RANCHO SANTA FE — At a recent board meeting with the Rancho Santa Fe Association board of directors, Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club President Dave Van Den Berg shared that their new website is about to go live. The announcement was timely as the club’s membership numbers have skyrocketed.
Van Den Berg told the board that the opening visit to the website begins with a birds-eye view captured by a drone flying through the club and then over the courts at about 300 feet.
“It’s like you are visiting the club for the very first time,” he said. “There are beautiful aerial shots of the whole golf course and the tennis courts. It’s choreographed to music so as you watch the players, the music picks up as the players hit faster and faster.”
The music continues as the drone captures the site of equestrians riding their trusty steeds around the tennis club. The camera picks up the nuances of each scenario so viewers get a glimpse into the facility and its beauty.
From there, website visitors are afforded the opportunity to learn about the activities for the year along with engaging videos.
And reservations can now be made online.
“Our whole reservation system is on there so that anybody can actually make reservations by themselves,” Van Den Berg said. “They can see what courts are available and sign up.”
Van Den Berg wanted everyone to know that he hoped that the website would be fully up and running by the end of April. Currently, testing is underway.
Van Den Berg then circled back to the online schedule, explaining how there will be a list of lessons and clinics. Members will also have the opportunity to see what instructor is available and book appointment with them online.
Van Den Berg said this feature was really necessary because they have 184 tennis members, a number which continues to grow, and the court system must be in sync with those needs.
“We also have a database in there of every single member in the club,” he said. “The reason this is important is because anytime we want to do a promotion of any kind, we can do it by gender, by age and by skill level.”
This database is the pulse of communication to its members.
While the website afforded much more, Van Den Berg said, he wanted to give the board and members a small glimpse of what it can do.
President Ann Boon added that she has seen the new website and said it is quite professional looking.
“It’s like you’re watching ESPN or CBS,” she said.
As the website has been an ongoing project, so has the building of the Tennis Club membership. Van Den Berg told the board that the club was at 663 percent of its membership quota; 213 percent of its enrollment fees budget; and its revenue has increased 124 percent.
“And our new membership also guarantees that next year we start revenues at 30 percent higher than what they were this year, because a lot of our memberships have been in the last three months,” he said. “The club is truly becoming a community place for people to come and spend time, and that has been our goal all along.”
