Serving up more support for regional tennis clubs
Volunteers are the heartbeat of community sport – but we know many are stretched thin.
Tennis Victoria’s Club Service Officer program is providing flexible, targeted support to regional clubs when they need it most, helping reduce volunteer workload while building long-term capability.
Transcript
Serving up more support for Regional Tennis Clubs
Introduction heading image: hear what Tennis Victoria Club Services officers are doing to support regional tennis clubs. Music playing in background.
Vision: Footage of tennis players with a Voice over from Tennis Victoria CEO, Kim Kachel.
We’re adding club services officers to assist with administration, marketing and digital presence for regional clubs.
Vision: Footage of young tennis players with a Voice over from Tennis Victoria CEO, Kim Kachel.
Vision: The video features a tennis club committee member speaking directly to camera, providing a testimonial about their experience working with a Club Service Officer (CSO). The interview is filmed at a local tennis club, with tennis courts visible in the background, reinforcing the community club environment.
Sam Allen- Club President, Wangaratta Lawn Tennis, Croquet and Pickleball Club
Our CSO came to definitely at least two committee meetings right at the start and then has been to one or two since then.
One of the things we put in place was a bit of a yearly calendar. Our CSO works very hard on putting that together about when advertisement should go out, when events start, when events finish, you know, all just preparation throughout the year.
Vision: Footage of women playing tennis at a regional tennis club.
You know, the areas like women’s tennis and country tennis is a big one that we hope to improve on in the future that are really going to be assisted by our CSO’s work and their ideas and that type of thing.
Pip Gent- Club President, Ocean Grove Tennis Club
So, the introduction of the CSO role, one of the early things we did was around role description, role clarity, really trying to appeal to the broader club around getting involved.
And we’ve really noticed at our recent AGM a lot more people putting their hand up, taking on different roles, understanding that the contributions can be quite defined.
And I think the role descriptions help with that, the clarity around the direction of the club which we were able to use the CSO role to push that forward.
Vision: Footage of men and then a woman playing tennis at a regional tennis club.
I think probably one of the biggest barriers we had around the club is social media, and I imagine that’s probably quite common across clubs.
Our presence on the website, like Instagram, Facebook, we didn’t really have any members that were skilled in that area.
With the CSO role coming on board I think that broke down some of the barriers. We were able to soundboard ideas and then we identified someone in the club who actually had that skill set.
Vision: Footage of men playing tennis at a regional tennis club.
So that has been really helpful — someone to help take off some of the admin burden to free people up to deliver these exciting initiatives.
Honestly I think from a cost-benefit point of view I’d say 100% in.
It’s just someone who you can suggest an idea to. They’ll do the background research.
It allows you to engage more at the club, get people involved, and know you’ve got that support. So I’d say go for it.
[Victoria State Government. Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne]
Funded through our Sustainable Volunteer Workforce program and delivered as part of Tennis Victoria’s Sustainable Regional Tennis project, support can include:
- Digital and website refreshes
- Volunteer role descriptions
- Safeguarding children processes
- Grant application support
- Strategic and operational planning.
Pip Gent, President of the Ocean Grove Tennis Club whose club has benefitted from the program explains, “the introduction of the Club Service Officer role, one of the early things we did was around role description, role clarity, trying to make it appeal to the broader club around getting involved.”
‘And we’ve really noticed at our recent AGM a lot more people putting their hand up, taking on different roles, understanding that the contributions can be quite defined.’
‘I think the role descriptions help with that, the clarity around the direction of the club, which we were able to use the Club Service Officer role to push that forward.’
Sam Allen, President of the Wangaratta Lawn, Tennis, Croquet and Pickleball Club said, ‘a lot of small clubs like ours are driven by a few people, like committee members that do a lot of different things.’
‘To have that extra person to just handball certain stuff off to is terrific. Just to do a Facebook post or something along those lines. And having that communication with someone that’s in the know.’
‘I chat to our Club Service Officer at least once, maybe twice a week, just to have that communication line open all the time. And being up to date on what’s happening in the tennis world and what needs to be done and where we can improve.’
Most importantly, the program helps volunteers get back to what they love – supporting players and building strong local tennis communities.
Victorian regional tennis clubs can learn more about accessing support by reaching out to Delivery Services Officer Madeline Sargent.
The Club Service Officer program is one of 12 new initiatives backed by our Sustainable Volunteer Workforce Program.
The Sustainable Volunteer Workforce Program supports sport and active recreation sector initiatives and partnerships that help attract and retain volunteers and staff, reduce volunteer workload, and ultimately increase participation opportunities for Victorians on and off the field.
It is part of our $60 million Regional Community Sport Development Fund that is delivering infrastructure and programs to support more regional Victorian families and children to become and remain physically active.
Increasing sector capability and supporting the development of a highly skilled sport and active recreation workforce that in turn leads to a strong, sustainable industry is a key objective of Active Victoria 2022-2026 – A strategic framework for sport and active recreation in Victoria.
To find out more visit our Workforce and Volunteers web page.