New Members Quick Start

Welcome to the club.  We are delighted that you have joined one of the most popular and busiest clubs in Cork and perhaps Munster. 

So where to begin – how to get out on the court with your racket.  

COURT BOOKING

We operate an online court booking service.  You are not automatically set up once you join.  So email membership@ballinloughtennisclub.ie to organise a user ID and PIN.  Alternatively you can actually do it yourself using the online form here.

Once registered the login link is here.  To set the site up on your phone follow the instructions here

Courts are bookable every evening at 8pm on a rolling 5 days schedule.  Weekday evenings tend to be the most popular and are booked extremely quickly so if you do want an evening it pays to be near a computer to do so.

Note on winter nights you need a token to run the lights.  This costs €6 and can be purchased in the local O’Driscolls shop in the off license section.  It covers one hours of light usage. 

STARTING / COACHING / COMPETING

STARTING

If you have never played before or haven’t or a while and want to meet other members then the best way is to come along to your club night every Tuesday night from 7-10.  It is an open fun evening of doubles tennis and you will be paired with a group of your own ability.  It is completely relaxed with games of 20 minutes duration over the evening.  Tea, coffee and biscuits are available and there is a charge of €3 to pay for the lights.

It is very informal, a bit of fun and a perfect chance to dip your toe in the water of tennis.

Note due to COVID-19 restrictions this is on hold presently.

COACHING

You may want to develop or improve your skills.  Nothing wrong there.  We have a list of club coaches who you can contact and pay for coaching.  Some of them run group sessions for beginners and improvers throughout the year so a call might help there to organise a session and time the suits you.

We run Junior coaching during the year also so watch the website and Facebook and email for updates on this

COMPETING

Many of our players never play competitively and many live for it.  It is up to you.  

Tennis is hugely social and also can be competitively a lot of fun too.  The club runs internal competitions during the year (Closed and Vets (Over 35)). 

Keep an eye out for these if these interest you. 

Tennis Ireland (our governing body) runs many tournaments throughout the summer (starting early May through to late September).  To participate you need to be graded at club level and one of the coaches above will do this free of charge.  We sometimes run grading nights if we have a few people interested.  

Not to worry it isn’t like a medical inspection it is just a quick look at your ability so that if you DO choose to play in the above tournaments you are at the right level.