Membership

Membership

Membership options at the Brattleboro Tennis Club

Highlights

There are five ways to play on the BTC courts.

1. Be a shareholder. Own a share, and use the playing right for yourself. At present the annual dues for shareholders are $650. We have heard of shares that recently sold anywhere from $1000-$5000.

2. Be a renter. Rent playing rights from a shareholder. The price of a rental is negotiated directly with the shareholder. Rented rights allow for all the same playing rights as a shareholder. The minimum price for playing rights is usually $725 for the year but could be higher, depending on the shareholder.

3. Be an associate member, which permits play during off hours, namely, after 9:30 p.m. and before 7:30 a.m. An additional benefit is that associate members may play four times a month during regular hours and pay a reduced guest fee of $10. The associate member fee is $300.

4. Play as a guest and pay a guest fee of $20. Guests may play twice a month.

5. Be a member of the Keene Racquet Club, to whom we grant limited reciprocal privileges. Keene members can play four times a month as a guest. Two of those are at no cost.

Playing rights are assigned for a 12-month period beginning each September 1. Once made, the playing rights remain fixed for that period of time, even if the share itself is purchased by a new person. (Exceptions to this rule are rarely made by the Board of Directors, usually in the case of a significant injury.) New shareholders are not able to use their playing rights until the following September 1, unless the purchased share is not otherwise being used.

Our Clerk (clerk@brattleborotennisclub.org) maintains lists of current members (shareholders and renters), associate members, and of those people interested in buying or selling a share, or renting playing rights. Contact them for information about availability, or to add your name to a list.

Details

The BTC is structured as a nonprofit corporation with a limited number of shares, that number being one hundred. Each share is accompanied by a playing right, which permits one household (up to two cohabiting adults and any children under the age of 23 who live with them) to use the club’s facilities. All 100 shares are under private ownership, and the only way to get one is to buy one from a current shareholder.

Some shareholders choose not to use their playing right for a given year and instead make it available for rental. A rented playing right confers the same access to the club’s facilities as does ownership of the share. When shareholders rent their playing rights to others, they may no longer use the club’s facilities for that time period.

Associate members have free access to make reservations and to play on the courts during the off-hours listed above. If an associate member plays during regular hours, the guest fee is ten dollars for each of the allowed four appearances per month. Also, if there is an unreserved court available after 8:15 p.m., the court is deemed vacant and an associate member may “walk on” without a reservation and begin play early.

The buying and selling of shares, and the rental of playing rights, are private transactions between shareholders and purchasers or renters. The club does not set prices nor negotiate transactions. We do keep lists of people who may be interested in such transactions, although sometimes people change their minds without telling us. We also sometimes have an idea of what recent prices have been (as noted above), but since we are not involved in the sales, it is more by rumor than by actual knowledge and thus may not be reliable.

All of this is under the supervision of the Clerk. Please contact them (clerk@brattleborotennisclub.org) with any questions you may have.