August tennis tournament.

The two day certification workshop will be held on Friday, July 17, and Saturday, July 18, at the Oakridge Community Centre. Between 12 and 20 people will be accepted into the program by the July 1 registration deadline.

Although the bulk of the participants are expected to come from the Oakridge Tennis Club’s instructor development initiative, the course is open to the public. Anybody who wants to participate is welcome to join the PTR and register via their website at ptrtennis.org.

PTR is the largest global organization of tennis teaching professionals with 13,300 members in 122 countries. It has the greatest percentage of multicultural and women members of any such organization. PTR is dedicated to educating, certifying and servicing tennis teachers and coaches around the world in order to grow the game.

Beginning in April, the tennis courts will be closed to all men and all children under 11 every Thursday evening from 7:00 p.m. to sunset. Only women and female juniors capable of playing with adults will be allowed to use the tennis courts during this period.

Doreen Chan, a PTR-certified tennis instructor, has agree to act as a the primary organizer for the new ladies doubles tennis program. The search is still on for a back-up organizer. Volunteers are asked to contact Doreen at 403-988-1868.

Since this was our first season with this machine and since many players contributed a lot of money to purchasing it, we maintained an open door usage policy. Basically, anybody who was a frequent user was entrusted with a key to the shed and allowed to use the machine whenever they wanted to.

Unfortunately, one or two bad apples (as they say) spoiled it for everybody and this policy will no longer be possible for next season.

Three different times this year, somebody used the ball machine until it started to malfunction and then put it away broken. They did not tell anybody that it was not working. They did not put an out-of-order sign on it. They didn’t contact anybody who might have been able to fix it. They simply unplugged it and put it away without saying a word.

The impact of this behaviour, of course, affects all of us. For example, we don’t know what the access policy will be for 2009, but we can guarantee that it will be tougher. Whatever the policy, it will certainly restrict access to the machine to those who recognize problems and admit when mistakes have been made.