Early in 2019 club Chairman Glenn Wigley contacted Playrite regarding the upgrade of their 2 hardcourts.
A site visit was arranged with Steve Byrnes national sales manager for Playrite, discussions regarding the requirements of Eaton Bray tennis club.
Matchplay 2 was the most suitable surface, having local clubs with Matchplay 2, enabled Glenn and the other members of the club to have confidence in
selecting Matchplay 2, further meetings with Colin Lloyd from Outdoor carpets, a summer installation the date was agreed.
Statement from Peter Hale Treasurer and Glenn Wigley Chairman Eaton Bray TC.
Steve, it is now 4 months since 2 of our 3 hardcourts were upgraded to your Matchplay 2 product & following the swift & efficient installation by Outdoor Carpets Ltd. the general response of our playing membership is very favourable.
The slight downside is that we no longer have a small advantage over visiting Clubs who disliked our old, hard, unforgiving surface, but that is vastly outweighed by the benefit to the knees & joints of all members, young & septuagenarians (like myself)
Our players adapted to the new surface with minimal disruption but recently we had a morning competition that unusually needed all 3 of our courts to be used simultaneously. I played on the one remaining hardcourt & was amazed at how unpleasant the backward step was.
Within minutes the tennis balls were dirty, the knees were aching & it truly was a "Paul of Tarsus" moment when I realised just what an improvement the Matchplay 2 surface gave us. We had taken the new surface for granted after such a short period.
Fortunately, Glenn Wigley, our Chair & chief instigator of the change to Matchplay 2, myself & our two opponents managed to transfer to the new surface for the final set. Immediately the balls "cleaned themselves" & the quality of septuagenarian play improved beyond recognition - a situation mirrored by the change from tarmac to Matchplay 2.
On behalf of Eaton Bray Tennis Club committee & members, thank you.
