A new initiative designed to \u2018open up\u2019 tennis courts across the state is set for expansion following a successful pilot program launched by the Victorian government, Tennis Australia and Tennis Victoria.<\/p>\n
In a move designed to radically improve the way players access courts, the \u2018Opening Up Tennis\u2019 program links online court booking software to gate and lighting hardware. This innovation allows both club members and casual users to book their court conveniently online and independently manage the court facilities.<\/p>\n
Tennis Australia invested $500,000 into the online booking software, with the Victorian government injecting $250,000 into the project managed and implemented by Tennis Victoria, with 15 tennis clubs across the state now with established online booking systems and court hardware.<\/p>\n
Ten new tennis clubs across Melbourne and regional Victoria, including Keysborough, Melton South, Royal Park and Wodonga, will join the successful enterprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis is a great way to keep fit and healthy and make new friends. Opening Up Tennis means players can have a hit day and night, but not at the expense of our hard-working volunteers,\u201d said Minister for Sport, John Eren.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis new initiative is a game changing move for tennis. When the Australian Open starts in 2016 we will have 25 tennis venues across Victoria participating in this hugely successful \u2018Opening Up Tennis\u2019 program, including five in the City of Melbourne and five in regional Victoria,\u201d Tennis Victoria Chief Executive Officer Matthew Kennedy<\/strong> said today.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see 10 more venues now able to benefit from this initiative, as we strive to make our sport even more accessible. This new program reinforces that the fence around a tennis court is to keep the balls in, not to keep the community out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are already seeing more people playing tennis at the club since using the online booking software and installing the Opening Up Tennis gate technology,\u201d Princes Hill Tennis Club President Peter Mattessi<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, players had to write their name on photocopied booking sheets and then pick up a key to the courts from the local milk bar. Now, members and non-members alike can book online and have no problem getting into the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phase Two Venues (Hardware to be installed in late Nov\/early Dec)<\/strong><\/p>\n Buninyong & District TA \u2013 City of Ballarat<\/p>\n Karingal Drive TC \u2013 Banyule City Council<\/p>\n Keysborough TC \u2013 City of Greater Dandenong<\/p>\n Longbeach TC – City of Kingston<\/p>\n Melton South TC \u2013 Melton City Council<\/p>\n Mildura Lawn TC \u2013 Mildura Rural City Council<\/p>\n Overport Park TC – Frankston City Council<\/p>\n Royal Park TC – City of Melbourne<\/p>\n West Lalor TC \u2013 City of Whittlesea<\/p>\n Wodonga TC \u2013 City of Wodonga<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phase One Venues <\/strong><\/p>\n Anglesea Tennis Club (TC) \u2013 Surf Coast Shire<\/p>\n Ararat City TC \u2013 Ararat Rural City Council<\/p>\n Aspendale TC – City of Kingston<\/p>\n Bruce Park TC \u2013 Frankston City Council<\/p>\n Carlton Gardens TC – City of Melbourne<\/p>\n Chelsea Heights TC – City of Kingston<\/p>\n Eildon Park TC \u2013 Knox City Council<\/p>\n Kensington Banks Tennis Courts – City of Melbourne<\/p>\n Kilmore TC \u2013 Mitchell Shire Council<\/p>\n Montrose TC \u2013 Yarra Ranges<\/p>\n North Park TC – City of Melbourne<\/p>\n Parkdale TC – City of Kingston<\/p>\n Princes Hill TC – City of Melbourne<\/p>\n Saltwater TC – City of Wyndham<\/p>\n Yamala Park TC – Frankston City Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new initiative designed to \u2018open up\u2019 tennis courts across the state is set for expansion following a successful pilot program launched by the Victorian government, Tennis Australia and Tennis Victoria. In a move designed to radically improve the way players access courts, the \u2018Opening Up Tennis\u2019 program links online court booking software to gate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5914,"featured_media":14599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5914"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}