Henk Steenkamp
YOU might be one of those who went to the garage in search of the old tennis racquet recently or noticed in the social media the enquiries about a tennis club in your area.
This might be because the prestigious Wimbledon tournament started again this week in London but when I had a closer look, I realised it is mostly because of a job well done by Tennis South Africa (SA).
The sporting world has been hugely impacted by COVID-19 and even the biggest sports organisations are struggling to survive financially.
Against this background, it is wonderful to notice that Tennis SA has seen a record increase in membership of more than 20% over the last 12 months – just incredible.
In this challenging COVID-19 time, we have seen many sports organisations just throwing in the towel and waiting for better days. There are those though that worked even harder for the sport they love – and Tennis SA most certainly falls in that category.
The #JoinTheClub initiative from Tennis SA has introduced many newcomers to the sport and goes a long way to ensure that the game is accessible to everyone.
Tennis is played outdoors and is a non-contact sport, which places it in a privileged position in COVID-19 times.
You still need the vision to realise that this is an opportunity to grow the sport and this is exactly what Tennis SA has done. Let’s hope those who are complaining about the team sports that are missing at our schools, are also keen to get the racquets out and get the kids hitting some balls.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the effort of Tennis SA. One of them is to make the sport accessible to all people.
That might sound like a standard outlook but too often we see sports organisations unwilling to accommodate newcomers.
It just takes a little bit of clever marketing to create a buzz around your sport. We all love a bit of discount on something somewhere and I have noticed that some special deals are part of the Tennis SA initiative.
It does take a huge team effort to get the ball rolling in a situation like this, but it also requires an administrator with vision.
Tennis SA is lucky that they do have such a person in Richard Glover. Glover might also be known to soccer fans, as he was involved at Arsenal.
So, it might be time to dust that racquet off or follow the other option by stocking up on the strawberries and cream to watch Wimbledon on television for the next week and a half.
Anyone for tennis?
