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OTL Tennis is no more

Discussion in 'Broadlands Community Issues' started by Tim, Feb 22, 2022.

  1. Tim

    Tim New Member

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    Hello Community

    My kids really enjoyed OTL tennis lessons. Recently they are no longer teaching at the Nature Center courts. I don't know what happened but this is a huge disappointment. Anyone know if there will be a replacement?
     
  2. jblnd

    jblnd New Member

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    OTL was given the contract for the Broadlands and will be back this Spring.
     
    Mike likes this.
  3. Weasel

    Weasel Member

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    According to the Feb newsletter:


    • Approved contract with 120.60 LLC for tennis court use
    • Terminated contract with On The Line Tennis for tennis court use


    My kids have enjoyed taking classes with Coach Don the last few years. Hopefully he’ll be back with 120.60 (whatever that is).
     
  4. jblnd

    jblnd New Member

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    I think there were some issues, and OTL was given the contract after the Feb. board meeting. This change should be noted in the March newsletter.
     
  5. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Cliff’s Note version:
    OTL was sold last year to a new owner.
    Coach Don Barker used to coach for OTL.
    New owner of OTL wanted to keep contract with Broadlands.
    Don Barker started his own company,120.60, and also wanted the tennis contract in Broadlands.
    At our January Board meeting, Mr. Brown attended. The Board voted to terminate the OTL contract and planned to award it to 120.60.
    After it was announced in the February Newsletter that the tennis contract with OTL was terminated, two things occurred: many residents though we would no longer have a tennis program, and supporters of OTL wanted them to keep the contract.
    At the Board’s February meeting, the Board voted to cancel plans to move forward with 120.60 and keep OTL.
    The previous owner of OTL will remain as the owner of OTL.
    Don Barker will not be coaching for OTL.
     
    PDILLM likes this.
  6. Weasel

    Weasel Member

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    Well that stinks. Coach Don was the reason we kept going back. If he’s not there it loses much of the appeal. I certainly would have preferred the HOA stuck with him instead of the new OLT owner.
     
    Tim likes this.
  7. esubscribe

    esubscribe Gadget Freak!

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    I would agree about Coach Don. He is the primary reason we have signed up for the past 5+ years going back to when he used to be an instructor for Luis Rosado academy. I wish the board provides some transparency in future before making decisions that could either benefit or impact the community which in this case I feel negatively impacts based on Coach Don’s track record.

    If more residents were to let the board know that they want Coach Don to continue, would the board now cancel OTL contract and revert to 120.60?
     
  8. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    I can’t speak for the other Board members.
    I supported keeping 120.60.
    Don has been the consistency in our tennis program for several years.

    For those that have interest in the tennis program, we have a Tennis Committee. The Board relies on their input about tennis program needs for the community. Unfortunately, we currently have no members on it.
     
  9. esubscribe

    esubscribe Gadget Freak!

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    Thank you, Cliff. I appreciate your update and clarity. I’d be interested in joining the tennis committee to help ensure coaching quality and consistency continues for all. Is there someone specific I should reach out to?

    If any other Broadlands resident would be interested in exploring options to have Coach Don continue as Broadlands tennis instructor please DM me.
     
    Tim likes this.
  10. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    How can the previous owner remain as an owner of OTL when he sold it to the new owner???

    :confused here:
     
  11. Stephanie Place

    Stephanie Place New Member

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    When OTLT was sold the new owner thought she had the contract. When the board decided to go with 120.60 the previous owner felt terrible and gave her the money back. Previous owner than fought to get the contract back with much support from the community. OTLT offered Don a job and he turned it down. OTLT will be running a great program in the spring. We plan to announce the coaches very shortly. We are just ironing out the final details. We believe Broadlands will be happy. All of the components that the community loved about OTLT will still be there. i.e. small class size, quality instruction, easy booking, easy pay and many options for classes. We ask for your patience while we finalize everything.
     
  12. esubscribe

    esubscribe Gadget Freak!

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    Thank you for sharing context and the plans underway for 2022 tennis season. All small businesses need to be supported and I will definitely give it a try. Is there anything some of us (as parents) could help OTLT in exploring Coach Don returning?
     
  13. Stephanie Place

    Stephanie Place New Member

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    Unfortunately that is not possible. I do think you will be happy with who we choose.
     
  14. Tim

    Tim New Member

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    Not happy at all with the changes. My daughter took group lessons with Coach Don for the past 3 years. Don had tenure and was the longest running coach at the tennis center in Broadlands. When OTL began recruiting young "instructors" the program began the downhill slide to mediocrity. During decision-making the contract was initially awarded to 120.60 and that should have been the decision. It seems there was some "lobbying" to garner a change in vote. Another extremely disappointing change in Broadlands. It's a bit late to begin asking for membership to the tennis board....Incidentally, Coach Don is teaching close-by if any parents want to sign up their kids for group lessons.
     
  15. Zeratul

    Zeratul Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Tim for bringing this thread back to life. I really tried to be patient the entire session but it was hard and since my daughter does not like any of the coaches, it just does not work any more for us. There have been several coaches this session, none of them very good and not having a consistent experience made it all the more frustrating for the kids and me.
     
  16. Stephanie Place

    Stephanie Place New Member

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    We are sorry you feel this way. We responded to you on the other thread and have not heard from you. We would love to talk to you. Here is our response from the other thread in case you missed it. Thank you for letting us know about about your experience. Our company takes a lot of pride in our customer service as well as our company standards for performance. Our HR department has been informed of the incident and will follow the next steps based on the codified company standards. So a complete investigation can be followed, please email us at HR@bluechiptennis.net the date, time and description of the staff member in which you witnessed the aforementioned incident. We look forward in taking the necessary steps in order to maintain our highest customer standards.
     
  17. Zeratul

    Zeratul Well-Known Member

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    Stephanie, I am a bit perplexed by your response. This is just a neighborhood youth tennis program, not a situation where "HR departments" need to get informed. I have no desire to document or support investigations. Our experiences were anecdotal and nothing more than a passing frustration and disappointment. I wanted to share our experiences with my neighbors in an effort to see if there were others with similar experiences and to alert others to check for themselves and be aware of our experiences. What, if any steps you all take in regards to your customer standards is up to you.
     
    PDILLM likes this.
  18. Stephanie Place

    Stephanie Place New Member

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    Zeratul, I apologize. That comment was posted on another thread about one of our pros being on his phone. We admit that the first session was difficult with all the changes that have happened. We had many parents who did not know what level their kids were at or even what size racquet they should have. With our evaluations these issues have been addressed. We have had great feed back from parents and adults alike who really enjoy the professionalism of our pros. Continuity of our coaches is important to us but there have circumstances where other pros have had to step in due to sickness or injury. We have created a plan to let parents know ahead of time if their regular coach will not be available. We welcome the opportunity to talk to you and see if we can help with your frustration.
     
  19. joy

    joy New Member

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    I gave the new OTL version the benefit of the doubt and tried out their new adult lessons in the first session. Despite their claims on their website, they did not have the class ratio they stated. There was one coach for 9 or 10 people. He kept complaining about the lighting on the courts being bad. He had no ball pick-up hoppers. It was all drills and very slow with one person. Coach Don had 3 coaches for groups that size and sessions always included hitting the ball to someone besides a coach, and always ended with either playing some points or another quick competition for some fun. These new sessions were not fun. It’s a real shame that Broadlands made this big error awarding them the contract.

    On a personal note, I was able to get in touch with Coach Don and have been taking private lessons. Another Coach Don alum who had been in the new OTL session reached out and is joining me now too. She had stuck it out the whole 8 weeks and said 7 of them were a total slog. She was done.

    Feel free to DM me if you’d like to get in touch with Coach Don.

    @vacliff or other HOA board members - is there any recourse for Broadlands for breach of contract if they aren’t doing what they claim with class ratio?
     
    PDILLM likes this.
  20. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    I am no longer on the HOA Board. For what it’s worth I wanted to give Don the tennis contract.
     

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