As of 1 January, Tennis Threads became the official tennis magazine of SAPCA, the recognised trade body for specialist tennis facility companies. SAPCA promotes excellence and professionalism within the sports and play construction industry – their aim is to provide the high quality facilities needed at all levels of sport, physical activity, recreation and play.
Speaking of the appointment Chris Trickey CEO of SAPCA said “Working closely with Tennis Threads will play a valuable role in helping SAPCA to communicate with the grassroots of the game, so that we can help more people involved in tennis facilities to make better choices as they develop their tennis court projects.”
Members companies are involved in the design, procurement, project management, manufacture, construction, testing and maintenance of sports and play facilities at all levels of the UK marketplace, from high-level venues for competitions and tournaments through to the tennis courts needed at the grassroots of the game, whether that is in clubs, parks, schools or gardens.
The organisation’s mantra is quite simply ‘Guiding people to make better choices in delivering their sports and play projects’. Anyone involved in tennis facility development, whether the construction of a major venue complex or the relatively simple upgrading of existing courts, should always try and ensure that the chosen contractor is a SAPCA member as it provides a ‘kite-mark’ of quality. Each member company needs to undergo strict scrutiny before being accepted into the SAPCA fold thereby ensuring only specialist contractors, with a proven track record and trading history, are admitted. Through inspections of applicants’ work, the organisation checks that contractors have the requisite expertise and experience, and can offer clients the necessary high standards of workmanship.
This is obviously important for customers to know and SAPCA’s Quality System maintains that high standard to ensure that contractors and suppliers consistently deliver high standards of sports and play facilities if they are to remain as members. SAPCA members are required to meet the standards set out in the Association’s Code of Practice for the design and contraction of tennis courts, which is available free of charge on SAPCA’s website.
The Quality System underlines the benefits of customers choosing members of SAPCA for all sports and play projects, and gives greater peace of mind to sports clubs, schools and universities, local authorities and all other clients that their hard-earned funds have been invested wisely.
An important requirement of membership is that SAPCA members must also have a solid financial background, which is based on the Commercial Delphi scoring system used by Experian (a credit reference specialist organisation) via their Risk Reports.
SAPCA demands that all contractors and manufacturers must have a minimum Commercial Delphi score of 40 out of 100, which effectively means that, as a prerequisite, members must be in the top 70% of UK businesses for financial stability. The requirement for financial stability is also monitored on an annual basis and SAPCA insists that all contractors and manufacturers must meet its current requirements for financial steadiness in order to renew their annual membership.
In addition, each year all members are required to re-sign the Association’s Code of Professional Conduct, through which companies are committed to high standards of customer service and business practice.
The Association also has a series of Codes of Practice that set out the industry’s standards of construction and members must comply with the required construction specifications and quality of completed work, for a variety of activities, not just for tennis courts.
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