The reopening of tennis courts in the first phase of provincial COVID-19 reopening is being praised by a local club director.

Quinte Tennis Club Membership and Communications Director Rick Helman said although Thursday's announcement of the reopening of outdoor recreational amenities led to a bit of scrambling to get everything ready at the four clay courts, he is glad the right decision was made by the provincial government.

“Prior to the announcement, we were thinking that maybe they would go for the Tuesday after the long weekend. We were working towards that,” he explained.

“We didn't even have the nets up at the court yet. The clay courts were all prepared and ready to go. But we didn't have the nets up with any signage. We didn't have the online booking set up.”

He said the sport, much like golf, is perfect for physical distancing and is a very low risk for COVID-19 spread.

“Anybody that's playing are quite widely separated from each other,” Helman noted.

“Outdoor activities have proven to be safe. Other jurisdictions, even the ones with the tightest restrictions, still had outdoor facilities open. We were not happy with the (previous) decision (to close outdoor recreational amenities). It was a little bit puzzling. But that's where we were, and this is where we are. We're really glad to be back out there.”

Helman said the club will continue to run with the same safety protocols they had last year, which included the pausing of guest privileges, the suspension of drop-in matches that were available pre-pandemic on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and closing off washrooms, along with enhanced sanitization measures.

“Only players who have booked and are recorded on the online booking system are to be playing,” he said, adding every player, regular or not, were good about following the rules.

Helman added the club, located in Belleville's East Hill, welcomed in at least four dozen people to play, visit or register on the morning and early afternoon of Saturday alone.

Barring any more lockdowns, Helman predicts the year will be longer and offer more of an opportunity to play than last year, when the club resumed operations in mid-June.

The next phase of the COVID-19 Roadmap to Reopen Plan is slated for June 14, where more businesses are slated to reopen to customers.

“I don't know if that'll make a whole lot of difference to us. But we'll keep an eye on things as we go forward and gradually get back to really normal, we hope.”

Links for registration forms and match booking for members only can be found at the Quinte Tennis Club website.