The club made the most of the summer weather by inspiring all ages of player to get involved in the Alimacs festivals of tennis that have seen record numbers of junior and adult members taking to the courts in Cardross.

Alan MacBeath of Alimacs Tennis introduced week long festivals of tennis for under-fives (tots), Mini Tennis, Junior Tennis and Adult Tennis and continues to inspire all ages of player.

Alan said: “We moved away from tennis camps last year and replaced them with week long festivals of tennis. The main reason for this was to encourage participants to celebrate tennis as a sport.

“We have found that players leave at the end of a weeks festival with a hunger to become more involved in the sport.” Alimacs Tennis introduced the first ever adult only festivals of tennis this summer which were enjoyed by adult members and are proud to see so many of their initiatives being adopted by other coaching providers around Scotland.

Alan continued: “It is brilliant to see our ideas filtering through into other coaching providers.

“Our mission is to increase participation in a sport we are passionate about — to see other clubs benefitting from our ideas and initiatives is awesome.” Alan has now put plans in place to introduce a competition structure in the local area that sees events for junior and adult players that are aligned around the grand slam tennis events.

The structure will see local leaderboards at different age levels with sponsorship and financial support given to the top players from the area to help them springboard to future success, while Alan has also made proposals for a local district squad to further bring together tennis in the area.

Jill Rooney, Cardross junior convenor said: “July was a fantastic month at the club, courts were bustling and it was great to see so many of our Juniors on court and enjoying their tennis.

“The talent the Cardross youngsters are showing is immense. The Alimacs team have also helped give the kids the confidence they need to take their tennis to the next level and we look forward to fielding more junior teams next season.” The next block of coaching for juniors and seniors at Cardross starts on August 26 with a taster week of tennis during which each class costs £1.

For more information contact alimacstennis@gmail.com or Cardrosstennisclub@gmail.com.