East Kilbride Tennis Club have thrived during lockdown and are going ahead with major projects.
The club have refurbished Court One, will put in floodlighting to cover all four courts, and are looking into the addition of a viewing gallery at Torrance House.
Lead coach Luke Quigley says there has been a rise in numbers over the winter, and they’ve finally managed to create and maintain a girls’ team.
Luke said: “We’re starting to get organised for our summer camps now, memberships are on the rise as well, and with the nature of tennis and everything that was off at the time, I think that was probably our busiest winter of tennis that we’ve had.
“We’ve just finished refurbing court one, so that’s us got all four courts up and running again, and I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is – three weeks’ worth of power-washing and re-sanding is now finally over.
“Our next project, which I’m hoping we can get done before winter this year, is to get our front two courts floodlit as well as the back two, which would boost a bit of play-time over the winter.”
Luke added: “We have been busy, Covid has only restricted things like doubles, when it was the full lockdown, and the one just over winter there.
“Level four and three, there’s virtually no restrictions on tennis, apart from things like having to play other clubs.
“Our ladies were due to start against Langside of Wednesday last week but have had to postpone that until Glasgow come out of level three, and that’s the only upset at the moment.
“We’ve got our season off to a fairly good start, all our juniors are playing some matches, we have the first girls’ team that we’ve ever had, our under-12 girls have played two matches and won one, and it’s brilliant to see that.
“We’re also looking into getting our own wee area, a tennis viewing gallery, as well.
“That’s very much in the ‘discussion’ stage at the moment, as opposed to seeking proper planning for it, but we’re looking into it and we’re certainly excited about all the projects that we have coming up.”
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