Burnside Park Tennis Club sits on the far side of Burnside Park. Where it is, whether you can just turn up, and what it costs, in that order.
Finding it
Drive in at 336 Avonhead Road, next to the Burnside Bowling Club, and follow the lane round until you see the club across the park. The pavilion has a bar.
There are ten courts. Seven are hard courts with a synthetic coating and three are astroturf (courts 4, 5 and 6, relaid in November 2023). All of them are floodlit.
Playing without joining
You can. Casual players pay $10 a person per hour, but only while members or staff are on site, members get priority, and courts 1, 2 and 3 are off limits. Pay by cash or eftpos if a committee member or administrator is around, otherwise by bank transfer.
No casual play once the lights are needed, so it's a daytime option.
Joining
Adult memberships start at 19 (18 for students), and the club year runs from 1 August to 31 July. Fees are updated monthly pro rata after 31 August. This is what the Join page showed at the end of October, so check it for the current figure:
- New senior (first year): $239, with the same playing rights as a full member.
- Full senior: $312. There's a couples rate of $585 too.
- Senior casual: $191, private court use only. No club sessions, no interclub.
- Senior interclub: $239, casual rights plus a Sunday interclub grade.
- Full-time tertiary student: $239 for the tennis season, from 18, with a valid student ID.
If you've never been a member, the first-year rate is probably the one to pick: it's cheaper than full senior and still gets you into every club session. Out-of-session court access needs a keycard on top, which you rent from the club.
Membership can be paid online or by bank transfer. How that compares with other clubs is in what it costs to join a club in Christchurch.
Club sessions
Full and first-year members can come to all of these, weather permitting:
- Saturday club day, 1pm to 4pm
- Tuesday, 9.30am to 11am
- Tuesday under lights, 7pm to 9pm
- Thursday, 9.30am to 11am
The club also runs eight-week group courses for adult beginners and improvers, on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The current round started in mid-October, so ask the club about the next one.
Why this matters
A club gives you courts and a few set times a week. The other days you still need someone at your level who's free when you are, and that's the part a club doesn't solve.
That's the gap we're building Hitter for.
More at hitter.nz.
