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Hello Tennis parents, May 15, 2020
After a long wait, Columbia County has approved Simke Tennis to resume tennis instruction at Patriots Park on a limited scale! We will start the next clinics on Monday, May 18th. We understand that many of you are concerned about the health and safety of your children. I assure you that we will do everything we can to conduct lessons in the safest way possible.
There are a number of precautions we will take to ensure everyone’s safety, well-being, and health. Classes will be capped at 10 students per class, in accordance with County guidelines. We will follow strict social distancing measures. Upon arriving at the court, students will place their gear on a spot by the fence marked by tape. Each spot will be 10 feet apart. When the lesson begins, students will be instructed on the lesson plan and how to complete all the activities while maintaining proper distance from each other and Coach Goran.
In addition to social distancing measures, we encourage each student to bring their own disinfectant wipes and/or hand sanitizer. There will be times they will be required to touch shared surfaces such as the gate, porta-potty, water faucet, and ball hoppers. Coach Goran will have additional wipes and hand sanitizer on hand at all times. This will probably be a shock for the kids at first, but they will adjust quickly to these new requirements.
We have built the schedule for Fall into 2 week clinics. Due to ongoing uncertainty and possibility of a return to a stay-at-home order that is out of our control, we will only accept payment for one session at a time. I know this will be an additional burden for those who would like to pay for the whole Fall. However, we don’t think it prudent to take payment for sessions that may get cancelled. The new schedule is posted at simketennis.com. Payment can be made on the website.
There are many players who prepaid for classes that were cancelled during our Spring Season. To make up for those classes, we will provide a punch card to each family with the amount of paid time/hours remaining. There will not be additional make-up sessions. Those who have prepaid will be able to attend Fall sessions using their punch cards until all prepaid time has been made up.
Since there is a limit of 10 players per clinic, we will require reservations for all sessions. This will be a tricky balance with players who have pre-paid and those who are paying per session. I need the help of the parents. Starting on the Thursday of the week prior to the session you will need to email simketennis@gmail.com with which days and the clinic you intend your players to participate. Once the session is open on the website, the remaining slots will be filled in a first-come-first-served basis. We will do our very best to keep the website updated as to class availability. If you need to cancel, please do so at least 48 hours before the scheduled day so that others can fill the slot. Players can still do drop-in clinics instead of paying for the week – however that too should be reserved via email. If you show up to the courts without reserving your slot there is a possibility that the clinic will be full and you will be turned away. We MUST adhere to the 10 players on the court rule.
Please be patient with us as we work through these new procedures. We will definitely have some kinks to work out. Please send your questions or concerns to simketennis@gmail.com or text Goran at 706-312-2962. I will get back to you as soon as I am available.
Thank you so much for your patience and support!
Simke Tennis Academy