{"id":15469,"date":"2020-06-30T10:23:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T02:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=15469"},"modified":"2020-07-06T13:10:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T05:10:50","slug":"tennis-records-unprecedented-growth-in-court-bookings-amidst-covid-19-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2020\/06\/30\/tennis-records-unprecedented-growth-in-court-bookings-amidst-covid-19-restrictions","title":{"rendered":"Tennis records unprecedented growth in court bookings amidst COVID-19 restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis Clubs across WA have experienced unprecedented growth in court bookings, with comparative data showing growth of more than 140%<\/strong> across the 21 West Australian Book-a-Court venues for the month of May.<\/p>\n

Data obtained from Tennis Australia\u2019s online court booking system provided evidence of significant growth from casual users and members alike, with WA clubs recording a total of 4118 court bookings<\/strong> throughout WA\u2019s COVID-19 restrictions, highlighting the sport\u2019s unique physical distancing benefits which favoured it\u2019s continuation throughout most of the State\u2019s mandated restrictions.<\/p>\n

Compared with data collected from the same period last year, Higgins Park TC<\/strong> (East Victoria Park) was one of the State\u2019s standout clubs, experiencing a 671% increase in the total number of court bookings<\/strong> (members and non-members).<\/p>\n

Higgins Park TC Club President, Tom Leeming<\/strong> said that the club was determined to service the wider community to the best of its ability throughout the COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u2018The club\u2019s main focus was to remain as accessible as possible, whilst adhering to all necessary restrictions and guidelines,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Being able to offer the community an outlet for physically exercise that also met the requirements for physical and social distancing was welcomed positively by the community who were looking to remain active during isolation,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The increase of over 670% court hire was definitely a COVID thing. We had people accessing our courts who wouldn\u2019t usually do so which proved to be incredibly beneficial to us,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018By remaining open under the tightest of guidelines and protocols, the benefit to the club not only came in significant court booking growth but also in the number of new people who came to the club,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Throughout this period we were able to showcase our venue which includes our latest court resurfacing project, which will see the club operating with four additional LED lit hard courts,\u2019 Leeming said.<\/p>\n

As one of WA\u2019s newest Book-a-Court venues, Blue Gum TC<\/strong> (Brentwood) recorded the highest number of court bookings during the month of May with a total of 540 bookings made from both casual users and existing club members.<\/p>\n

Blue Gum TC Club President Colin Lorrimar<\/strong> says the ability for people to book online provided the biggest benefit to the club, it\u2019s members and the wider community given the ability for bookings to be secured and guaranteed ahead of arriving at the club.<\/p>\n

\u2018Book-a-Court has quickly become the go to place for members and non-members alike, who seem to really enjoy the benefits and convenience of booking online,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The system has removed a number of barriers and the benefit has been enjoyed by all court users,<\/p>\n

\u2018Book-a-Court has been a big part of seeing people get back out on court sooner throughout the State\u2019s COVID-19 restrictions,\u2019 Lorrimar said.<\/p>\n

Tennis West CEO Michael Roberts<\/strong> says the increase is court bookings during such uncertain times are a sure sign that tennis is alive and well across the WA community.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve always known that tennis is a unique sport \u2013 it can be played by anyone no matter their age or ability \u2013 and now, during the pandemic, we\u2019ve seen more people enjoying social tennis as a means to remain physically active and connected,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The increase in bookings we\u2019ve seen across the state are not accidental. Safety has been the most important factor as clubs have made their return to the courts,\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s great to see our clubs and tennis venues benefiting as a result of their efforts in ensuring the sports safe return,\u2019 Roberts said.<\/p>\n

WA\u2019s increase of 4118 court bookings contributes to the National data of 32,234 bookings and 106% increase made across Australia during the month of May.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The table below shows the total number of bookings made using the Book a Court system during May 2020 alongside the percentage increase in bookings from May 2019 compared to May 2020.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
State\/Territory<\/strong><\/td>\nBook-a-Court Venues<\/strong><\/td>\nBookings<\/strong><\/td>\nPercentage increase<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ACT<\/td>\n22<\/td>\n3249<\/td>\n75.15%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NSW<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n8129<\/td>\n230.69%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NT<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n181<\/td>\n254.55%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
QLD<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n2932<\/td>\n165.93%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SA<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n144.44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TAS<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n167<\/td>\n179.41%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
VIC<\/td>\n108<\/td>\n13202<\/td>\n59.29%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WA<\/strong><\/td>\n21<\/strong><\/td>\n4118<\/strong><\/td>\n141.63%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/td>\n235<\/td>\n32234<\/td>\n106.83%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

For all of the latest information and resources about playing tennis safely please visit: https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news-and-events\/news\/covid-19-updates<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Emilie Jones<\/p>\n

Media & PR Coordinator<\/p>\n

(08) 6462 8333 | ejones2@tennis.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennis Clubs across WA have experienced unprecedented growth in court bookings, with comparative data showing growth of more than 140% across the 21 West Australian Book-a-Court venues for the month of May. Data obtained from Tennis Australia\u2019s online court booking system provided evidence of significant growth from casual users and members alike, with WA clubs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6270,"featured_media":15472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}