FAQs

If you move away from the area and our club facilities can no longer reasonably be accessed by you, we will refund any remaining membership fees where those fees still cover at least four months of membership. Please note that a cancellation fee of $50.00 will apply.

Private Lesson Absence Replacement Classes: In the event you will be absent from a private lesson, please e-mail us at info@slamin.com.au, or if absent on the day of the lesson, please text 0403 129 648 A.S.A.P.

Please DO NOT list your private lesson absence publically via the APP, as this is a personal arrangement between you and the Coach. Upon receipt of your absence, a replacement session will be arranged for you at a mutually agreeable time.

Insufficient notice (after 3:00 pm daily) will result in the player only being able to replace the session via a group class in the App. This is simply due to the court hire, light, and Coach being booked and paid in advance for private lessons.

Individual Group Absence Replacement Classes: We understand that players do get sick, tired, or take a holiday during a school term, etc, and the odd lesson may be missed. We offer a no-expiry EVER policy on lessons, and we offer a 24/7 replacement class online booking system for your convenience. Please use the “replacement class” forum in our FREE App to document absence and book replacement classes. This APP is in ‘real time’ hence all bookings must be via the app. Please note that we cannot pro rata fees according to individual absence. There is NO EXPIRY EVER on replacement classes.

Weather: Lessons may from time to time be cancelled due to poor weather. Ie. heavy rain or extreme heat. To determine the lesson’s status, please check for cancellation messages in the “News and Weather” section of our FREE APP,  “Teamapp” or view them on the “Teamapp” website browser. If no cancellation message is shown then lessons are on as normal.

https://slamintennisandfitness.teamapp.com

In the event a lesson is cancelled, you will be contacted with an alternative day and time to attend. We do ask parents to be patient, as sometimes it does take a few days to make arrangements, and we will check with the school to make sure no school activities will clash with the potential planned replacement class before informing parents.

Weather Replacement Classes: In the event a lesson is cancelled due to weather, a replacement class schedule is automatically e-mailed to affected students within 7-14 days. Please wait for this e-mail to arrive, as we do have to confirm several factors prior to announcing the schedule.

School Excursions/Inservice Days: If your child is attending a school excursion or it is a student in-service day, the lesson will be re-scheduled to a different school day at the same time, or the lesson will be extended by 15 minutes for 3 weeks. We do ask parents to inform us of school excursions, as not all school excursions/field trips are placed in the newsletter, so unless a parent informs us, Coaches will turn up. Please wait for the e-mail to arrive as sometimes it does take time for the school to confirm availability, to ensure we don’t clash with another school event or field trip.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee one particular Coach for any group lesson. There are so many variables that affect which Coach coaches which class, on which day, we can’t guarantee one particular Coach for group lessons. There are also other children in the class, who may all have preferred Coach. 

The only way to guarantee one particular Coach for lessons is to book one one-on-one private lessons, where the booking is made for that particular Coach.

Unfortunately, we cannot pro rata fees according to individual absence. The court is booked in advance for the term, the Coach is contracted in advance for the whole term, additional enrolment into the session is disabled due to acceptance of your child’s enrolment, and the Coach has dedicated off-court time to plan the lesson structure and learning outcomes for each individual child.

A child’s progression is naturally delayed if they miss lessons and do not replace them; it is unfair on the child to receive fewer lessons than the others in the group by not attending replacement classes. The child falls behind, yet we expect the child to be at the same level as their peers, yet they have not completed all their learning.

Therefore, all students in our program complete the same number of lessons within a year. If a child is absent, it is the responsibility of the parents to book missed sessions via the app.

Additionally, as we have strict set participation to coach ratios, and our fee structure is as low as possible based on this coach-to-student ratio, we cannot cover our costs if we pro-rata fees. One of the main barriers to participation is cost, we don’t want to increase our fees collectively for every student, just to cover pro-rata absences, which is what other companies do.

We have one set price, we have set student-to-coach ratios, and a replacement class forum to book any missed lessons, and we also offer a NO EXPIRY EVER policy. ALL other companies’ replacement class policy is a maximum of 2 replacement classes, which must be replaced within the same term missed.

We believe we offer a fair deal, and that’s what we offer.

Any student who enrols and changes their mind will be expected to complete the term. Due to the short duration of a term, and a commitment has been made, we believe it is an important life lesson to students to honor a commitment made. This life lesson teaches students the value of commitment, of being part of a team, and not letting that team down. Students change their mind on participation for a variety of reasons; most often these reasons can be identified and rectified.

Eg: The students have a clash with another activity and they want to do both activities and are being forced to choose. Or the child has a personality clash with someone in the group. Sometimes the child is simply tired or hasn’t adjusted to the change into warmer seasons, and the easiest solution is quitting. By having our policy of completing the term, 9/10 players re-enrol the following term, because the issue, which has affected their motivation levels, has passed, and they love the sport.

The easiest way to look at things is as parents; we know ourselves, and sometimes we can’t be bothered going to the gym or going for a walk. We know we should, and we fight within ourselves, and as adults, we have the power to choose the easiest option and stay at home. But do we want to teach that to our children? Hence, our company has our “change of mind policy.” The holistic development of players under our care is of the utmost importance. If your child has started to question participation, place a call to us, as we have ways to determine the causes of motivation changes.

Lessons will continue through rain, however, they may be abandoned during sessions if the Coach deems the rain too heavy. When the Coach deems the rain to have lightened or ceased, play will recommence.

When players compete and they encounter rain, players play through the rain, until the Official deems it too heavy and play is abandoned. Play is recommenced as soon as the rain ceases. This could be 2 minutes later, 10 minutes later, or 30 minutes later. Players perform a 2-minute warm-up again every time play is stopped and resumed.

It would be unprofessional of us as Coaches to not equip our players with the skills necessary to:

1. A) know the rules of abandoning play, resuming play, where the score starts at, what side players re-commence on, what the rules are with news balls and warm-up rules.
2. B) teach players tactical of the following elements.

• How rain affects the ball bounce, and the court and how the court’s wetness affects the ball bounce.
• Whether to use spin or power and what the advantages and disadvantages are of both when it is wet. As it is the complete opposite on a hot day for example.
• Use of the shallow area of the court and angles due to the gravity of the ball, which is impacted by the rain.
• Due to the dampness of the court, the importance of getting to the net and hitting volleys to take time away from the opponent.
• What to change on the serve to take advantage of the conditions.
• Also, the “flow” of play is interrupted, as players “stop/start.” Players must mentally focus and re-focus each time play is “stopped and started.” Being in a lesson under these conditions gives coaches the opportunity to teach players how to re-focus and how to take advantage of the situation strategically.

If we simply cancel lessons, I believe we would not be equipping our players for the realistic game and placing our players in a position of the embarrassment of not knowing the rules of the games during wet weather. When anyone does not have the knowledge to compete, people naturally feel helpless and unmotivated. At least our players will be motivated and skilled to work successfully under wet conditions, knowing the rules of play and tactical play.

This is witnessed and experienced on an international scale with Grand Slam tennis events Roland Garros (French Open) and most famous for rain interrupted play Wimbledon. On a local level, our club competition and secondary school sports competitions all follow the same rules of “stop and starting play.”

Your decision for your child’s participation will always respected, but it’s a shame if parents exclude their child from the learning opportunities available such as participation during rain, and the “stop/start” flow. The biggest learning occurs by experience and the children gain the knowledge when it’s wet how to structure and change their style of play to match the conditions that everyone must play under.

If you elect to not permit your child to participate, then the lesson is deemed as an individual absence, and you can book a replacement class under the individual absence protocol.

Personal belongings: All participants are responsible for their own belongings. We strongly encourage all valuables including mobile phones and electronic devices be left at home. Lessons will progress through drizzle and wet conditions, where there is no protection from the elements for electronic devices. Any belongings brought along by players are the responsibility of the player, Slamin Tennis & Fitness, and all its staff assume no responsibility for personal items. In the event a player requires the use of a mobile telephone, all coaches have a mobile phone the players can use at any time.

Your child will receive their tennis racquet and start-up pack at their first lesson – if we have received payment, of course.

T-shirts must be redeemed online from the above Tennis Australia website. T-shirts have order deadlines and dispatch dates,. You can view order deadlines and dispatch dates via this Tennis Australia website.

Coach-to-Parent Communication: Parents are expected to introduce themselves to their child’s coach, and at least once a term speak with the coach regarding the child’s development, playing pathway, and further opportunities.

Upon receiving an expression of interest to start lessons, or when you book a trial lesson, Vicky personally speaks to each player (or parent, if a child), to learn about the player’s needs, and objectives. This includes probing questions to learn more about how the child or player learns best, and their preferences. This can be so basic as:

• A young girl wants a female coach
• A child with additional learning needs requires a gentle, but encouraging coach
• A high-performance player, requiring the services of a high-performance tour coach

From here, Vicky will recommend the Slamin Coach most suited to the player’s needs.

In the event you require a translator to convey this information, we have multiple translators in a variety of languages to assist. Simply email: translator@slamin.com.au

We can appreciate everyone learns differently, and the coach-student relationship is vital for success. Finding the right coach is like finding the perfect shoe, you know when you have found it.

All coaches are Members of our National Body Tennis Australia, and all hold Working with Children checks, Police checks, and First Aid certificates.