Restructure key to game progressing

Tennis

The Wairarapa Tennis Association will restructure in an effort to better meet the community's needs.

With Sport Wellington Wairarapa's assistance, a new structural model was created and unanimously supported at a special meeting the association called late last month.

The changes will not affect the association's vision or purpose as set out under its constitution but will impact on several areas, particularly in administration.

Executive officer Cilla Paulik said the association's structure had been in place since the 1920s and no longer met requirements.

Like other sports, tennis was finding it difficult to recruit volunteers to join its board and some clubs and schools were not represented. Conversely, some members had served for 12 to 33 years.

Under the new structure, changes would be made to the board's composition.

Chairman John McNab, of Opaki, would take on the role of project manager and there would be two independent members, one club representative, one secondary school representative, one primary school representative and the executive officer.

Paulik said the intention was to drive the game forward. The number of players had increased by 50 in the past season, with at least 724 engaged in some form of organised play. And that did not count the 1500 youngsters involved in the NZT Grasshoppers programme in primary schools.

"Tennis has to move with the times and hopefully the new structure will be a huge assist in that respect," Paulik said.