Brian Vahaly, the USTA National First Vice President, shared a great idea during his keynote talk at the USTA Texas Annual Meeting earlier this month. The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the UK’s national governing body, has been running a pilot program for public parks that combines court resurfacing initiatives with gate access technology.
It was encouraging to learn about this program from the USTA because that means it is already on the organization’s radar. This is absolutely something that the USTA needs to be aggressively pursuing right now. The LTA recognizes that public park courts play a vital role in player engagement. However, instead of just running a commercial about the importance of public parks, the LTA has conducted an exciting pilot project that actually does something about it.
The LTA subsidized court resurfacing at St. Mary’s Park in Prestwich, Bury. They also installed technology for a gate access system that allowed players to book and reserve a court. In return, the LTA obtains a point of contact for every user who registers to use the system. Additionally, by charging to reserve courts during peak usage times revenue is generated. The proceeds have been earmarked for the future upkeep of the courts.
In “Tragically Beautiful: Locked Tennis Courts,” I lamented that the public school courts are routinely padlocked in my childhood hometown. Installing gate access technology could go toward funding the tennis booster club at each school. Alternatively, any earnings could be poured back into court maintenance as is done in the UK.
There is one example in my local area that uses similar technology. Colleyville City Park has an online system for booking courts. That allows the open access public park facility to be used for USTA League play. In fact, there are several teams in the Fort Worth area that use Colleyville City Park as their home courts.
The pilot project, by the LTA’s own account, is a smashing success. It is such an obviously good idea that it is kind of shocking that similar systems aren’t already ubiquitous in the United States. Hopefully, the USTA is about to put some marketing and financial support into changing that.
- St Mary’s Park piloting Gate Access Technology to open up tennis in the community, Lawn Tennis Association (UK), July 28, 2021.
