12/01/2024
Starr Tennis Centre Major Announcement
ATTN: Starr Tennis Centre community
RE: Changes in 2024
WHATS GOING ON?
This letter is to inform our tennis families, friends and students, that my team and I will not be continuing any of our coaching programs nor will I be managing the tennis centre on Fairway Drive into 2024.
WHY?
Due to difficulties negotiating our new lease with the Surfers Paradise Golf Club Board (SPGCB), I have made the decision not to re-sign the lease that has been offered.
WHY LEAVE SO QUICKLY?
I have received a letter of eviction from the SPGCB Solicitor stating that I needed to vacate the premises by 31 Dec 2023.
I have followed this legal instruction.
WHY NOT SIGN A NEW LEASE?
Since 2015 I have observed the deterioration of many aspects at the 40 year old tennis venue, including court surfaces, court fencing and tennis court lighting.
In the 8 years we’ve operated the tennis venue, the SPGCB has not allocated or spent any money towards repairs and upgrades.
In order to keep the tennis venue operating safely in this time, all repairs, improvements and upgrades have been paid for voluntarily at my own (or my teams) expense.
My team and I have spent nearly 100K on repairs and upgrades at the tennis venue and pored in countless hours ensuring the venue has been up to standard and remained open.
As stipulated in the lease between the SPGC and the two Body Corps, these costs are the responsibility of the SPGC, however they are currently not in a position to allocate any money for current or immediate future repair/replacement costs.
Ultimately, the ongoing deterioration continues to create many hazards that now need a major financial injection to fix and the efforts of myself and my team to ‘Band-Aid’ these issues is simply no longer enough.
With grants and funding unobtainable for this venue and no other outside financial assistance available, I can no longer justify spending my own money on the golf clubs property.
Taking this into consideration, with safety being my main concern, and no immediate hope of repairing issues, In my opinion, the venue is no longer a viable place to operate a business from.
Public Liability Insurance will now be an issue and potential prosecution resulting from injuries caused, a very real possibility.
SOLUTION?
The SPGCB’s recent solution was to ‘repurpose’ the venue, thus ending a long standing era of tennis on the Gold Coast, removing a valuable resource for our local community and schools and putting myself and my team out of a job.
The Body Corps intervened, pointing out the SPGCB’s 200 year lease obligation, (of which approx 160 years remain) to ‘maintain the tennis venue at their own expense for the life of the lease’ and that the ‘leased area must remain a tennis venue and can not be repurposed for any other use’.
In order to generate revenue quickly to commence urgent repairs & upgrades, the SPGCB then would only offer the 5x5x5 year lease that was drawn up in our new lease agreement - but not yet signed, if I agreed to a significant rent increase by ‘Trippling my current rent’. I declined.
The SPGCB then suggested that they now may just ‘take over the venue and run it themselves’. They then presented me with a 12 month lease option with a rent increase with no guarantee of an extension. I again declined.
After years of maintaining, repairing and improving their asset at my expense, I did not agree with the solutions presented to me and decided my only option was to walk away.
SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?.. ONGOING COACHING?
With no venue to operate from, I will personally not be conducting any coaching in the next few months. I’m instead taking some time with family and will be weighing up my options.
There are many students and families that will be now inconvenienced by this sudden situation. My concern is that many will simply discontinue tennis.
I ask that parents please encourage and organise for your kids to keep having coaching and playing as there a solutions in the pipeline!
One of these for St Vincent students and families is having coaching at St Vincent’s.
I’m currently in talks with the relevant people at the school and other tennis coaches, discussing all options.
For families interested in ongoing coaching In our local area
I would highly recommend contacting the below local coaches ..
*Adrian Macintosh - 0431 409 975
Jnr & adult coaching both group & private sessions (times @ venue TBA)
*Peter Holst - 0417 621 808
All adult groups & private coaching
(Times & venue TBA)
*Todd Koning - 0458 139 676
HotShots coaching possibly @ St Vincent’s and local area. (Other Venues TBA)
*Johnny Stamenovic - 0416 011 378
High Performance private sessions
currently @ Fairways Crt 1. (New venue TBA)
WHAT HAPPENS TO FIXTURE TEAMS?
Please keep playing!!
I encourage all players to continue to support Tennis Gold Coast by still participating in Local fixtures and tournaments.
You can still submit your own teams for Thursday nights and Sat afternoons, or mix with other teams.
Please Contact John Dickson at Tennis Gold Coast 0466 997 188. He will assist you in organising your teams from another venue.
MIDWEEK LADIES COMPS
Thanks to the ongoing dedication of a few very selfless and hard working ladies (you know who you are) The midweek ladies comps have been around long before we had the pleasure of hosting them.
After finally settling some of the comps permanently at our venue, this news comes as a massive blow.
However as a group you have always managed to find a way to pull together and I know this will be the case again.
We’d like to personally thank you all for playing at our venue and know that you’ll still be in great hands.
CAN I STILL BOOK OR USE THE COURTS.
My website and online crt booking system is no longer associated with the courts and has been deactivated. I can no longer advise as to how to use the tennis facility.
All enquiries regarding CRTs usage etc should be directed to the Surfers Paradise Golf Club.
ON A POSITIVE NOTE
I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to promote and coach tennis for the past 8 years from the club.
The efforts of our team in ensuring the Fairway Drive tennis courts will now remain and not be redeveloped or repurposed, has been a success!
Our efforts have unquestionably helped pave the way for a more certain, sustainable tennis future at Fairways and for our local tennis community into the future.
STARR SUCCESSES.
In our time, my team and I have successfully introduced and maintained tennis into 3 local schools.
-We recently reached record numbers of HotShots kids right throughout the program.
-Boasted more fixture teams than ever before and had the crts full on club fixture days. -We’ve held regular social tennis, special events and bday parties.
-Conducted regular coloured ball tournaments
-Employed jnr coaches
-The clubs reputation has steadily grown from what it was, and it boasted one of the most relaxed and friendliest atmospheres on the coast.
I’m so incredibly proud of the community we built and watched grow. It gave us the opportunity to build new long lasting friendships with so many wonderful people.
PARENTS
There are many valuable life lessons for your kids to be learnt on the tennis court
Help them maximise these lessons by..
-Letting the kids enjoy the game. It is just a game!!
-Reward ‘good performance’ and habits NOT ‘winning’!
-As a parent.. Know your role- let the coach do the coaching. Please just encourage, support and guide them and enjoy the process!
-Letting them Fail. It teaches adversity & resilience. It’s great when you’re doing well, but how good are you on your worst day?
-Let them see that sometimes things don’t work out or go your way .. and that that’s ok, that’s life, but the real lesson & growth is in how you then ‘choose to react’ to the problem and move forwards.
GOLF CLUB
To The Surfers Paradise Golf Club Board. Thanks for the lesson. I’ll leave it there.
OUR COMMUNITY
I would like to personally thank everyone for their support throughout our time at the Fairway Drive venue. We have survived many challenges and setbacks and with a clear vision and everyone’s support have managed to come out on top.
Some people’s true colours revealed, yet our true friends stepped up.
We leave with so many great memories.
To those close dear friends and colleagues whom I’ve known for years or whom I basically saw daily (our extended family).. you know who you are.. I want to Thankyou for all your advice, loyalty and support. For genuinely offering assistance in so many ways. For giving up so much of your time and believing in my cause and for believing in me.
This is what I’ll take away from this.
As a community we can feel good knowing we gave it everything we had.. given the circumstances there is nothing else we could have done.. and some things are just out of our control.
It hasn’t ended how I’d hoped.. but Thankyou so much for being part of my journey and staying so loyal. One door closes…
PARTING ADVICE
If asked to share my advice.. I’d say..
Trust the process. Never take anything in life for granted. Life is short. Appreciate what you have. Work hard. Be grateful for the many good things. Celebrate your success. Learn from your mistakes. Be accountable. Be true to yourself. Stand up for what you believe in. Ignore ego. Be kind always. Stay Humble. Show integrity. Forgive quickly. Take the high road. Be true to your word. Know the difference between walking away and quiting. A personal favourite quote .. “It’s not how hard you can hit.. it’s how hard you can get it and keep moving forward” .. Rocky.
Finally.. always be there for the ones you love. Love fully and freely and remember above all else .. Family first!
Id like to wish you all the very best for the future. Thankyou again for the years of wonderful memories. I hope to see you all again down the track. Until then..
Yours in Tennis
Steve Starr
Tennis Australia Club Professional Coach & Proprietor of ‘The Starr Tennis Centre’ ..
“A Family Tradition since 1987”
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