“When Doug asked me (in 1999) if I thought I could run a tennis club, I said ‘Sure, how hard could THAT be?’ Well, I had a lot to learn starting with basic accounting practices to see what was working and what was not. The facility needed a lot of care and the membership was very low. We worked to rebuild the tennis programs, staff and membership and expanded the club to add the 5th indoor court. It took about 4 years for tennis to stabilize so that we knew we were going to make it. Doug kept his day job (as a lawyer) to make sure we could pay the bills.
In 2005 we replaced all of our circuit weight equipment with the best new equipment on the market called STRIVE. I’d never even heard of STRIVE until I sat down on the ab crunch machine only to rest while at a giant fitness trade show. Before I knew it the sales person was showing me how the rotating cam changes where you feel the resistance during your range of motion so that you work different parts of your muscle on the same machine in a very short amount of time. The following year, after doing lots of research on equipment, the STRIVE machines were the only ones that we felt passed all of our requirements for the Club – including ease of use and ability to adjust the equipment for a variety of client sizes and abilities. The weights start at 10 pounds and move up by 5 lb increments. All of the cardio equipment has been replaced and added to as well.
We had a problem, though, that very few people knew we offered “fitness only” memberships. You don’t have to play tennis to enjoy the Club! So in 2005 we added “Fairhaven Fitness” to our name to emphasize that we are a full service fitness facility as well as a tennis club.
And we’ve taken one notch higher as the only Club to offer resting and metabolic assessments in the County as well. Several of our staff members are certified in administering the assessments which provide information for weight loss, fitness training, and/or performance athletics. The metabolic assessment system we use is a sophisticated scientific analysis process formerly only available to elite athletes. We use the information to help people speed up their metabolism, understand the safe way toward weight loss, provide training plans designed specifically for an individual’s metabolism, and information that will help improve athletic performance.
All this and our courts are still full with only about 20 tennis memberships available. We cap our tennis membership to make sure everyone gets playing time. Fitness still has plenty of room to grow.
It has been a joy to be a part helping people to lead healthier lives through physical, mental, and social benefits of fitness and tennis. ~ Robin Robertson
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