There's a member at Woburn Sands Tennis Club who brings a cushion.
She comes every week, finds a spot by the side of the court, and watches the social tennis. She doesn't play. She can't, for now – an illness has taken that away, and nobody knows when or whether it will come back.
But she comes anyway.
Every week. Cushion in hand.
Kevin Rand tells this story, and you can hear what it means to him.
“If we took that away from her, I think she'd be lost. Tennis within our little town – this is where she belongs.”
It's a small detail. But it says something about what a tennis club can become, and why sometimes the most important things happening there have very little to do with what happens on court.
There was a time when Woburn Sands looked very different. Membership was around 30 and six people came to one of the club's Christmas parties.
Over the years that followed, lots of people played a part in writing the club's next chapter. The committee, coaches, volunteers and members tried different things. Some were about tennis. Others weren't.
The clubhouse was refreshed. A coffee machine arrived. Members brought old tennis memorabilia down from their lofts and their names went alongside it on the shelves. Social events grew. One memorable quiz night – complete with wrong answers and a chip van – somehow attracted 67 people.
Then there were trips away, including one to Felixstowe, where James remembers sitting at dinner looking down a table at people from completely different walks of life, brought together because somewhere along the way they had all become part of the same tennis club.
And thinking: where else would this happen?
What Kevin describes isn't a loyalty programme or a retention strategy. It's something much simpler, and much harder to manufacture.
Belonging.
The feeling that your tennis club is somewhere you're part of, rather than simply somewhere you go to play.
James had spent more than 25 years working across different tennis environments before Woburn Sands became his base, from large health and racquets clubs to small community clubs. And it was at Woburn Sands that he was reminded just how much the people around the court can matter as much as the tennis happening on it.
“I would take this any day of the week.”
The woman with the cushion didn't join the club to sit and watch. She joined to play tennis.
But somewhere along the way, the club became somewhere that still mattered to her even when playing wasn't possible.
That's one of the things that makes tennis clubs special.
Of course there are courts, coaching programmes, teams, competitions and fixtures. But around all of that are conversations, friendships, shared experiences and people who might never have met anywhere else.
And every club will create that in its own way.
Sometimes you see it at a packed social event. Sometimes it's a new member being invited into their first game. Sometimes its people staying for a coffee long after they've finished playing.
And sometimes it's simply someone arriving every week with a cushion, taking their usual place beside the court, and nobody thinking anything of it.
Because of course she's here.
It's her club too.
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