The court is free. But who do you play with?

Here is something that surprised us at Woburn Sands Tennis Club.

As membership grew from around 30 to around 200, and the club became busier and more active, court utilisation was still only around 55%.

Two courts. Around two hundred members. And still, a significant amount of available court time sat unused.

It wasn't necessarily a lack of interest. Members wanted to play and courts were available. But tennis works differently from many other sports. Booking a court is only one part of arranging a game. You still need somebody to play with.

If your regular playing partner isn't available, finding somebody else at short notice isn't always easy.

That becomes particularly noticeable when people's normal routines change. Holidays, work commitments and family life can quickly disrupt the regular Tuesday morning four or Thursday evening doubles. Someone can have an unexpected hour available and be perfectly happy to play – but have no easy way of knowing who else might be free at the same time.

The problem isn't necessarily booking the court. Most clubs already have a way of doing that.

It's the step before it: finding someone to share it with, at the right time and roughly the right level, without having to put a message into a group chat and hope the right person happens to see it.

Before Clubmatch existed, one of the first things we tried at Woburn Sands was remarkably simple.

A physical board on the clubhouse wall.

Members could show when they were available and the sort of tennis they were looking for. Someone else could spot a match and arrange a game. It became known as the Buddy Board.

And it worked.

But it also had an obvious limitation: you had to be at the club to see it. And putting members' personal details on a board wasn't exactly a long-term solution.

That simple idea went on to become an important part of Clubmatch.

Today, members can show when they're available, find other players at a similar level and create opportunities to play through the app. No need to share personal contact details across a group. No need to send a message to dozens of people hoping that one of them happens to be free.

Court booking is important. But a booking system can only book the game once there is a game to book.

Helping people find each other is what creates more of them.

And that was the interesting part of that 55% figure.

When it became easier for members to find each other, they played more.

The courts hadn't changed. The members hadn't changed.

It had simply become easier for the two to come together.