We are wrapping up our inaugural season on May 4, 2014, and have had a great time in year one. We saw a lot of old friends as well as met hundreds of new tennis lovers. Thank you for making Hudson Valley Indoor Tennis a success. We truly believed if we built a high quality indoor facility that tennis players would come from far and wide and – holy smokes – it worked!
We would just like to mention a few items regarding the club moving forward:
WE ARE CLOSING FOR THE SUMMER BUT…
We will close for the summer on May 5, 2014. Our last contract plays are on Sunday, May 4th. We will re-open on a daily basis on Sunday, October 5, 2014.
However, we will be sending out periodic emails in the summer months indicating we are opening the club due to rainy weather. It is also possible we will be open on days when there is excessive heat. In other words, when you cannot play tennis outdoors, we may very well be open! This will be particularly true on rainy weekends. We will post open dates on our website, HVITennis.com. There have also been some inquiries regarding whether we would be open at nightime. That is not our current plan but if this is something that interests the membership we would definitely consider it.
If you receive our “rainy day” email or see it posted online, you are welcome to email matt@hvitennis.com to schedule a play. You may also call 845-399-1868 to book a court. Particularly on rainy weekends, when there could be heavy demand, we suggest you email us early to ensure you get a court. It will be completely first come, first served. We should mention that we will not open the club for every rain shower that comes through the area. The openings will be for significant periods of rain where outdoor courts will clearly be unplayable.
Our summer rates will be $35 per hour for members. Your current memberships are good until October 5, 2014, when the 2014/2015 season begins. Guest fees will apply the same way they did for the winter season: guests playing without members will pay $10 per person per play; guests playing with a member pay $5 per person per play.
Shawn Holzmann will continue to teach his clinics and private lessons at HVIT throughout the summer months. Shawn can be reached by email at shawnh26@gmail.com. His schedule can be found on his website at www.shawnholzmanntennis.com.
SOME ISSUES YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF….
We have been having some issues with people speeding into the club. An elderly gentleman who lives at the end of Old Neighborhood Road (just before you get to our gravel driveway) was extremely helpful and patient with us during our construction. We would like our members and guests to respect his right to safety and quiet. In addition, our gravel drive took quite a beating during the winter. It is wise to take it very easy as you enter and exit the club property.
Water cups will not be available going forward. We will continue to provide water in our free, refrigerated unit. We encourage people to bring water bottles or their own cups. The plastic cups were being used in the thousands and left all over the facility, often with water still in them. We believe this will provide a nicer environment and much less plastic waste.
We have collected an extensive amount of personal items. These include: water bottles, jackets, pants, hats, gloves, etc. If you think you may have misplaced something, come and have a look through our lost and found. On April 25th it is all going to Goodwill.
FINALLY, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…
As many of you already know, we have tried to build a very nice tennis facility. We are particularly proud of our 11-layer Decoturf courts. The court surface is very soft. Dirt, mud and stones are easily ground directly into the court surface. However, this is what makes them so much easier on our feet, ankles, knees, and hips. We do not want our facility to have worn out courts, so we have decided to resurface the top layers of both courts this coming August or September. This is expensive to do and we were not originally planning to do it until the end of our fifth year. However, we feel it is imperative that we do it this year in order to distinguish HVIT from other tennis facilities in the Hudson Valley. Obviously, we cannot afford to do this every year.
Under the circumstances, we ask that each and every one of respect our shoe policy: wear your regular shoes into the club and then put on your clean tennis shoes once you are inside. This will help tremendously with the wear and tear on the courts. We ask in particular that parents of young tennis lovers (we have dozens of kids who take lessons with Shawn) be aware of this policy. Those who wear tennis shoes into the facility (rather than changing into them once they get to HVIT) will not be allowed unto the courts until they can show they have clean footwear. We realize this can cause some issues and lost plays but we have no choice but to ask for full compliance. In addition, we have lately been finding food and beverages (other than water) in the court building. Only water is allowed into the court building.
We have also noticed on several occasions that players have slammed their racquets into both the net (causing permanent damage to the top net cord) and into the soft court surface itself. Such actions negatively impact the facility and detract from the playing experience of other members. This behavior will not be tolerated going forward.
We are very excited at the response of you – our members – to Hudson Valley Indoor Tennis. We are looking forward to seeing you all again the first week of October, 2014 and we expect that many of you might show up before that on a rainy day this summer!
Be well,
James and Matt
