APL Tennis Court Reservations Membership & Groups Help

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Duncan Brown here.  I hope this email finds you and yours well after approximately two months of COVID 19 lockdown.

As you are probably aware, the State of Maryland is now allowing access to tennis courts. The APL Tennis Club Board met (virtually) and decided we will open the APL courts, but on a limited basis and with restrictions for now. We received permission from APL which owns the courts, given the restrictions we proposed. The restrictions follow USTA Guidelines for playing tennis with COVID 19. We view them as hard restrictions rather than guidelines.

What we are going to do for now is open two of the four courts allowing for one empty court in between players. The courts that we will open will be courts 2 and 4. Court 4 is closest to the steep hill. Again, all players will follow USTA guidelines as if they were restrictions while playing. 

The key restrictions are:

WHEN PLAYING

• Stay at least six feet apart from other players. Do not make physical contact with them (such as shaking hands or a high five).

• We strongly recommend not playing doubles, which could lead to incidental contact and unwanted proximity. It is also problematic with touching tennis balls, unless you play with a lot of tennis balls and each player only touches theirs with their hands. If you do play doubles, avoid all incidental contact (just yell “yours”), NO Bryan Brothers Chest Bumps and NO whispering to each other from a close distance to strategize.

• Avoid touching your face after handling a ball, racquet or other equipment. Wash or sanitize your hands promptly if you have touched your eyes, nose or mouth.

• DO NOT share food, drinks, towels, hats, sunglasses, etc.

• Do use your racquet and/or foot to pick up balls and then hit them to your opponent.

• Do NOT use your hands to pick up the balls.

• Stay on your side of court. Do not change ends.

• Remain at least 6 feet apart from other players when taking a break and minimize that time.

• If a ball from another court comes to you, send it back with a kick or with your racquet.

AFTER PLAYING

• Leave the court as soon as reasonably possible.

• Use hand sanitizer after coming off the court and when leaving the courts and touching gates. We will have one court sweep per court, but remember, others will have touched it, so plan on using hand sanitizer immediately before and after sweeping the courts on both your hands and the court sweep.

• Absolutely no extra-curricular, social activity, or congregation should take place on or near the courts.

• All players should leave the facility immediately after play.

CHAIRS

• We will not be providing chairs as we usually do for obvious reasons. Please plan on bringing your own and keeping it far away from others.

USE EXTRA BALLS

• For those playing singles, the following is recommended.

• It is possible that a tennis ball can transmit the COVID-19 virus. Imagine someone has the virus, it gets on their hands, they toss the ball for the serve, you then touch it and wipe your face. All players should take the following extra precautions:

  • Use multiple sets of tennis balls with different numbers on the ball.

• Proceed with play, making sure to pick up your set of numbered balls only. Should a ball with another number end up by you, do not touch the ball with your hands. Use your racquet head or feet to advance the ball to the other side of the court.

All players, including APL employees, will need to sign a waiver stating they understand that playing tennis involves risk, particularly with the presence of the COVID 19 virus, that they will follow the USTA guidelines as if they were hard restrictions, and they will hold harmless both APL and the APL Tennis Club. That signed waiver is to be sent to me at <duncan.brown@jhuapl.edu> prior to playing.

We are opening the courts because we believe it is important that people get outside, get some exercise and fresh air, and enjoy sports like tennis. We do understand that many players will not be comfortable playing just yet. If you are not comfortable playing yet (I personally am not), do not feel like you need to sign up now and play. We will save a spot for you.

Dues: dues will be set at $25 for the season. This is half the normal amount as we understand we are limiting the number of courts. Additionally, we are not running the doubles leagues for now. We will run the singles league if there is interest.

Dues can be paid via Paypal or Credit Card by clicking here.

Stay safe and healthy,

Duncan Brown

APL Tennis Club President