The chair of a Yorkshire tennis club joined Clubmatch for one reason.
“I can't cope with this WhatsApp pinging anymore.”
That was it. No in-depth evaluation. No demo request. No spreadsheet comparing features. Just a person who had reached the end of their rope with a messaging app that was never designed to run a tennis club, being used to run a tennis club.
It is not an unusual story. Across volunteer-run clubs in the UK, the same pattern repeats. Someone joins the committee with the best of intentions. They want to help. They enjoy tennis, they know a few people, and they have some time to give. Then they discover just how much can sit behind keeping a club running.
The WhatsApp group for court availability. The separate one for match fixtures. The chain of messages to confirm who's coming to the social on Saturday. The member who wants to know if their guest fee has been received. The renewal reminder that goes out every year as a manually typed message to however many people are in the membership spreadsheet. The incident that needs reporting, typed up in an email because there isn't a form. The booking that got double-counted because two people replied to the same message at the same time.
None of this is particularly difficult in isolation. It just never stops.
Kevin Rand talks about what happens when it gets to people. “They didn't sign up to be a data manager,” he says. “They signed up because they love tennis and they want to give something back. The admin is what wears them out.”
This matters beyond the individual. When too much depends on a small number of volunteers, losing one of them can leave a real gap. When the person who manages renewals leaves, someone else has to pick up the system. When the bookings coordinator steps back, another volunteer has to take it on. In many clubs, a handful of people are carrying responsibilities that, with the right tools behind them, could require far less of their time.
What James and Kevin experienced at Woburn Sands — and what went on to shape Clubmatch — starts from this premise: the admin shouldn't require a person to hold it all together. Court bookings, cancellation reminders, guest fee collection, member renewal notices — wherever possible, these should be handled by the system, rather than adding another job to someone's list.
The result isn't just fewer pings. It's that the committee gets more time to focus on the things that really add to club life — thinking about the Christmas party, planning the coaching programme, figuring out how to get more people through the gate. The things they want to spend their time on, rather than the administration that simply needs doing.
The Yorkshire chair is still on the committee. Still enjoys it. The WhatsApp group is quieter.
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