For many, opening a sports facility amid a pandemic is unthinkable. Financial difficulties, distance restrictions and overall skepticism and uncertainty would deter many from launching a project of such magnitude. But backed by community support and the socially distant nature of tennis, Becker said he was pretty confident in proceeding with the operation.
“With COVID numbers rising in January, we could’ve easily not opened February 1 as expected, and that was a bit daunting,” he said. “Looking around, we noticed that clubs just offering tennis were thriving. It seems that people felt pretty comfortable playing tennis, so it’s not a bad business to be in right now.”
Community members were so eager in anticipation, more than 100 bought memberships before the club’s opening date.
“People knew who we were and how committed we were to this project. They had enough trust in both us and the community that was behind us to join even before walking in,” Becker added.
The club now boasts nearly 200 members and is filled with a host of former Mount Auburn staff.
“The transition was great and the members know us already, so there wasn’t that introductory period,” Goodstein said. “The average membership of the old club was 20 years, so we have people here who really know each other and are happy coming back and seeing old friends, which is exciting for us.”
Currently, the four-court facility offers both private and group lessons and plans to expand by the summer. They hope to incorporate USTA League tennis, clinics and more and will tailor programming to member demand.
Lexington Tennis Club aims to hit 300 members by fall of 2021 and turn the club into a tennis and social destination, similar to what Mount Auburn provided for its members. The team has made it a priority to provide adequate time on the court sheets for members to book their own match play, which contrasts with tennis club models that are geared mainly toward programming. Most importantly though, the Lexington Tennis Club team exists to reignite that sense of community that’s been put on hold for a year.
“We’d like this place to be a bustling community for tennis. Our goals are to keep our ears to the ground and stay in close contact with our members to make sure we’re able to meet their real needs, and if we’re able to do that we’ll be successful,” Becker said. We’ve put a lot of work into this, especially before anyone was getting paid, and it’s definitely something we’d like to keep alive as long as we can.”
Following the suggestion of several community members, the LTC team decided that a phoenix rising from the ashes would be apropos to represent the club. A longtime member volunteered to create the logo, which to Becker, displays the ultimate symbolism.
“The phoenix represents the Mount Auburn community crumbling and rising again in new manifestation. It’s also referential to everything we’ve all been through with the pandemic,” he said. “It has caused so many kinds of dissolution, and this is very much a product of the kind of regeneration that’s possible in a pandemic.”
To learn more about Lexington Tennis Club, click here.
