CLUB of the year Penzance Tennis Club is a symbol of what can be achieved with hard work, imagination and a passion for tennis.

The club's tennis development manager, Martin Coates, started establishing a development programme a year ago when he arrived at the club.

His enthusiasm and drive created a strong base, with activities seven days a week and children of all ages participating in a happy family atmosphere.

Juniors have always had a special place at the club, and their individual and collective talent is a genuine source of pride for the Penlee Park membership.

A successful Saturday morning club provides opportunities for juniors to become involved with an on-going assessment procedure open to everyone in the community. These sessions began with only a few attending, but now average more than 50 children participating every Saturday, come rain or shine.

There has been outstanding growth in the development programme over the last year, with more than 100 juniors taking part in more than 20 group coaching sessions weekly, making it one of the biggest junior programmes in the county.

The school link has enabled the club to continue its development towards its aim of becoming a community programme.

It has a special relationship with links to ten local schools, with more than 300 children weekly in school clubs. This created a positive outreach programme and has earned them LTA Beacon Status award for good work within the community.

The school holiday activity days generate many newcomers and that is partly due to the huge success of the schools' programme.

At the end of every school holiday juniors are invited to attend squad sessions in the development programme, and this brings in a constant supply of prospective club members. Coates said: "It's about developing a team spirit. When you visit Penzance Tennis Club there is a lot of life, a lot of joy, a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, which is what clubs in this country need."

Martin said he was lucky to have a hard working team of coaches and assistants working with him, who kept well up to date with the modern game, attending courses and in-service training and upgrading their qualifications.

He said: "Luke Dews has been at the club for more than four years and works in a range of areas from mini-tennis performance to working with adult team players and academy juniors.

"Keith Songhurst has been at the club for more than 30 years, working with the younger mini tennis players which progressively feed into the performance mini programme. He also does a fantastic job with the adults and development juniors.

"Sammy Basset has been at the club for more than 25 years, working in the development area of coaching which involves the beginner programmes. Sammy is also competition referee and works alongside Martin, helping with all the club's tournaments.

"Aside from junior coaching, there is an impressive growing adult programme. The club have sessions ranging from ladies' mornings to free adult coaching, cardio tennis programme and a strong social membership who enjoy taking part in the Cornwall leagues and social events.

"If we can provide enjoyment through tennis then more young people will come through as adult members. There are two sides to this – one is members now and the other is members of the future.

"We need to realise that the next person walking through our doors for the first time to enquire about membership may turn out to be the next star player at the club."

For more information on how to become involved, contact Martin Coates on 07787 124 003.