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  • A Private Members Club… For Kids

    A Private Members Club… For Kids
    2025/03/16
    We might be booking our juniors for summer sleep away camp this March, but have we ever thought that a summer camp is really a private members club for kids? From the red clay tennis courts, and all the maintenance they entail, through to the enormous food and beverage operation and the hiring of chefs and servers, a summer camp is similar to an elite private club. Ramsey Hoehn, who returned in 2020 to his family's business, brought his many years as a Head Tennis Professional and Director of Racquets to Windridge Tennis and Sports Camp in Roxbury, Vermont. His return marked a new era for the iconic camp, which caters to juniors from around the world. Ramsey's experience at Nantucket Yacht Club and The Westmoor Club both on Nantucket, down to Jupiter Island Club in Hobe Sound, Florida helped him immensely as he took over the reigns of the junior sports camp. Ramsey left the private members club industry after ten years as Director of Racquets at the famed Hay Harbor Club on Fishers Island. He moved to Vermont to take over the reigns of the family business only to find that Windridge is in fact a club for kids. Offering soccer, tennis, golf and equestrian activities, Windridge is known around the world as a leading sports camp.
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    43 分
  • Club Communications Are Key To Success

    Club Communications Are Key To Success
    2025/01/16
    Danielle Chavez, Founder, Club Design Studio The daily questions we ask ourselves over club communications – how often should we email our members? Is it possible or should we make the weekly newsletter shorter? How do we integrate the club's website into our marketing strategy? – all these questions and more take center stage in this podcast with Club Design Studio’s fearless leader Danielle Chavez. Communication is at the heart of a club – whether it’s members conversing with each other, staff and management promoting food specials or golf programming, or whether It’s marketing through email, social media and the club's website. And, Danielle has her fingers on the pulse of all of these segments of communications. Achieving club communications, keeping the portals where members consume their information, fresh and inviting while still adhering to a club-like tradition in terms of media, is not an easy task and it's finding the correct mixture of creativity versus traditionalism that interests Danielle. Danielle discusses the need for scheduling and creating an entire communications strategy based on researching and working with each club as every club is different. As Danielle says: “Get to know the club…” before you do anything, propose anything, or create any materials. Let's dig a little deeper and find out if hashtags are remain relevant for club communications. And we find the dangers in overusing Canva, the new In-Design for the lay creator, which is completely transforming art and communications not only for the private members club industry but across all commerce and business! And is it actually possible to create a template that doesn’t get stale over time? Communications, Marketing and Sales Clubs far too often blend a position that encapsulates marketing, communications and even, sometimes, sales or new membership. But in reality, these are three very different roles, taking the individual in various directions. A common diagnosis for Danielle and her firm. In turn, Danielle’s firm supports clubs in trying to better communicate the club’s events, programming and membership news through these three, distinct areas, rather than the club having to appoint two new positions. But now, during a week where Tik Tok might be the first major social media network to be banned in the USA, we investigate social media and private members clubs. Let’s talk fonts and point sizes in detail and strategy and calendar marketing at a macro level with the founder of Club Design Studio, Danielle Chavez.
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    50 分
  • Do The Pro Tours Affect Racquets At Clubs

    Do The Pro Tours Affect Racquets At Clubs
    2024/12/20
    by Ed Shanaphy There's always that guy. The guy that is on the sidelines of every tournament, from a WTA qualifier to an ATP Masters to a Grand Slam. The guy who amazes onlookers through his building of a network. The guy who continues to work, even after retirement and sleeps in the back of a Suburban on the way to the next event. The guy who finally creates such volumes of great work, it brings him to the top of his profession from roots deep in the industry. The guy that becomes a legend and works with legends. On the tennis tour, that guy is Gary Kitchell. Kitchell, or Kitch as he is called by hundreds - if not thousands - of his colleagues and friends, is known around the world as one of the leading physiotherapists who has graced tournament tennis courts across the globe. From the hallowed lawn of Centre Court at Wimbledon and the hard cement of Louis Armstrong Court at the US Open to the back courts at the 1990s Volvo ATP Tour stop in New Haven, Kitchell has worked with some of the greatest tennis players of all time. From the era of Borg and McEnroe, to the following upstarts Sampras and Agassi, to Federer and through to today's Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka and Maria Sakkari, Kitch has treated injuries, reduced stress on the body and helped strength train numerous number one players to new heights. Gary loves tennis. It's always been a part of his life. His early days saw him teaching the indoor season in his native New Jersey. Soon after, he followed the sun as most instructors do and playing in semi-professional tournaments and was noticed at a small club in Vero Beach, Sea Oaks, at which he started his road along the highways and byways of the professional tours. His views of the professional tennis tours are from an interesting objective - a viewpoint from outside the employ of either the men's or women's tour but from within the fires that comprise the professional game and the travel demanded of today's tennis stars. He sees the challenges that the professional tour faces today as the Davis Cup limps along while the Laver Cup becomes a global phenomenon. He also sees the difficulty private members clubs may have using the professional game as a catalyst to new members as the tour lengthens its season and the tournaments are diluted by so much television and streamed coverage. An understanding of the professional game helps Gary to see where tennis may be headed on the amateur level at tennis and country clubs across the country. A commitment to building a community and social network at any club needs to be a priority to continue the sport's growth as it faces challenges from pickleball and padel. As a member of several private members clubs, Gary has some sage advice for club managers and directors in the club management arena. Join Gary on the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast.
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    44 分
  • A Touch Of Management Class

    A Touch Of Management Class
    2024/12/01
    An Historic Club's Metamorphosis Through Consultancy to Interim Management To Long-Term Strategy Completion Pretty Brook Tennis Club first called BeyondTheBaselines.com in late 2019. The club was dropping members as if members were falling leaves on a cold November, football Saturday at the famed university in the club's hometown of Princeton, NJ. The president mentioned the club's membership was at just 155 member households, significantly down from its glory days when it boasted over 200. Although the five clay courts were busy on weekend mornings, the club was having difficulty finding younger families who might join. Pretty Brook was founded in 1929, however, its younger upstart just down the road, Bedens Brook was literally stealing the younger thunder and attracting the families that would be the lifeline to Pretty Brook as it headed toward its hundredth year. Princeton University is known for its eating clubs. Pretty Brook had started to resemble one of these old-fashioned institutions - a stodgy eating club rather than a modern racquets facility. Not exactly fraternities, the eleven Princetonian eating clubs are situated on Prospect Avenue just off campus. Several eating clubs still "bicker" (the phrase coined for admission decisions) as to which underclassmen they should admit. Bickering had been going on at Pretty Brook - perhaps a halcyon look back to their university days by the numerous Princeton graduates who were members of the club and had served at the board level and inside the admissions committee for years. Nonetheless, the club was at a crossroad between tradition and modernization. The Princeton University Campus on our first day of Interim Management As a management consultancy to the club, we did some of digging. The club, which boasts one indoor tennis, five outdoor clay tennis courts, two platform courts, one indoor tennis and two squash courts, wasn't jam-packed on the weekends, or really at any time during the week. Average usage on a summer's weekend morning we found from the data was 3.4 courts out of 5 of the clay courts. Mid to late morning wasn't busy on the weekends on the indoor in the winter either. And, squash was really reserved to young students from Lawrenceville preparatory school who wanted additional coaching and a practice facility. They weren't a part of the club's social scene and a squash club championship hadn't been held in recent years. As we assumed the interim general manager's role, we made changes and clarifications to the membership application process, the ethos of welcoming members and their guests, and started on the road to revitalizing and refurbishing the club's grounds and programs. Trees were cut. Irrigation was improved and ponds were reconfigured and fortified. Club championships were reintroduced in squash. The staid prizes of glass tumblers were replaced with celebrated gifts and clothing, and branded retail was introduced - all symbols with which members could show pride in their club. Change Creates Momentum Thankfully, the board was largely open to change, given the membership situation. Through our mentorship, we investigated methods and programming to create greater court usage and larger revenues. We discussed membership drives. With Corey Ball, the Director of Tennis whom we were fortunate to inherit from the previous management firm, we were allowed to make substantial changes. We moved the teaching court during certain times for Live Ball and 105 from the traditional teaching court, shaded at the back of the club, to the center two courts under the eyes of those on the patio lunching. This shift brought instruction and social tennis to the forefront of the club. Perhaps impossible just a few months previous, we were now filling three courts with 24 members on a social night rather than having years-old, closed doubles games with only half the players across those three courts. And,
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    32 分
  • Young Gun To Aronimink’s Legendary PGA Teaching Pro

    Young Gun To Aronimink’s Legendary PGA Teaching Pro
    2024/09/25
    Young John Bierkan would bike through the parking lot at the club where his father was teaching golf most childhood mornings at 6am. These halcyon Pennsylvania mornings might have seen his siblings resetting the blackout curtains, but not John. Golf was in his blood and his early mornings as a junior golfer saw John always at the club - every day and all day. And, from those early days and moonlit mornings while breathing in the freshly cut fairways, Bierkan knew he wanted to, just like his father, teach golf. John has become one of the leading golf instructors in the country. From his early days at Doral through his time at Quail Valley and Old Marsh, John started out on a trajectory that took him to some of the most prestigious golf and country clubs in the nation. As one of the leading Directors of Golf Instruction in the country, John has a learned and objective viewpoint from over 20 years of experience. His views of golf, golf and country clubs, and the differences among different parts of the country in which he has worked are valuable to all of us in the private members club and hospitality businesses.
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    32 分
  • Writing And The Washington Post: How A Tennis Director Used Journalism Skills To Build A Program

    Writing And The Washington Post: How A Tennis Director Used Journalism Skills To Build A Program
    2024/06/04
    Taylor Newman left college for two careers. Her love of writing led her to her daily, first shift - a beat journalist covering the DC Metro sports teams for the sports desk at the Washington Post. Ben Bradlee would have been proud of her commitment up there with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in terms of hours. For when Taylor had filed her sports reports, she would move to her second, eight-hour shift at Chevy Chase Club, where she was serving as an Assistant Professional. Finally, weighing up her options, Taylor chose the hospitality, private members club, and tennis career - and she has never looked back. In fact, she has used her writing skills to build one of the biggest cardio tennis programs in all the nation. Through communicating with members, Taylor and present BeyondTheBaselines.com Vice President Britney Sanders, took over a quiet cardio tennis program. Changing the headlines of the program and using writing and lines of communication, the two women built a program that has led to fifteen cardio courts each week. "Cardio is not just about running a good clinic, it's about knowing the personalities and levels of all the players to help make it succeed." Newman is a consummate professional: checking the court booking sheet at 10pm every night for the next day to avoid any surprises or pitfalls, picking up balls after each and every cardio class outside the fences, and mentoring her assistants on a daily basis both on the court and in terms of hospitality, off the court. Just as she would have been at The Post covering sports, Taylor is on duty twenty-four hours, always being out there ready to communicate, learn and grow. The Washington Post lost a treasure to tennis. Here's Taylor Newman on the Beyond The Baselines podcast.
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    1分未満
  • All In The Family

    All In The Family
    2024/04/01
    Hospitality runs in the family. Alexandria LaRocca, Director of Member Engagement at The Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and Matt Assumma, who served at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, join the podcast. And, they’ve known each other for years, and we mean for years, since they were kids. Alexandria and Matt are both offspring of well-known and highly regarded club managers, having grown up in the industry. Their respective backgrounds highlight how important both human resources and hospitality are in the private members club industry. Ocean Reef Club And Gaining Membership Through Visitation Matt spent eight years at one of the leading clubs in the country, Ocean Reef. He notes how he worked his way up through the ranks from banqueting and ended up working in the membership department, where he would flag visitors who may have visited the club more than twice in five years, but who had not expressed an interest in gaining membership. Membership plays such an important role at any club through events, such as outings and member guests, but for a iconic club on the tip of Key Largo, perhaps new members can be even more significant. Ocean Reef, although a private club, can be seen as a destination with both a conference center and an inn on property. Matt notes the friction that can be caused between hosting events, attracting new members and the tradition of a small, fishing village which was the dream of its founder and present-day members, according to Assuma. Member Communications LaRocca notes that although email is very strong, different messages require different timings and different avenues of communication. Tennis, food and beverage, and timing of delivery all affect how communications are received by her elite and private membership at Beach Point Club. She realizes that with the numerous clubs in the area, a director of membership really is forced to know the entire brand – not just the activities at the club – but the brand that is the club’s identity. That identity separates the club from its many competitors, especially in the Westchester/Fairfield county areas of New York and Connecticut. The Pros and Cons of Living On Property Assumma lived on campus at Ocean Reef for a year before he, for the first time in his life, commuted from a property off campus during his time in the industry. Housing can attract great talent, especially since many may be on J1 or H2B visas, states LaRocca. But, there are times when living on property can be difficult. Your thought process may be that you can never be “off duty” or a member might find you late at night as they might need their clubs for an early-morning flight, as has happened to Assumma. In looking back at their respective careers, it's clear that perhaps the hardest job one might have in the private members club arena is running a dining room. With that said, both these individuals started doing that as teenagers working with their fathers, and food and beverage is clearly a life-long love as well as a wonderful way to learn the club industry from the inside out.
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    46 分
  • Super Seasonal Secrets From A Leading Director

    Super Seasonal Secrets From A Leading Director
    2024/03/10
    Two major seasonal jobs have just one director: Brett Gaede. From his first ever, post-college professional position at the renowned Nantucket Yacht Club, Gaede has made New England and Florida his seasonal homes, and follows his members, and the sun, up and down the East Coast. With his two director roles, he lives with water views year-round, and has views over the Atlantic almost two thousand five hundred miles apart, depending on the calendar. Gaede is the director in the summer in Maine on the remote Mount Desert Island at The Harbor Club. A very private club, hidden in the gem of a village called Seal Harbor, made famous by the ultra-private Rockefeller family back in the early 1900s. At his winter post, where he serves the membership as director at the elite Hillsboro Club, just outside Ft. Lauderdale, Gaede works with an older demographic and a club that is etched in tradition with its tennis and croquet professionals in all-white clothing from head to toe. Pine Trees In The Summer, Pine Trees In The Winter Famed Testa's Restaurant in Palm Beach, Florida in the winter had a sister restaurant also on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Nick Testa Senior formed a motto: Pine trees in the summer, palms in the winter. That's exactly how Gaede thinks as he spends evenings enjoying the scenery of Acadia National Park in the summer and views of Hillsboro Inlet in the Broward County, Florida through the winter months. Gaede could have used that motto to describe his life over the past 15 years. Funnily enough, Testa's in Bar Harbor is just minutes away and in Palm Beach just about 30 miles from his winter nest, as the proverbial crow flies. As the director that has "racquets, and will travel," Gaede takes us through his tips of creating a great seasonal program. Housing is crucial to help find and retain great instructors and assistants at such "destination" clubs. Second is the meal plan or benefit. Third comes, perhaps, the commission as the millennial employees look for comfort in not only their food, but their life and living and having a work/life balance. Tournaments Are Losing Popularity - Clinics The New Club Competition Gaede has seen trends away from tournaments to live ball and pro-fed clinics, especially at Seal Harbor. With an older demographic at Hillsboro and a more transient membership in Florida with rooms at the inn as part of the club, he feels that the trend will soon arrive in Florida too. It may already have. He is packing all courts at both clubs each morning with Cardio, Liveball and 105 and attendance over 40 on a daily basis. Tournament entries are weaker each year, and he explains his thinking as to why pro-fed clinics are here to stay as the leading weekend entertainment. Have a listen to perhaps one of the best seasonal directors in the country. He says he's happy where he is now. We aren't surprised: he has two of the best seasonal jobs in the nation. Brett Gaede on the Beyond The Baselines Podcast.
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    47 分