Teaching Tennis - Legal Issues

[WBF]

So, after being in the community for a while, I've been getting a lot more attention from various tennis players looking to improve their games, many simply through hitting.

Does anyone know what sort of legal issues there might be? I was under the impression that you can't give lessons on public courts (and obviously most private facilities specify this as well)... Am I wrong? I've gotten offers from multiple people now to pay just for hitting... Seems like I would be silly to pass it up if there is nothing wrong with it!

Anyone have any experience or knowledge on this topic?

 

[Steady Eddy]

How would anyone know if you're being paid to hit w/ someone? Just have them give you the $ away from the courts and you won't have any trouble.

But I don't think you even need to do that. The only trouble is when someone giving lessons acts like they own the court; when they say the court's reserved for 3 hours, or they get out a shopping cart of balls which get sprayed to everyone else's court, things like that. If you only use the court for a reasonable amount of time, say, 60 to 90 minutes. The fact that sameone pays you afterward, I don't see why that should be an issue.

I'm kind of in the same situation. I'm at the library now, about to tutor someone for money in a study room. Is that allowed? I don't know. But since I don't abuse my library priviledges, (like using a study room for 8 hours a day), why should it matter?

 

[Shahar26]

From what I've seen and read (here as well), it depends on the court / facility.

The closest to no teaching rule I've seen on a public court is the "max 3 balls" rule, which I've seen broken many times.

To quote a movie (Aragon, yeah it wasn't great, but the quote is still good) "I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission"

Good luck.

 

[burosky]

Hitting and teaching are two different things. It is more obvious when someone is teaching. At a public facility, teaching is not usually allowed if the city that owns the facility have their own tennis program. The rationale as I understand it is twofold. First is the liability. If anything happens, (someone breaking an ankle stepping on a ball or some accident) and this applies to everyone in the court, the city could be liable. Second is it takes away prospective students for the city's tennis program. I think the latter is the actual reason though.

I think the same applies for private facilities although they can set any rule and pretty much do what they want because they have total control over their facility.

The only way one can get away with it is by proving that no money is being paid for the lessons. Then the burden of proof is on the instructor. For example, I've been questioned before when I used to teach my wife and kids. They couldn't force me to stop because I was able to prove that I wasn't doing it to make money. As for liability, it is no different from using the courts to play.

As for getting paid for hitting, as long as no one makes any noise about getting paid, I think the likelihood of you getting in trouble is very low. Again, as long as you are not doing it to make money, there shouldn't be any problem. The burden of proof once again will be on you.

 

[El Diablo]

How exactly does one prove that one hasn't been paid for something??? Has cash become traceable? DNA??

 

[matchpoint]

You're not allowed to profit from public property.

When you think of it, it's not a really big deal for me.

The only time it becomes a problem is like what Steady Eddy said is when the instructor acts like he owns the court. You have to remember that a regular player can only use the court for a maximum of 1 hour. If you are going to use the court longer than that and there are people wanting to use it that would be unfair. You're making money and displacing people from public property.

You can't really make that much money if you abide by the 1 hour rule, otherwise to use it longer you would have to pretend that you are an authorized tennis instructor and that's where the problem is.

 

[10s talk]

most places you can use public courts in off hours, even if there are rules against it............ I have done it for 15 years

 

[WBF]

Thanks for all the replies. Of the two places I use, I know the town has lessons (I don't think they've started for the summer yet), and the University has lessons (but they charge $50 an hour ). The most I would go is an hour a day, as I usually try to hit with my fiancee for a while later in the afternoon as well.

I would never liter up a court with balls or give someone drills (I *suck* at feeding ).

I'll give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Julieta]

So, after being in the community for a while, I've been getting a lot more attention from various tennis players looking to improve their games, many simply through hitting.

Does anyone know what sort of legal issues there might be? I was under the impression that you can't give lessons on public courts (and obviously most private facilities specify this as well)... Am I wrong? I've gotten offers from multiple people now to pay just for hitting... Seems like I would be silly to pass it up if there is nothing wrong with it!

Anyone have any experience or knowledge on this topic?

In tennis hotbeds you see lots of people teaching out of parks (small ones with a couple of courts) housing development courts etc.. In some cases they make arrangements and in others they just show up and have a backup plan in place in case they get booted out.

Where you can do well as a high level guy is in hitting lessons, playing practice sets, elevens etc. with female juniors, sat players etc.. Lots of people make money this way and if the person is good they get a nice hit out of it also. Also some parents will pay for a coach to travel with their juniors to big tournaments. I knew someone who did that and they made more money going to Kalamazoo and that other one, the name escapes me, than they did the previous summer teaching in a club full time.

 

[CGMemphis]

I have pondered teaching here locally. Memphis has a ton of places and a ton of coaches, but theres a few secret places and I didnt want to overstep my bounds as I know a lot of these people.

 

[goober]

most places you can use public courts in off hours, even if there are rules against it............ I have done it for 15 years

True, there are rules against it but it doesn't mean anything at many places because it is not enforced. One time I did complain after I showed up to a community college facility on the weekend that had 4 of 6 courts being used by private nonuniversity instructors with a bunch of regular players sitting around waiting to get on. That got them all kicked off by security.

 

[SlapShot]

I've gotten private lessons on public courts, but it was a case where the courts weren't full (often there were 3-4 courts open), we only used a hopper when working on stroke mechanics, and we never were disruptive.

Basically, be polite to the other people on the court and it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[FedererISBetter]

I believe if you follow the court policies, which usually ARE listed somewhere, then it should be fine... such as allowing a doubles group to use the court if all courts are full. This means YOU are responsible in setting up times when you think the courts wont be full and that you wont be considered hogging up the courts.
But personally, I think we should be allowed to teach in public courts because we paid tax money to have the courts up anywayz... and that we are using our expertise into making a profit instead of taking tennis nets and resell them lol! Same for private courts, if you paid for the court fees and balls... you should be allowed to. But unlike public courts, you can't reserve a court and act like its your court.