St. Finbar's Tennis club

Rules of our Club

Club Rules

Payment of the membership fee for St Finbar’s Tennis Club acknowledges acceptance of the following Terms & Conditions of our club:

Membership

Membership is valid from July to June financial year every year. Membership continues until you advise us otherwise. Members will be responsible for any outstanding amounts up to the time they have returned the key and informed us of their decision to terminate membership.

Membership Category

It is the individual member’s responsibility to join the relevant member category. A visitor who has played more than 5 times is expected to join the club.

When you can use the courts?

Tennis courts can be used at any time between 8.00am and 10.00pm other than competition times, coaching sessions and night bookings.

It is rare that both doubles courts are in use. We have only 2 ‘blackout’ times when both courts are in use based on a review of recurring bookings. This is based on the courts being used 95% of the time and these times are:
  • Wednesday nights after 7.00pm
  • Every 2nd Saturday from 1.00pm to 5.00pm during season when our Senior’s Bayside Regional Tennis Association is the home team. Refer to https://www.baysidetennis.asn.au/Senior.htm for fixture information for St Finbars.
Our coach Ray Kent also has priority access to 1 of the 2 courts when required for coaching – this is generally Monday through Thursday until 6.30pm and Saturday mornings until 1.00pm.

If courts are wet they will be slippery and un-safe for play due to the nature of the surface. The Committee advises that play should not be undertaken if we have had heavy rain in previous days.

Rules when three or more groups want to play tennis

Competition takes precedence over those wishing to have a social hit. If a number of members arrive to play tennis at the same time then an agreement needs to be reached as to whether the first group play for a limited time or else the groups join together for a doubles match.

If two groups are already playing and a third arrives it is best practice to inform the new group as to how much longer you are likely to be.

If two groups are already having a social hit and the middle singles court is free then both groups would need to approve the use of the middle court as space between the courts is at a premium.

Conversation and flexibility between members is the best remedy here to ensure everyone gets a fair go.

Lights

Charges for using the lights are $14 per hour and $2 coins are to be inserted into the coin box inside the cupboard in the clubrooms (between kitchen and bathroom) to start the lights. A minimum of $14 is required before the lights turn on. If you wish to play longer than I hour, insert more $2 coins when the red warning light facing the courts comes on. Lights will automatically cut out at 10:30pm to cater for our residential neighbours. We must adhere to this finishing time or we run the risk of losing our permit.

Visitors

Visitors of financial members are allowed to play tennis whilst the member is present. A fee of $5.00 is to be deposited into the honesty box inside the cupboard in the clubrooms when non-members are playing. If a non-member has played more than 5 times then they should become a member.

Please remember that this is your responsibility as a member to ensure that your non-financial friends do contribute to this box.

Use of the clubrooms and courts

As a member you gain access to the clubroom and courts. The clubroom is to be treated as your home and we would appreciate it being cleaned up after use.

This means that all cups are to be washed up and put away, tables to be cleared and cleaned, all recyclable rubbish to be placed in the recycle bin outside and all other rubbish placed into the other garbage bin outside.

The club employs a cleaner to do a weekly clean of toilets and floors etc but they are not to be spending time cleaning up after individuals.

Only water is to be consumed on the playing surface and under no circumstances are food and alcohol allowed in the court area.

The club BBQ is available for use and it is located in the shed just inside the external gate. If using the BBQ, it is to be cleaned and replaced in the shed after use.

Competitions

Competition tennis played at our club is on:

  • Saturday PM (Mixed) under BRTA (see link above)
  • Annual tournament for members (generally November)

We do hold tennis “social” evenings or afternoons and these are on an ad hoc basis. They can be in the format of an adult’s social competition or a kid’s round robin. An email will be sent around to members advertising these tennis socials.

Hiring of the courts and facilities

The courts and facilities are available for hire by any of the members for functions for a small donation. Please contact Michael Verberne via [email protected] to check on the availability on specific days. An email will be sent to all members informing them of the private function being held and the date that the courts would be unavailable.