On The Up: Kawakawa Tennis Club revival aims to bring community back to the courts

It’s been more than 20 years since the Kawakawa Tennis Club last served up a match, but a group of locals are determined to change that.

The newly convened committee has exciting plans to redevelop the current site and re-engage with the community.

The club has been inactive since 2002 and committee chairman Roly Swann said the group are currently in the process of driving memberships.

They aim to transform the site into a community asset, complete with resurfaced courts, pickleball and affordable memberships.

The courts remain open and are used by the community, but are in poor condition with weeds overcrowding the surface, broken nets and bathroom facilities that require repurposing.

The Kawakawa Tennis Club hopes to revive the site that has been unused for over 20 years. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya

“It’s been in this condition for a while and we are creating a bit of enthusiasm and I am sure the community appetite will come back,” Swann said.

“People out there want to play tennis and we thought we should revive the facility and add pickleball, which is popular among our older members of the community.”

Swann said the plans include relaying the courts with astro turf, repairing damaged nets, fixing the bathrooms and installing the pickleball court.

“We want to have a nice facility and who knows, in the next 20 years there could be a Wimbledon champ who started out their career in little old Kawakawa ... stranger things have happened, there is no reason why we can’t have a champion as well.”

Swann said he believes the courts would be well-used and they hope to attract younger players as well.

“We are in the process of driving membership and once we get enough members back on board ... if we can get 100 members on board, that’ll, you know, give us a real impetus to get out there and find some funding for it and get the courts, you know, relayed.”

The Kawakawa Tennis Club has recently reconvened, held its first committee meeting and announced plans to redevelop the site and re-engage with the community. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya

Swann said the next hurdle was securing funding to get the work done, as the club was up and running.

“The tennis club will lend itself to the community again and at the end of the day, it’s a community asset that we should look after.”

Committee member Dyland Craig, who is the nephew of Hector and Odell Davies, the club’s original stalwarts, said he was excited about plans to revive the club.

Craig lives near the club and often sees community members using it and said it would be used more once it’s repurposed.

“There is definitely a community appetite for the tennis courts, they still get used, just not to their full potential at the moment.

“Once we redevelop them, then I think they will be really well-used.”