“There’s something special in the air” at Templeogue Tennis Club as they prepare to unveil their new all-weather Air Dome facility this Saturday.
The dome that cost the Dublin club €385,000 will cover three of Templeogue’s 12 tennis courts, and is another step in the “revolution of Irish tennis,” says marketing officer Pamela Pounch.
“We have some exceptional players on the circuit in Ireland at the moment, and it’s very exciting to see where we’ll be in 10 years with these new facilities. In the past, tennis in Ireland was very weather dependent, but the dome brings Templeogue to another level, there’s a great atmosphere around here.
“An area that the dome will enhance hugely is our coaching system. We have an incredible coaching team that work six days a week with our juniors, and now with the dome we can guarantee tennis throughout winter, which is really progressive for our club.”
The opening of the facility will be followed by an exhibition match with Ireland’s Davis Cup captain Conor Niland and fellow tennis pro Scott Barron, and Pounch believes having these players involved sums up how important this is for tennis in Ireland.
It’s great that Irish players see the importance of this. Saturday will be perfect to showcase what we’ve achieved over the past month and a half.
“We’ll also be fundraising for Crumlin Hospital, and whatever is raised, the club will match it, so we hope it will be a great fundraising event for our club.
“The dome is a credit to everyone involved in Templeogue, there’s something very special in the air at Templeogue at the moment, and the prospect of the indoor courts is fantastic coming into the winter months. You can play tennis at any age, and if you don’t like cold weather we can now cater for that.
“And above all the main aspect of the dome is to enhance tennis in Ireland as a whole, while it is a Templeogue members facility, it’s for the greater of Irish tennis.”
Templeogue Tennis Club president Duncan Black said: “We are now able to offer our 1,200-plus members three indoor courts. This is an investment in our tennis programmes providing an extra 5,000 playing hours with our new Air Dome as well as better value for members.”