HIDEAWAY TENNIS UPDATE

Welcome New Members

The Hideaway continues to add quality players to its membership rolls. Our three ladies teams will add a few new players that are welcome additions to those who played last season. 

Among our new players are Dolly Moore, who is likely to be

one of the stronger players on our Copper and 3.0 teams, Pat Ben-Dov and Barbara Morgan who we believe will be standouts on our Bronze team, and Diane Russ, tabbed to be another stellar performer on our 3.0 team.We have recently added some dynamic players on the men’s 

side of things as well, bringing Tim McClary, Barry Speakman, and Rob Hartman, all strong 3.5 players, as well as Masa Kumamoto, our first 4.0 player, on board. 

If you would like to get an idea of how strong our men’s teams are likely to be this fall, Captain Ed Marcelo’s Men’s 7.5 USTA team is currently competing, and will be playing its next home match at 10am on August 2. Come on out and check out the action!

Nuts & Bolts/Policies & Procedures

As you can imagine, the influx of new members results in the need for continued refining of our policies and procedures. We hope to have everything in smooth functioning order by the time season arrives. 

Sign-in for Play
We have tried using a sign-in sheet to keep track of court usage but we believe a cleaner, more effective method would be the following: When making a court reservation for open play, the member making the reservation should provide the names of all players who are a part of the reservation. Prior to play, the member who made the reservation should check in for the group at the pro shop.

All of the names will then be listed on the court sheet that will be in the pro shop, on the clipboard under the covered area at the courts, and in the guard house. Players not listed on the court sheet may be denied access to the Club, unless the pro shop calls them in after the fact.

Guest FeesA member who makes a reservation can choose to handle guest fees in three ways:

• Have guests submit their guest fees in the pro shop before or after play, 
• Collect guest fees from guests and submit them in the pro shop before or after play, or 
• Have their accounts charged for guest fees. 

Hopefully this will allow us to keep track of things with minimal issues. 

Closed on Monday

Along similar lines, we have been wrestling with our Monday closure. The club is closed on Monday during the off-season, but we have been trying to allow access to the courts despite the Club being closed. 

It was a gesture of goodwill by management, but having open play while no Club representative is on site poses a liability and is a logistics problem. As such, the Club will no longer accept court reservations on Mondays when the Club is closed, and the gate to the courts will be locked I am onsite for lessons or clinics. 

Developing a Culture of Consideration & Cooperation
I’d like to commend our new members and our long-standing members on how well they have managed to make the transition from a closed environment to an open one work. Such transitions are seldom easy, but the quality of individuals we have at the Hideaway, both long-standing and new, have made it seem relatively easy. 

As we continue to grow, I think it will be essential that we continue to develop a “culture of consideration and cooperation.” What do I mean by that? Well, in short, by “culture” I mean a relatively coherent collection of attitudes, values, and behaviors that are or become common practice in our environment. 

By “consideration,” I mean keeping in mind, or actively thinking about how we can enhance the experience of all who share our environment. By “cooperation,” I mean working together, each of us sharing the responsibility of keeping our environment pleasant, attractive and enhancing for all. 

Whew! That was a mouthful/eyeful huh :)? Seriously though, given what I have seen of the character of our membership, I do believe that we can create and maintain such an environment at The Hideaway. 

So what does that culture look like? I believe when we are being considerate:

• We don’t put our clay-filled tennis shoes on the bench or table, but if we do, we certainly brush the clay off so that others don’t have to;
• We pick up water cups if we miss the trash bin and we dispose of our water bottles and other disposable containers after we have used them, rather than leave them for someone else to handle;
• We hang our tennis bags on the hooks provided so that that the seating area remains as clutter free as possible;
• If we reserve a court and we realize that we don’t need it, we call to cancel the reservation so that someone else may reserve the court;
• When we finish using a court, we brush and line the court so that the next party to play will have a court as well or better conditioned than the court we played on; and
• We do not leave balls (or anything else that was not there prior to our arrival) on the court when we are finished playing.

When we exercise cooperation:

• We park in the designated parking area, regardless of whether there are apparent open slots elsewhere;
• We ensure that we provide the names of the players in our party, and how long we intend to play when we request a reservation by email or phone call;
• We use the rest room in the dining room as opposed to the administration area; and 
• We let management know when we observe something that may not be in the best interest of the Club and its members, or when we observe or think of something that may be added to enhance the Club environment and member experience.

Well, what do you think (you can always comment)? it’s getting late and I’m losing steam. If you can think of other things that would be consistent with developing a culture of consideration and cooperation, please don’t hesitate to send them my way. 

Tennis Member Handbook

Be on the lookout for our Tennis Member Handbook. It is nearing completion. Those of you who have not received a copy (digital or otherwise), please be patient as we want you to have the most updated version. 

I’m looking forward to a tremendous second season of tennis at The Hideaway and I hope you are too. Game, set, match! T. A.