Junior tennis stars sidelined amid coach contract dispute

Three high-performance junior tennis players have been locked out of training on the region’s only suitable hard-court surface because of a contractual dispute between coaches and a local club.

Despite upcoming competitions scheduled in Australia, contractual stipulations mean Connor Edmonds (15), Ivy Scutt (15), and Charlotte McCashin (14) have been unable to train at the Richmond Tennis Club. The club’s courts are the only public courts in the region with suitable year-round hard-court facilities instead of astroturf or concrete, which makes a significant difference at the high-performance level.

The Richmond club has an exclusive coaching contract with Z Tennis and its owner Kolie van Zyl. The contract stipulates that no other coach can operate on the courts, the only exception is if the player is ranked in the top five nationally.

The three young players are coached by John Gardiner, who has tried to negotiate a deal to coach them on the courts including offering $3200. However, the Richmond club have said in a statement to Waimea Weekly it is simply impossible to allow that to happen.

"I understand the desire to have certain players coached by a certain coach at the Richmond Tennis Club, but unless they meet the criteria of the contract, this is not possible."

Waimea Weekly understands other tennis coaches have similar exclusive coaching contracts at other clubs, but are willing to allow personal coaches on the courts for the benefit of young players and the sport.

Charlotte says while it's not as severe as transitioning from clay or grass, there are still significant and noticeable differences going from astroturf to a hard-court.

"It's all really slow on the turf courts, they're really old courts too. These [Richmond] courts are reasonably new, the ball travels faster, and I think it's much more important to train [on]."

Connor says the balls bounce differently on the turf courts and you're able to slide to the ball.

His father, Clint Edmonds, says it's sad to see kids with potential miss out on opportunities because of something outside of their control.

Charlotte's mother, Kate McCashin, says not being able to train on hard-courts is holding the players back.

"These are the top juniors, and, yes, they can book a court and have a hit, but they can't be coached.

"We go to tournaments, and it takes a match or two to get used to the difference [in court surface]."

Ivy's mother, Georgie Hoby Scutt, says these are a critical three years in terms of development for young tennis players' games and it's "illogical" they couldn't make a solution happen.

"The kids are getting caught in a tug of war," says Clint.

"We're almost getting to the point we're almost past it. We're constantly playing catch-up and it's getting harder and harder.

"Time is ticking."

Kate says Z Tennis was offered $3200 a year for the three children to have access onto the Richmond courts with the coach of their choice, but so far that’s been turned down.

Kolie van Zyl was approached for comment and directed questions to the Richmond Tennis Club. John Gardiner was also approached for comment.

Nelson Bays Tennis Association was approached for comment but could not provide a representative until they had a board meeting on Monday, 11 March, after the publication of the print edition of this article, where this issue was also discussed. They were approached on Wednesday, 13 March, for comment on the meeting.

Note: The original version of this story stated that Richmond's courts were the only hard court facility in the region. Wakapuaka Tennis Club also have hard court facilities, but travel distances and lack of lighting make this unsuitable for year-round training.