Etiquette and Club Court Policies

Court Etiquette
It is the obligation of every player to know and understand club rules & court etiquette.

1. Line Calls:  If the ball is out, indicate or call “out” clearly.  Don’t waffle.  Be clear and firm.
2. All calls, “fault”, “let”, or “out” must be made immediately i.e. before the opponent has the opportunity to hit the return or it has gone out of play.  This is particularly important when returning the service.
3. Footfaults:  If the foot is touching or over the baseline, regardless of whether the player has hit the ball, it is called as a footfault.  Even if he may subsequently move his front foot back and not be violating the line when he strikes the ball it is still a footfault.
4. Warm-Up:  The warm-up is just that – a time to warm-up.  Five minutes is always adequate as it is not a practice session.
5. Courtesies:  Do not retrieve a ball from another court while play is in progress.  Don’t ask for a ball until play stops.  Avoid arguments about the score be calling the game score before your first serve and calling the point score each time you go to serve thereafter.  Never call “good” or “in” during the rally.  Say nothing unless the ball is out.
6. Don not enter the court until the bell has gone and the rally is finished.  At the end of your booking exit the court promptly to allow your fellow members the opportunity to play their full court time.
7. Enter & exit the courts via the correct entrance.  Each court has its own entrance and this avoids disruption to any other court.  When playing in the bubbled courts, enter the courts quietly and walk across the back of the courts when play is stopped until you arrive at your assigned court.  When playing on the outdoor courts, please follow the signage to access your court, again, waiting until play has stopped before reaching your court.  Please be sure to close the bubble door completely when entering and exiting.

Club Court Policies

Ball Hoppers:  In order to provide an enjoyable tennis experience for all members and their guests, we must insist that ONLY ORC teaching staff make use of tennis hoppers (baskets) on court during the hours of 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.  Members may make use of their personal ball hoppers before 9:00 am and after 9:00 pm daily.  While we understand that members often wish to practice serves or other shots, we respectfully request that they limit the numbers of balls on court to a maximum of six during the time restrictions outlined.

Maximum 1 Advanced Court Booking October to April:  To offer all members fair access to courts, ORC practices a one advanced court booking maximum throughout the busy winter season.  This means you are welcome to pre-book once per day when booking your tennis courts in advance.  All members are welcome to book additional courts on a same day availability basis.

Maximum 3 Courts May Be Booked By 1 Member:  In conjunction with the above policy, members booking courts are restricted to booking a maximum of 3 courts when making their reservations.  This means that a group of 12 may elect one person to make their booking, however, for a group of 16, two members would be required to reserve the courts.  By adhering to this policy, we are able to ensure fair and equal access to all courts for our tennis members.

Flat Rate Juniors:  All flat rate juniors are able to use ORC courts on a walk-on basis and are not permitted to pr-book tennis courts at any time.  We kindly ask parents to assist us by not reserving courts for their children.  Simply contact ORC 60 minutes prior to the time the junior would like to play and if there is a court available, they are free to walk-on.  Please remember, all walk-ons must notify the Front Desk prior to going onto the court.  This will ensure double booking do not occur and will assist in tracking court usage.

Walk-on Privileges For Academy Players:  All Academy players can “walk on” and pay no court fees during the designated walk-on times.  Players having a lesson during these times will not be charged for the court fee portion of lesson.  Players must notify the front desk of walk-on prior to going on court.  Under no circumstances are players to walk-on or play (if not regular members) outside the walk-on times.  The walk-on times are as follows:

Monday thru Friday               6:00 am – 9:00 am   and   3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Saturday & Sunday               7:00 am – 9:00 am   and   5:00 pm to close