Padel to feature prominently at Business Tennis Forum

Design, construction and cost issues of Padel courts will be highlighted at the TIA UK’s annual Business Tennis Forum. Padel Tennis uses an enclosed court one-third the size of a tennis court. The LTA is convinced of ithe sport’s benefits to help recruit and retain players of all ages and abilities.

Andy Burrell of Chiltern Sports and Lee West of Sports Facility Planning and Design are at the forefront of Padel court design and construction in the UK. They will highlight some of the pitfalls and benefits of constructing Padel courts and how to maximise limited space in tennis clubs and venues.

Many clubs are now thinking of Padel to boost membership numbers. If your club is one of them, this is a go-to event to learn from the experts.

Christmas is coming!

Save the date of Wednesday 4th December for the TIA UK's annual Christmas Industry Lunch.  This year the lunch will be run in conjunction with our official charity - Dan Maskell Tennis Trust -  supporting disabled tennis players.

The fabulous President's Room at The Queen's Club provides a great venue to get you in the festive mood so come and join us and our special guests to raise a glass and some money for a worthy cause.

Full details and how to book will be available soon - if you want to register an interest now, or would like to offer a prize for the raffle please contact Gilly

E.T.C. Sports Surfaces join TIA UK as Partner Member

With over 3 decades of experience of building sports facilities, TIA UK is delighted to welcome E.T.C. Sports Surfaces as a new Partner Member.

Based in Witham in Essex, the company is SAPCA and ISO 9001 registered and provides the whole range of tennis court surfacing systems. It also installs floodlighting including the revolutionary Tweener LED system.

For further information see E.T.C. Sports Surfaces announcement on their website
https://www.etcsports.co.uk/tia-partners-for-all-types-of-tennis-courts/

TIA UK AGM – optimism for the future

The 21st AGM of the Tennis Industry Association UK Ltd took place during the Wimbledon Championships, attended by 30 representatives from member organisations.

Presided over by Ian Peacock, Honorary Life President, his opening remarks reflected on a good year for the TIA UK both in terms of financial stability and successful projects completed during the year under review. Chairman Steve Matthews commented on the current relationship with the LTA and how the two organisations are working together on specific projects.

Business Development Manager Phil Sandilands highlighted the main successes of the year, namely The Business of Tennis Forum held at the All England Club and The Business Club Tennis Report, a benchmarking project to gather research from 15 of the major clubs in the UK. This is the first year of a 5-year project which aims to capture information from 100 clubs.

Although membership of TIA UK increased by 13%, the aim is to broaden the reach of the Association and provide a range of membership benefits supporting the business of its members. Members were asked to feedback what these benefits should include. Another objective is to try to encourage the larger brands back into the fold – the TIA UK needs to speak as the whole of the industry with the major players as well as the smaller companies.

Membership fees will remain the same for the third consecutive year.

Steve Matthews of Bromley Tennis Centre was re-elected as Chairman for a two-year period along with Company Secretary Jan Booth of Sunbaba.  The following Board Directors were elected for a one-year term:-

Andy Burrell (Chiltern Sports Contractors)
David Carpenter (TrioPlus Ltd)
Justin Kraushar (Yonex)
Robert McCowen (SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC)

Paul Jepson receives TIA UK Special Award

This year's TIA UK Special Award was given to Paul Jepson, former Managing Director of Yonex, to recognise his contribution. Paul has a distinguished record in the Sports Industry with over 35 years of experience, 22 of those with Yonex.  

Paul joined Yonex  on 1st April 1998 and retired as Managing Director in April 2017.  He was retained as a Consultant and we then quickly snapped him up to join the TIA UK Board.

He represented Yonex not only on the TIA Board but also on the Federation of Sport and Play Associations Board (FSPA) and on the Executive of the British Golf Industry Association (BGIA)

His extensive knowledge and experience has benefitted the TIA UK from his involvement through Yonex’s longstanding membership and subsequently on the Board which he joined in May 2017.

Paul has now retired from Yonex and subsequently resigned as a TIA UK Director.