Fate and hope for tennis
First recorded sports-club in the world is Scotland’s St Andrews and is called the ‘Home of Golf’. Formed in 1754 it was a place to foster the partnership of ‘people and sport’. A Golfer will be able inspire an afternoon with its 250-year history. It has survived all seasons of man – prosperity, depressions, world wars, colonization, social changes and others. How does St Andrews sustain it? Answer is, they remained true to the original premise – that is, to create and maintain a place for the union of ‘people and sport’ and did not allow any other deviations.
St Andrews set a global trend for clubs since then. Sri Lanka’s history of sport and sports club began in 1832 with Cricket being played on the present Galle Face Green in Colombo. The concept caught on and the ‘clubs’ began to play a pivotal role of being the service provider for all sports. Without clubs providing playing facilities, none of the sports that we have now would have come to being or survived. Of recent, we see a trend where our sports clubs are closing down. Unless we go back to the original motive, I believe that, with this trend, we may also be closing down the ‘mangroves’ of a sporting nation
Tennis everywhere
Formally, Tennis clubs existed in every one of our provinces. They were active bastions in the towns and more so in the outstations. I have counted in excess of 300 tennis courts in Sri Lanka in the late 60s. Clubs enjoyed the reputation as a place for sport and their ambiance was an attraction for recreation and holidays. A good portion of my sports knowledge came from talking to senior club players during the annual club tournaments island wide.
Regretfully today I am able to count over 20 Tennis clubs that have ceased to exist. I happened to visit the Kelani Valley and Poondul-oya Tennis clubs recently which have lost the original appeal. In Dambulla, I was surprised when a teenage boy identified my bucket of Tennis balls as Cricket balls. Going by the post independent history, we all know ‘participatory sports’ do not seem to be a priority in 
our society. On one count or another and for good reasons and not, membership and managerial committees of clubs are not providing the needs of the participatory partnership of ‘sport and people’. So clubs are shutting down and are no more a place for the social integration.
Membership and needs
Membership is not for identity but for a desire towards the participatory aspect of sports. Sports spectators can be in drawing rooms but players need clubs with facilities. Clubs cannot fail in delivering the needs for participation to its members. Participatory membership is the core and the activity base of any club. For that reason St Andrews even today, maintains the Golf course which is considered to be the worldwide ‘standard’. After 250 years, it still has great membership appeal. I know two golfers who fly to Scotland annually to play Golf at St Andrews. If there is no moral direction, maintaining an original appeal in a club is harder than building one from scratch!
‘Families’ are the nucleus of any society. Their membership builds the strength of any club. This is only possible if the club is a place for children. Family aspect has contributed for many club’s success stories. There are clubs in Sri Lanka which have housed three generations at the same time. I also know of clubs in Colombo which get 20 applications a month for membership because of the ‘family’ emphasis, while others are losing members. Think, why is this happening at the same time in one city?
Watch out!
Club’s obligation is to propagate sports through membership for the young and the mature adults. There is a trend, this is being violated and the membership needs are over-ridden by ‘mushroom academies’ with or without proper guidelines, changing the clubs ambience. Academies for children should be built on solid foundations of professional management independently; otherwise it may do more harm than good. Clubs where hard-working adult community found relaxation are losing their membership and they stand the chance of losing the land too. Local Government does not provide land for profit making ventures. Academies are a profit making entity. Academies operating in clubs jeopardize the existence of the clubs. Is it by sheer oversight that the authorities have permitted this?
Academies are schools and should be licensed by the Education Ministry and as a mass commercial venture should have their own locations like all schools.
Recreational sport & health
Cities are getting filled with sky scrapers and urban population is building up. More clubs will have to appear to satisfy the density of population. It is another collective social responsibility of citizens. Developed countries have parks with facilities for popular sport. Clubs are our only hope. Club systems with its maturity of 150 years, have the skills to manage and to maintain facilities. Authorities may have to lay down some ground rules for standards and not stop there but also encourage with a ‘god father’ attitude towards sports clubs. This is another quarter from where the hope for Tennis will come from. Sport contributes to the health of the nation.
Show must go on
As examples to the authorities and public, existing clubs must adhere to the principle of partnership between ‘people and sport’ as St Andrews has done for 250 years. Surviving by Service is a good lesson to learn from St Andrews. Without sport our societies will be poor so the ‘sports-show’ must go on to enrich our lives.
<George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, ITF and USPTR; National, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach – georgepaldano@yahoo.com>
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