TWO local tennis clubs have taken a different approach to overcoming the difficulties tennis clubs encounter employing full-time coaches.

The winter weather often means courts cannot be used which makes it difficult for coaches to make a living.

Lostock and Eagley tennis clubs are working in partnership with USN Bolton Arena for their coaches to take over the coaching programmes at their clubs.

This approach expands USN Bolton Arena’s role in the local tennis community, which already sees their staff working with Bolton Council to provide coaching at the newly-refurbished courts at Moss Bank Park.

The benefit to clubs is that the task of promoting tennis and attracting new players will be undertaken by paid Arena staff instead of unpaid volunteer club members.

It also gives people who try the sport the opportunity to experience different facilities available.

These initiatives are driven by the LTA’s desire to get as many people as possible involved in the sport to try to find the next Andy Murray.

Local clubs provide a friendly environment for social and local league tennis while people with the potential to play at a high level can get first-class support from high-quality coaches from the USN Arena.

The Great British Tennis Weekend gives people the chance to play for free, talk to players and see facilities for themselves.

They can go along to Eagley on Saturday between 1pm and 3pm, on Sunday to Lostock between 9am and noon and Moss Bank Park between 1pm and 4pm, to David Lloyd Bolton from 2pm to 5pm on both Saturday, July 16, and the following day, and to Bolton Arena on Sunday August 14 from 1pm to 4pm.

Pre-book online at https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/opendays and search Bolton.