Tuesday 12 May 2020

Butterfly Tennis Club - Restricted Play Re-opening Wed 13th May

LTA Factsheet

We hope you and your family are well. You will have heard the government's update on the easing of lockdown. From a tennis point of view we are delighted that some play will be able to resume in England from Wednesday 13th May. 


Amid everyone's enthusiasm to play, the most important aspect of the re-opening is the health and wellbeing of our members. We are continuing to follow government and LTA advice. The LTA have published guidelines for players, clubs and coaches. 
  1. It is important to maintain Social Distancing. Players must not have any contact and must maintain a minimum of 2 metres of distance at all times from people who are not from their own household. Players from different households may only play singles. Members of the same household can play singles or doubles. Please do not come to the Club if you or anyone in your household is self-isolating. Please read the attached LTA Factsheet and Player Guidelines for full clarification. 
  2. The water fountain and benches are not in use. Please do not try to use them. The Committee will endeavour to sanitise the door handle each day, but we can't guarantee it will happen. Please take your own precautions. If possible, members are requested to use hand sanitiser before and after touching the door handle at entry and exit. There will be no rubbish, recycling or ball recycling bins on site. Please take everything you came with at the end of your match. 
  3. The LTA guidance is to leave a 10-minute buffer around play in order to minimise contact between players crossing. Please arrive 5 minutes after your booked start time and leave 5 minutes before the end. For example, if you have a booking 0930-1030, please arrive at 0935 and leave at 1025. You may feel comfortable standing around others, but not all members will be comfortable in your presence. 
  4. Court bookings will be available shortly after this email is sent and will be limited to one 1-hour slot per player until Sunday 24th May. This is to allow everyone fair access to the courts just after we re-open. Please include opponents when booking and wait until after your session has finished before either player books again. You may play as often as there are courts free, but one booking at a time. We expect that after May 24th the booking rules will return to normal. All bookings which were in the system before this email was sent have been removed. 
  5. Members who have not renewed their subscriptions for this season may do so online. Members who haven't renewed may play until Sunday 17th after which they will not be able to book courts without having renewed. As per our communication in March, if any member is having financial difficulties due to the crisis and would like to discuss a payment deferral to later in the year, please contact the Committee at this email address. 
  6. Matt Bennett will be available for coaching. He is being allocated 2 hours per day until normal bookings resume. Please contact him directly to book lessons at mattbennetttennis@gmail.com. 
  7. There will soon be a booking slot for the Hitting Wall. If you would like to use it, please book a slot and only turn up to use it if you have booked. Do not come to the Club without a booking. 
  8. There is a lot of pollen around the courts which may cause sneezing for some people. Come armed with tissues! 
I hope you enjoy the return to tennis, and please stay safe. The virus is still out there. 

Kind regards, 

BTC Committee

Download: LTA Guidance for Tennis Players (12 May 2020)