The board met (virtually) following the provincial announcement about tennis courts and would like to share the updates below.
Permit and Court Access
We’ve been in touch with City of Toronto staff who have confirmed that the courts are closed and that no decisions have been made at this point on when community tennis clubs will be given the green light to open. They expect a timeline update in the coming days and will notify all tennis clubs. In the meantime, our court preparation work is on hold since we don’t currently have a permit or access to the courts.
Physical Distancing
To keep all staff and members safe, physical distancing measures will be introduced at the club this season. They will be along the lines of social distancing measures we’ve all become accustomed to from shopping in grocery stores.
The Province, Tennis Canada and other bodies have issued guidelines and we expect the City will as well. We are incorporating these recommendations into our planning and will share details with members once we are able to finalize with any City-specific guidelines.
Club Opening
We’ve developed a framework for what we’re referring to as Phase 1 of our season. Once the club opens, and we have a chance to assess what is happening in our community and at the club, we may be able to make adjustments.
Phase 1 Preliminary Details:
- The clubhouse will be closed to members
- Only singles play will be permitted
- All club programs and events are suspended
- Our usual court booking procedures will be in place with two-metre distancing between members waiting to book courts
- The club will continue to issue tennis balls as usual but we recommend that members bring their own
- The CMs will not be accepting payments and all payments must be made online
We are working with ACE Tennis to assess the impact on lessons.
Opening Day and Memberships
We are sorry to report that our traditional Opening Day will not be possible in light of group size restrictions and so as not to draw the crowd that typically comes out to line up for the 50 Opening Day memberships. Given this, and the impact the physical distancing measures may have on court time, we’ve made the necessary decision to close off membership sales for the 2020 season. The usual 50 adult memberships sold on Opening Day will no longer be available.
As we mentioned in a recent update, current memberships will be pro-rated. We’ll be able to finalize the refund amount and details once we know how long our season will be. Since this will be a manual process for hundreds of member accounts, it’s important that we get it right and do it only once!
We continue to monitor the situation and will reach out to members with updates. We look forward to getting outside and thank you for your patience as we work out details.