Amid immense challenges worldwide caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cliff Drysdale Tennis is highlighting individuals who have gone above and beyond to create value for their members, grow their business, and help tennis succeed as a whole. Over 6 weeks in July and August, staff members from locations across the world will be spotlighted in an effort to give praise to the leaders in our industry.
Spotlight on: Matt Kirkham, Director of Tennis at Chateau Elan Racquet Club
Nominated by: Scott McCulloch, Vice President of Operations
I am proud of the efforts that our CDT directors and teaching professionals have made in order to welcome back and attract new players to tennis in these challenging times as we aim to fill out clubs and courts again. One team member that stands out making great strides in this area is Matt Kirkham, Director of Tennis at Chateau Elan Racquet Club. As the club reopened at the beginning of June, Matt made a firm commitment to improve his skills, efforts and learning around social media with the goal to amplify the positive message of tennis, pickleball and engaging new and current players at the club. In just over 6 weeks Matt has done a great job not only in distributing content, but also in the creative process and production of the content and has been posting on a regular basis over that of the past. As for results, his organic reach is up over 200% and new players are engaging daily on social media. These efforts have led to an increase in membership, programming, participation and new leads coming in along with sharing the positive culture and fun of the members and guests at the club. I applaud Matt for the looking at the big picture and embracing a skill that he was not comfortable with and committing to it knowing that it that would serve his members, his club and community.
The role for an effective tennis pro/director has evolved from a person whose value to the club was mostly in their teaching skills to someone whose value is in their ability to attract, excite, engage and retain new and current players in addition to their teaching skills.
Well done Matt, keep up the great work.