No 2
Hello everyone,
At the first #yellowfriday we introduced you to our pillars #1 and #2. Here, the focus was on easy access to racquet sports and the topic of digitalization. But Tennis is us also focuses on the place where the action takes place: For most tennis players in Europe, this is their tennis club. And this brings us to pillar #3 – the tennis club or racket sports club of the future!
One of the reasons why we founded the Tennis is us. Foundation was due to the observation that many tennis clubs are “getting on in years”. Often built in the 70’s and 80’s, they are subject to a renovation or refurbishment backlog.
Does this also apply to your club or association?
Likewise, we have found out in many conversations that quite a few club board members have held their honorary office for decades, but unfortunately cannot find any successors. At the age of 70 or 80, every volunteer should be allowed to pass on the scepter. For a younger board, who cannot or do not want to invest so much time, to succeed in the transformation to a racket sports club of the future, we once went through the process “live and in colour” in our pilot club. We observed all steps, questioned some things, and documented our results.
Playbook
The result is a playbook that we will make available to your association in the fourth quarter of 2023 for a small nominal fee. In it, we also refer service providers who can make the changes and show ways in which such a project can be financed. It remains to be repeated here that the playbook should be seen as a bouquet of possibilities and that each club or association picks out the topics for itself that have individual priority.
We also see that the transformation will take at least two years, in some cases longer.
Since we can’t cover all the topics at once, we will introduce you to the partners in individual reports in our #yellowfriday. Our focus will be on the court facilities, their conversion or addition with other racket sports, as well as the clubhouse and terrace, which are the linchpin of social interaction. These are, of course, large construction sites, but with the help of the playbook and a lot of experience in the implementation, you and your club can be sure that Tennis is us. Foundation can be a good help.
We would like to make this clear and prevent any misunderstandings from the outset: Our concept for the tennis club of the future is based on the principle of “helping people to help themselves”. Otherwise, it would not be possible to achieve our ambitious goal of transforming 1,000 of the current 8,700 clubs in Germany into the tennis or racket sports club of the future within the next 3-4 years.
Ideally, we will also manage to build up a community with our “yellow movement”, which will fertilize itself. We will soon publish a platform on which we will show videos in addition to the digital playbook and integrate a forum where people can exchange information and experiences.
The tennis court – meeting place for generations.
The voluntary work of committed people cannot be overestimated. For many, it is a matter of giving back with their commitment what they were able to experience themselves in their youth. In the tennis club, people create a place of recreation for themselves and their families where they can enjoy life together. It is very important to us that we look at all age groups. Of course, children and young people have suffered particularly during the pandemic. The restriction in movement and the lack of social contact – let’s just call it playing and romping – has drastic effects, which we will deal with again separately on #yellowfriday.
But the older generation often dares to get out of the house much less, too. The fact that one can still learn or rediscover a throwback sport at a more mature age seems out of the question for many older citizens. Here the society is in the responsibility clearing-up work to carry out. This can work through cities and communities, but also through us and you, the “drivers” of the racket sports club of the future.
The tennis instructor of the future.
But who is going to do all this? We have concluded that, in addition to the tennis club, we must also consider the tennis instructor of the future and train him or her accordingly. This person should take over the function of a club manager on a full-time basis. Examples that this works already exist in larger cities with larger clubs. Our focus, however, is on medium-sized and smaller cities with the appropriate club structure. Here, several clubs and associations could also be looked after by one manager – supported by digital media and tools. But this is also just a small teaser for our own detailed newsletter on #yellowfriday.
Pillar #4 is getting the word out about #teamyellow, which we are literally putting into motion with Tennis is us. Foundation. This works through this newsletter and our social media platforms, through the website and blogposts – but the most important medium is word-of-mouth. To do this, we need each one of you to spread the “yellow movement message.” We want to give everyone from young to old the opportunity to find and promote their well-being, joy, and happiness through racquet sports.
We are all #teamyellow!
See you next Friday!
Sporty greetings
Christian and Nelson
And the whole team of Tennis is us. Foundation