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Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre features a soft-launch re-opening
2020-08-17

In the eyes of Alain Blais, the Return to Play protocol is all about knowing your clients.

While similar facilities across the province might be re-opened, full swing, seven days a week, the director of the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre noted just prior to the soft-launch of the local venue that the approach here has been much more cautious.

"We took a more conservative approach," said Blais. "We could have potentially opened up sooner, especially with the outdoor court, but as a board, we chose not to. We surveyed our members and the concensus from the older members is that they wanted to wait until September to return to the club."

"I would say that about 65% to 70% of our members are in the higher risk categories for Covid."

The irony, to some extent, was that if not for the pandemic, Blais outlined that the summer of 2020 was looking good. "I am confident that our traditional (summer) numbers would have changed a little bit, if not a lot, because we had partnerships set up for summer camps with the Idylwylde, the Yacht Club, a whole lot of really good stuff in the plans," he said.

As it stands, the SITC is now open for three four-hour sessions per week: Tuesday mornings, Thursday evenings, and Sunday mornings. Always conscious of operating in a fiscally responsible manner, Blais and the board received a pleasant surprise not all that long ago.

"We were approached by one of our leagues, which basically continued all summer, outdoors, on the city courts," said Blais. "The league organizer continued to charge the participants as though they were at the bubble, and then he donated all of those funds to the tennis centre."

In fact, league play will dominate much of the current court time, with the SITC not allowing non-members to enjoy the facility until the more complete opening of the venue arrives on September 19th. "Right now, we don't want anybody entering the facility unless they have a scheduled time," said Blais.

As is pretty much standard right across the board, the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre has altered the experience that even the most seasoned local tennis player might have enjoyed in years gone by.

"We are telling members to arrive already dressed in their tennis wear," explained Blais. "Our changerooms are not large enough to accomodate social distancing. There is no longer any sale of used tennis balls, we won't have racquets for casual visitors to borrow, masks are required until players step on the courts, and we've eliminated the traditional pre-game handshakes."

"Other than that, it's a pretty contact free sport," Blais added. "Each side has their own can of balls, and you send the ball back to your opponent with the racquet. We're obviously well below the 50-person limit."

About a month from now, activity at the centre should increase noticeably. "September 19th is our proposed full re-opening date," said Blais. "Yes, it is kind of an "all at once" opening, but we will have given the clients and staff four weeks to adjust."

"This will also allow for a couple of weeks after the school re-openings. We wanted to delay it a little bit, so as not to add any stress to anybody's lives."

SRWC - Chartered Professional Accountants