One of the major gripes I have about watching tennis on tv is when the stands are mostly empty. I mean, can’t the organizers plan ahead and bring in school children and senior citizens or something? The seats are there. Great tennis is there. A real no-brainer.

Go by most tennis facilities between noon and 3 pm and you’ll see empty courts. How about starting to think of filling empty court time in the same way? The courts are there. Fun can be had. A real no-brainer. Now the question is, “Who can you bring to the courts and what can they do to have fun and somehow benefit your facility?” Here is just one idea to get you started.

Pre-school and kindergarten-age children – Normally these youngsters go to school in the mornings. We also know that they have parents who are looking to get them involved in fun, motivational, interactive, and beneficial activities. And we also know that if you can get the children interested in tennis early ahead of other sport options, there’s a better chance they will keep playing. We all know they have teachers who know how to work with them. Here’s how it could unfold.
Contact and meet with a local preschool owner about promoting an “afterschool” activity at an extremely inexpensive or free of charge introductory rate. Also considering hiring (or bartering for tennis lessons) the preschool teachers who already know the children to help with the on-court activities. Keep the classes short, limiting them to 30 or 45 minutes, and don’t get stuck on teaching tennis. Make them fun, seek laughter and creating happy faces among the children. Here are some of the benefits.

1. Some of these teachers may be terrific resources for your summer and holiday programs. Remember that they do not have to be tennis teachers in order to teach tennis to this age group. With very little training they will feel comfortable with some basic progressions. Most importantly, they already are trained with how to work with groups of children in this young age range.
2. If you have a snack bar, you may make in profit in that department what you did not make in immediate income on the court.
3. You are introducing families to your facility.
4. You are getting kids involved in a wonderful journey that starts with QuickStart Tennis.
5. You are introducing new players to tennis who will hopefully become regular participants in your programs in the future.

Conclusion? A win-win all the way around. Sure you may have to pay a little to one of your coaches. But, on the whole, I can’t think of any downside to this program. Can you? Do what it takes to fill empty time even if it means giving it away for free.  The benefit of having extra traffic and activity at a facility totally outweighs the initial anxiety attached to giving away court time free of charge.

1. Provide a study room for juniors before or after practice to do their homework. 

2. For the youngest age groups, incorporate counting, spelling, and other school subjects into their tennis training sessions. For example, if they are practicing control and consistency, have both players count cooperatively by even or odd numbers. Or, how about spelling words like elephant? “E” for the first hit, then “L” followed by another “E”, etc. For geography, try countries in Europe or Africa, or even cities in your region. For Biology, name animals that are aquatics, or have them create a list of birds, one for each hit of the ball. In other words, make them think and verbalize quickly while they are striking a tennis ball. Believe me, the parents will love you for it.

The idea for this month is to package and promote activity programs that contain a certain amount of group instruction, a certain amount of private instruction, and a certain amount of supervised play. The reason this idea can generate greater participation than just an instructional or supervised play program is simple. Not everyone will want to sign up for supervised play and not everyone will want to sign up for instruction. Your audience and your participation levels should immediately increase when your programs contain components that are attractive to more people. You may also want to throw in a free one-hour ball machine rental as well.

One stop shopping is one of the reasons that shopping malls have been so successful around the world. Literally three generations of family members can go to a mall and see products specifically designed for and age appropriate for each person. Make your tennis program the same way by offering a full range of activities and services for small children all the way through seniors. In an ideal world, you want to say “good morning” to an entire family of three generations coming through your doors at the same time. And, remember, that customizing programs to these varied groups can often set your program apart from your competition.

On marketing tennis to juniors, here is a tip from a great tennis club marketer, Lenny Schloss. Lenny advocates breaking down programs into five levels.  Each level is identified with a certain number of balls which participants will presumably hit during the lesson program.  As closely as I can calculate the assumption is that each player will hit 3-400 balls per hour in their group lessons.  Level One is called the 5,000 Ball Academy.  In this level, the program and hours are arranged so that participants will end up hitting at least 5,000 balls upon completion of the program.  Level Two is the 10,000 Ball Academy.  Level Three is the 15,000 Ball Academy. Level Four is the 20,000 Ball Academy. And, Level Five is the 25,000 Ball Academy.  Lenny suggests to guarantee participants at each level to achieve certain levels of competency, enjoyment, and fitness.  For example, at Level Three, he recommends promising players to expect accuracy within 10 feet of their targets and the ability to control shots and make adjustments hitting up to 40 miles per hour.

Additionally, his promotional material motivationally compares the fitness benefits of each level to familiar exercise programs.  For example, at Level Three, the weekly exercise received is compared to jogging briskly eight miles per week, a high impact 45-minute aerobics class three times per week, or a 45-minute stationary bike workout three times per week. With so much emphasis on health and fitness, Lenny’s concept taps into the mindset of his audience and encourages them to see tennis as an enjoyable alternative to what many people perceive as the drudgery of jogging or aerobics classes.

Offer a free 30-minute lesson to every person who expresses an interest in any of your programs. Benefits include bringing more people into the lesson program, developing an early rapport with new students, an increased customer base for programs beyond tennis lessons, as well as the added advantage of being able to accurately evaluate a new player’s game to place them in the right program.