Tennis
All you need to know about the Club
Courts
Bookings & Floodlights
Social Tennis
Get to know club members
Competitions
Annual Tournaments & Box Leagues
Teams
Competing with other clubs
We have eight all weather courts. All are Astroturf and four, upgraded in 2017, are the latest generation “Tiger Turf”. Six are floodlit, two with the latest LED floodlights which save energy and give an outstanding illumination quality.
Court booking
The courts are open to members seven days per week between 8:00 and 22:00 throughout the year, subject to team matches, club nights, tournaments and coaching.
You can log in to the court booking system from the menu button. You should have received a member ID number and PIN when you joined. If not contact a member of the committee.
The system can be used from a PC or mobile device. The mobile optimisation is very good and if you place a shortcut to it on your phone home screen the experience is as easy using a dedicated app.
Courts are bookable in 90 minutes slots. Booking opens for each slot 7 days plus 30 minutes before the start time. Please always make a court booking even at quieter times. This is very helpful in understanding the use of the courts which in turn helps us gain support from the Lawn Tennis Association.
You must log in at the console in the clubhouse when you arrive for your booking. If you do not log in within 10 minutes after the booked start time the system will register a “no-show”. Three no shows will automatically result in the member losing “booking rights” through the system. You will need to contact noshows@kdrc.info to request this be reset.If you book a court and no longer need it, please cancel it as soon as possible to give other members the best chance to use it. The committee may review cancellations with less than 48 hours notice.
Balls
Four tennis balls are provided per court free of charge. Please make sure you recover any hit out and return to the clubhouse after play. The club is the only one in the area still providing this service.
Court Sweeping
Courts 1-4 should be swept after each session when dry, one horizontal sweep across the net and then up and down including the run off areas.
What to Wear
The Club rule is that all tennis players wear predominantly white tennis kit (shirts and socks) however, coloured tennis shorts or skirts are acceptable. From October to March coloured tracksuits may be worn. This rule applies to both senior and junior tennis members. Non-marking tennis shoes must be worn (i.e. footwear specifically designed to enhance performance on a tennis court and guard against injury).
Floodlights
The floodlights are controlled by token meters in the main corridor. Tokens can be purchased from the bar.
Note that for courts 1-4 the floodlights will take a few minutes to reach full brightness. Furthermore, when the lights go off the system will not allow them to turn on for ten minutes. You will still be charged if you put a token in during this time. Courts 5 & 6 being LED do not suffer these restrictions.
All floodlighting must be paid for in advance of playing. The cost is £3 per court per 45 minutes for ALL courts including 5 and 6. There is only one token meter controlling both courts 5 and 6 therefore if players have paid for Courts 5 and you are playing on Court 6 or vice-versa your fee still needs to be paid. When buying tokens or paying fees for all courts place the money in an envelope with:
- Your name
- Amount paid
- Court number
- Date
When buying in advance, then write “advance” in place of the court number. When using the tokens bought in advance, on an empty envelope write:
- Your name
- Pre-purchase
- Court number
- Date
There are two social tennis sessions a week (Saturday 2-5 p.m. and Tuesday 6-10 p.m.). These are for all senior members to turn up and mix in and floodlighting is provided free of charge. They are a great way to get to know people. Tea and cakes are provided by a rota of members at the Saturday session.
To make the sessions fair and enjoyable for all, please follow the rules:
DO
- All matches are first to 6 games; sudden death deuce, receivers choice.
- No priority for mixed doubles or players just arriving; everyone should be prepared to wait their turn.
- Return to clubhouse after each match; please collect and bring balls back with you.
- Please respect the order of play; wherever possible at least 2 of you should change partners.
- If necessary, wait a few minutes for another group to complete their match to ensure mixing in.
- If there is a surfeit of either ladies or men; a same sex match is perfectly acceptable.
- If you stay out of your turn (eg: tea break, rest, toilet) you go to the back of the queue.
- Occasionally a player may feel the group is too strong for them; Only in such a case are they permitted to wait out and may then play in the next group of 4.
- If playing prior to social, complete your match in time for the social session.
DON’T
- Manipulate your availability to avoid certain players – social is about mixing in.
- Play any non-social (eg: Box League) matches during social sessions.
- Court number
- Date
Sudden death deuces are the rule to try and make the length of games shorter and more consistent. This helps to reduce the waiting required to mix in and play with different people.
Full Code of Conduct details can be found on the Policies page.
Social fours and tournaments
The weekday social organiser arranges social fours throughout the week and also a program of friendly matches with other local clubs on Tuesdays. Please contact them if you are interested in playing.
The weekend social organiser arranges a number of social matches with local clubs. Please contact them if you are interested in playing.
Throughout the year there are Men’s, Ladies and Mixed doubles “Box league” competitions and a singles ladder. Over three weeks in June the club Annual Tournaments take place. There are open and handicapped events in both singles and doubles, men’s ladies and mixed.
Two mixed doubles round robin competitions are held immediately after the Annual Tournaments with finals played in early October: Robin Scott for members over 45 and Cooper Pontifex for those 45 and under.
In addition there are a number of one day tournaments held throughout the year.
Mixed doubles box league
The mixed doubles box league is the longest running of the competitions. Please contact the organiser if you wish to join the league. You need a partner to enter, but the organiser may also be able to suggest possible candidates if you can’t identify someone.
Each pair is in a box with 3-4 others and you will usually have around two months to play your matches. This sounds like a lot of time, but you will be surprised how hard it can be to get four people to agree a time so please start making arrangements at the start of each period.
Match format is two sets with a champions tie-break (first to 10, with two clear points) if it is 1 set all. Each set is first to 6 games with a tie break at 5 all if required. All games are sudden death deuce, lady to lady or man to man. This helps to make sure that matches can be completed within a 90 minute court booking slot.
When you have played please write your result on the sheet on the tennis noticeboard.
At the end of the period, the top two pairs will be promoted and the bottom two relegated.
Men’s doubles box league
This was a new innovation for 2019, recognising that there was a desire for more competitive tennis among players who don’t play in the teams. Having attracted a strong field of 17 pairs it was decided to play a round robin among all the pairs over several months as a basis for splitting into divisions next year.
Pairs are expected to join the WhatsApp group managed by the organiser. Please advertise your availability to play on the group and keep an eye for other pairs doing the same. Once you have agreed with another pair to play, please use private messages for any further arrangements, weather cancellations etc. Please also don’t use this WhatsApp group for any other purpose as with so many participants the number of messages can become irritating,
There are still very many matches to be played so please make an effort to organise them.
Match format is two sets with a champions tie-break (first to 10, with two clear points) if it is 1 set all. Each set is first to 6 games with a tie break at 6 all if required. (Note this is slightly different from the mixed league)
All games are sudden death deuce, receivers’ choice. This helps to make sure that matches can be completed within a 90 minute court booking slot.
When you have played please write your result on the sheet on the tennis noticeboard and also send to the organiser via a private message on WhatsApp
Ladies’s doubles box league
Again this was a new innovation for 2019. Need text here, not sure of current details
Annual Tournaments
Over three weeks the club Annual Tournaments take place. There are open and handicapped events in both singles and doubles, men’s ladies and mixed.
The handicap events are a great opportunity to play against better players with the odds rather more even. This requires a lot of matches to be played so normal court bookings and the Tuesday social session are suspended during this period.
Finals day is a big event in the club calendar. The bar is always busy and you will see some great matches so put it in your diary.
Tournament Rules, Match Etiquette and Handicapping Rules can be found on the Policy and Guidance page.
Spring Progressive Tournament
Full details for 2020 will be available soon.
Generation Tournament
This event is held on a Sunday afternoon. Seniors and Juniors may enter as a same sex or mixed doubles pair, but there must be at least 20 years between partners.
President’s Tournament
Once a year the Club President hosts a round robin mixed doubles tournament and provides afternoon tea.
Ladies Tournament
Each year ladies are invited to play doubles tennis and enjoy lunch at the Club. This is a round robin competition and there is a draw for partners.
End of season tournament
Fun tournament held generally in October.
For all these tournaments watch the notice boards for sign up sheets. They will also be advertised on the News and Events page.
The club runs several men’s, ladies and mixed teams in the Birmingham, Warwickshire and Coventry area leagues. Match practice sessions are held late winter/early spring for players interested in being considered.
To be eligible to play in the teams, members must attend some of the match practice sessions. These are held early in the New Year and run by the head coach. If you are interested in playing team tennis please contact the men’s captain, or ladies captain and also refer to the Team Tennis Aims and Principles Guide.
The club currently runs 10 teams in the summer Birmingham area, Metropolitan and Coventry area leagues alongside mixed teams during the summer and winter.
Summer Season
Men currently have three adult teams playing in the Birmingham Leagues, one in the Coventry league and a junior boys team in the Metropolitan League.
Ladies currently have three adult teams playing in three Birmingham Leagues and one in the Coventry League plus a junior team in the Metropolitan League.
We also have two mixed teams playing in the Metropolitan League.
Winter Season
Men play in the Warwickshire Men’s Veterans League – they were winners of this league in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Ladies play in two competitions during the winter – the Warwickshire Ladies Veterans League and the Helen Cole Ladies Doubles Winter League
You can find our how our teams are getting on at www.mydivision.com (select Birmingham Area League, Coventry and District Lawn Tennis League or Metropolitan Summer League as desired).
Warwickshire LTA also runs knock-out competition for singles and doubles so if you are interested in playing within the county or region then entry into these along with full details of all competitions available can be found at www.lta.org.uk (select Warwickshire Club Players Championship).
Our experienced team of junior coaches provided a comprehensive coaching programme in Mini and Junior Tennis on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 16:00.
Our head coach provides adult individual or small group lessons by arrangement throughout the week.