The Hobart-based club has enjoyed a remarkable revival in the past five years, with member numbers more than doubling.<\/p>\n
The club now boasts an active member base of 178, with 80 per cent regularly playing, and a stronger junior program led by the Hobart Tennis Academy’s John Playle. The club has produced many state representatives since Playle\u00a0became the club professional coach four years ago,\u00a0including Jess Fowler who was named the Female Junior Athlete of the Year at the Tasmanian Tennis Awards (pictured below right, with Fagan and Casey Dellacqua).<\/p>\n
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Fagan, who paid credit to former president Peter Hobday for leading their club\u2019s growth when accepting the award, believes there a number of factors that have helped boost member numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to engage our members, encourage social tennis and a new club coach has made a massive difference. There has been lots of different things we\u2019ve done – and all that connected has made it a success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Embracing change has also helped the club grow.<\/p>\n
Three synthetic grass courts were replaced with a Plexicushion surface three years ago \u2013 an upgrade that has helped attract new members and seen their facilities used by international athletes for practice during the annual Hobart International<\/a> tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s made a massive difference \u2013 people want to play on courts just like at the Australian Open,\u201d Fagan said.<\/p>\n The club also became the first in the state to introduce Book a Court technology<\/a>, an innovative online booking platform that makes court hire of the club’s five courts more accessible. Within eight weeks of installing the system in May, the club had surpassed their annual income from the previous year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been really successful so far \u2013 and that\u2019s been through the winter time,\u201d Fagan said.<\/p>\n