Charlesland tennis club experience

2000miles

Hi

I would like to share my experience with the tennis club in Greystones.

It is clear that the club is in financial difficulties. I was asked to go for private lessons and found them of little value.

Quality of coaching generally I thought was poor.

I would not recommend the club to anyone - kids or adults. And if you join the club, do not go for private lessons.

John

P0lygon Wind0w

2000miles wrote: »

Hi

I would like to share my experience with the tennis club in Greystones.

It is clear that the club is in financial difficulties. I was asked to go for private lessons and found them of little value.

Quality of coaching generally I thought was poor.

I would not recommend the club to anyone - kids or adults. And if you join the club, do not go for private lessons.

John

Did you mention it to them, and give them a fair chance? I don't think this sort of feedback is going to help their financial difficulties.

2000miles

gavinjc wrote: »

Did you mention it to them, and give them a fair chance?

I did actually. And was offered private lessons with a different coach. I think it counts as a chance.

gavinjc wrote: »

I don't think this sort of feedback is going to help their financial difficulties.

It is here mainly for the forum readers so that in case they are about to make a choice and spend money on membership they spend it wisely.

As for the club, perhaps this feedback will be used by the club management and steps will be taken to improve things. It is the best way to avoid financial difficulties in the longer run.

Sparks115

I have to say my son and his friends have done numerous Summer Camps Easter camps etc. and I cannot speak highly enough of the coaches and the organisation. The kids cannot wait for the next camp and to be honest while its not the cheapest camp it certainly is value for money if the children are nearly upset when it ends. I cant comment on being a member simply as I cant afford it but I ahve heard great things about the club from friends who are members. If they are in difficulty what has that got to do with coaching you??? I say give them a chance and see what they come up with.:D

2000miles

Hi Sparks

One month in a summer camp differs from a sports club membership. Camps are more of a social thing for kids.

Being a member of a sports club is different. Coaching is important.

Financial difficulties is something that CAN be directly linked to coaching. If it is poor, members will leave.

My experience is based on over 2 years of membership and private lesons. I left the club now.

d31b0y

I get the feeling from the tone of your posts that you may not have left the club on the best of terms which might be souring your view.
I have never had any experiences with the club myself but I did know a few people from school who went and I never got the feeling from them that it was badly run / managed / coached.
Of course, that was a long time ago now and things can change quickly I suppose. I also never had an in-depth conversation about the club either so I guess my views don't really count for anything substantial but they are just my thoughts.

ninga58

In response to 2000miles (John) - are you taking about the 3 courts at Charlesland Sports & Rec centre or Greystones Lawn Tennis Club which has 12 courts?

As a member of Greystones Tennis Club I would find your comment regarding the coaching hard to believe. My family & I enjoy both lessions, summer camps and the facilities of the Greystones tennis club and think it is a great club. The coaches in the club have a great reputation ....... perhaps its not the coaching is the problem in this case?

Rocket19

I noticed that the OP (well, I assume it was the OP, as it was written on the same date as OP) wrote a review criticising Greystones Lawn Tennis Club on yelp.ie (don't ask how I came across this , and please correct me if I'm wrong!).
Do you have some sort of agenda against the tennis club, or were you just really, really dissatisfied? It's a shame you had a bad experience, but don't you think it's a little much to come on a public forum in an attempt to damage the club's reputation and deter new members, emphasising the financial situation, etc?
A lot of people read this forum, and while I don't mean to minimise your concerns, it bothers me that some will read this and deem your post representative of the club as a whole, and how it is run. I believe it is not.

I've personally had nothing but good experiences with the club, been a member since I was a little kid (15 years-ish), along with my sister. My dad has also been a member for decades.
Saying that, I'm sure your complaints ARE legitimate, and you have every right to voice them, but (imo) you should have taken it up further with the club itself, and tried to absolve your issue.

redzerredzer

Why did it take 2 years of private lessons to realise they were no good?
It usually takes my clients 5 minutes to to see that I'm a crap teacher.
Methinks there is more to this than the quality of a lesson.

sid9000

I'm also surprised at this - I'm a member in the club and if anything the quality of coaching is a selling point of the club. Agree with Rocket19 - the appropriate way to deal with a complaint about a service provided would surely be to contact the club as opposed to putting negative comments on public forums in the hope that maybe someone from the club might see them.

Mentioning alleged financial difficulties is a little strange. Show me a sports club who isn't struggling at the moment! Few and far between.

Bongo33

I was just reading the posts about the tennis club in Greystones and am a bit confused. The heading of the original email was Charlesland Tennis club so not sure whether you are talking about the courts in Charlesland or Greystones TC?

I am a relatively new member of Greystones and have to say that so far I am very impressed. I have been a member of other tennis clubs in the past (both here and in the UK) and have availed of the coaching here and in other clubs. I have to say the coaching in Greystones is excellent and my son has also had coaching and attended tennis camps and he loves it.

The facility is very impressive and everyone is very friendly and personally I don't have a bad word to say about the club.....

matt-dublin

I think the OP is referring to the place up by Jackie Skelly's to Greystones LTC. It sounds about right.

pixbyjohn

2000miles wrote: »

Hi

I would like to share my experience with the tennis club in Greystones.

It is clear that the club is in financial difficulties. I was asked to go for private lessons and found them of little value.

Quality of coaching generally I thought was poor.

I would not recommend the club to anyone - kids or adults. And if you join the club, do not go for private lessons.

John

John, Will you please confirm which tennis club/organisation that you are posting about, is it Greystones Lawn Tennis Club
Situated on Mill Road Greystones, GLTC is one of Ireland's premier clubs with 12 all weather courts in beautiful surroundings.
or is it the courts near the old Jackie Skelly premises ?

audreyp

Hi,

I know this thread is about the quality of the Greystones Tennis Club but despite that I am interested in joining. Going a little off topic but does anyone have any info on it?

There site is down and the pics, app form is all pointing to broken links. Doing some inspecting of the site I did manage to find the fees. 480 a year! What does that include? Is it just for access to the courts. I'm really only interested in lessons but coaching seems to be €30+ per hour according to the site, anyone know if this the cost for members?

Any group coaching sessions to ease the cost?
Also can people do lessons without joining?

I have contacted them for information but interested in feedback from other people also,

Thanks!

redzerredzer

audreyp wrote: »

Hi,

I know this thread is about the quality of the Greystones Tennis Club but despite that I am interested in joining. Going a little off topic but does anyone have any info on it?

There site is down and the pics, app form is all pointing to broken links. Doing some inspecting of the site I did manage to find the fees. 480 a year! What does that include? Is it just for access to the courts. I'm really only interested in lessons but coaching seems to be €30+ per hour according to the site, anyone know if this the cost for members?

Any group coaching sessions to ease the cost?
Also can people do lessons without joining?

I have contacted them for information but interested in feedback from other people also,

Thanks!

I dont think this thread is about Greystones Tennis Club. Things got confusing and the topic changed a few posts ago.

For your membership you get use of the courts and will be able to get involved in any club activities. Im sure they have a social club night and a ladies morning. There would be lots of internal competitions throughout the year and the mens/ladies captain and coach would be helpful in finding you somebody of your level to play with.
They have loads of league teams that compete against other clubs. These teams are also graded so there is an opportunity for players of all standards.

Coaching would be extra. The best thing to to would be to chat to the head coach, Alan Russell. I dont know him but you dont get to be the head coach in a big club unless you are good so Im sure you could trust in his advice. There are a few other coaches there too and they would all be happy to chat to you about getting started.
If there is a problem with the website you could get the coaches numbers here www.tenniscoachireland.ie

Other interesting websites about getting started are www.nationaltennisday.ie and http://dublintennisleague.com/

Greystones is definately one of the biggest and best clubs in the country so go down and give it a go.
Good luck and let us know how you got on.