The story behind Clubmatch is straightforward: it stems from our love of tennis, particularly club tennis. James, a co-founder, has been a full-time tennis coach for over 25 years. Throughout this time, he has gained extensive experience listening to not only the frustrations and challenges faced by clients who belong to a club but also those experienced by coaches trying to run a business within one.
"Imagine a club with over a thousand members, and yet games get canceled because members don't know enough people."
One issue that consistently surprised James was how often members had to cancel social games or team matches due to someone being on holiday or sick, with no one available to fill the spot. Imagine a club with over a thousand members, and yet games get cancelled because members don't know enough people
These and other frustrations followed James as he became the Head Coach of a local club. A close bond and friendship developed between James and Kevin, Clubmatch's other co-founder, who was newly appointed as the club's Chair. Within 18 months, they had grown the club from 32 members to 209, with a waiting list.
Despite this success, many day-to-day issues still frustrated them—whether it was coaching members, chairing a volunteer committee, team captains managing their squads and recruiting new players, or simply finding people to play with.
"We felt that nothing truly simplified the experience for members or enhanced their overall club tennis experience."
Existing systems and software didn’t adequately address these challenges. Inspired by how other sports had grown by embracing smartphone technology and understanding the modern ways people socialise and meet, they put their creative minds together to develop a solution.
Management software systems have been excellent for helping committees run a club, but we felt that nothing truly simplified the experience for members or enhanced their overall club tennis experience. It still seemed to be the same old routine:
We believed there had to be something more than just that.
"We wanted to create a platform that gives members more opportunities to play, whenever they want."
This is where the idea for Clubmatch came from—a platform designed to give tennis members more opportunities to play with others at the club they love, playing the sport they love.
Clubmatch is built to allow you to play when you want to, not just when your friend is available or when a club session is running. You can create a game, invite others at your level to join, and be invited to games as well.But we quickly realised we could solve even more issues with a single app:
"It’s not just about improving your game—it’s about the social benefits and the sense of belonging to something special."
We are passionate about engaging all club members, from newcomers to long-time participants and complete beginners to A-team captains, helping everyone be more involved and elevating their overall club tennis experience.
This is just the beginning—not only for the ongoing development of the app but also for what Clubmatch as a business will achieve for those who join us on this fantastic journey.
We aim to bring clubs together to share their stories, promote their successes, and inspire others by showcasing how rewarding it is to be part of a tennis club.
We really do believe that with Clubmatch, it's your advantage.
The story behind Clubmatch is straightforward: it stems from our love of tennis, particularly club tennis. James, a co-founder, has been a full-time tennis coach for over 25 years. Throughout this time, he has gained extensive experience listening to not only the frustrations and challenges faced by clients who belong to a club but also those experienced by coaches trying to run a business within one.
"Imagine a club with over a thousand members, and yet games get canceled because members don't know enough people."
One issue that consistently surprised James was how often members had to cancel social games or team matches due to someone being on holiday or sick, with no one available to fill the spot. Imagine a club with over a thousand members, and yet games get cancelled because members don't know enough people
These and other frustrations followed James as he became the Head Coach of a local club. A close bond and friendship developed between James and Kevin, Clubmatch's other co-founder, who was newly appointed as the club's Chair. Within 18 months, they had grown the club from 32 members to 209, with a waiting list.
Despite this success, many day-to-day issues still frustrated them—whether it was coaching members, chairing a volunteer committee, team captains managing their squads and recruiting new players, or simply finding people to play with.
"We felt that nothing truly simplified the experience for members or enhanced their overall club tennis experience."
Existing systems and software didn’t adequately address these challenges. Inspired by how other sports had grown by embracing smartphone technology and understanding the modern ways people socialise and meet, they put their creative minds together to develop a solution.
Management software systems have been excellent for helping committees run a club, but we felt that nothing truly simplified the experience for members or enhanced their overall club tennis experience. It still seemed to be the same old routine:
We believed there had to be something more than just that.
"We wanted to create a platform that gives members more opportunities to play, whenever they want."
This is where the idea for Clubmatch came from—a platform designed to give tennis members more opportunities to play with others at the club they love, playing the sport they love.
Clubmatch is built to allow you to play when you want to, not just when your friend is available or when a club session is running. You can create a game, invite others at your level to join, and be invited to games as well.But we quickly realised we could solve even more issues with a single app:
"It’s not just about improving your game—it’s about the social benefits and the sense of belonging to something special."
We are passionate about engaging all club members, from newcomers to long-time participants and complete beginners to A-team captains, helping everyone be more involved and elevating their overall club tennis experience.
This is just the beginning—not only for the ongoing development of the app but also for what Clubmatch as a business will achieve for those who join us on this fantastic journey.
We aim to bring clubs together to share their stories, promote their successes, and inspire others by showcasing how rewarding it is to be part of a tennis club.
We really do believe that with Clubmatch, it's your advantage.
James has gathered a wealth of knowledge in the tennis world for over the last 20 years. He has coached at one of the country’s premier health and racquet clubs as well as Stowe School, one of the top private schools in England. James is currently head tennis pro in a successful LTA club in Bedfordshire helping it grow from 32 members to 209 in a little over a year. During his coaching career he has witnessed first-hand the problems that repeatedly occur in all tennis centres no matter the scale of club or size of membership. The problems that clubmatch solve.
Kevin has over 35 years of Prestige Retail Experience and Software as a Solution (Saas) Customer Success Management. Kevin also brings his experience gained as a Chairman of a Successful Tennis Club and a keen relatively new tennis player still trying to find that forehand, which is where he formed a friendship with James his now fellow co-founder of clubmatch and where the story begins.
Keith Ali is a seasoned technology leader and entrepreneur, currently CEO and Co-Owner of Creative ITC, a leading provider of cloud enablement and Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions. Keith's entrepreneurial ventures also include a successful website optimization business and an innovative IoT startup.
With a background as Head of Technical Strategy at Cisco and a passion for tennis, Keith brings a unique blend of technology expertise and sports enthusiasm to his role at Clubmatch, guiding its strategic direction in the competitive sports tech market.
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