At the Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club (CSHBC) on Long Island, our major summer activity for kids is "Sports Group," which ended on Aug. 7.  Director of Tennis Magnus Gustafsson knows that signals the end of summer play at the club.  Families frequently leave Cold Spring Harbor looking for their hot vacation spot or a cool place further north to cool down until school starts back up. This year, Magnus' plan was to keep kids coming through the month by creating a new and exciting group called Kids Tennis Camp.  

A simple flyer and a few words of encouragment to parents got the ball rolling.  The info sheet contained a few lines stating that it is going to be a fun-filled daily camp for juniors, aged five to 10, with activities ranging from tennis to swimming, and that lunch would be served.

A camp like this can roll in some serious revenues--and it will keep your pros off their butts for a couple of weeks.  

A great way to keep employees happy is to allow them to participate in the camp fun.  At CSHBC the tennis pros can put on their swimsuits to join the kids for a quick swim in the afternoon.  It's a win-win: By allowing the pros to join in, get a tan and have a break, they not only get paid, but they have a good last experience before they head off to school or their next teaching job.  

These little clinics and lessons are a great way to keep everyone happy.  Pros are happy for the perks, the club owner is thrilled to bring in more revenues, parents are happy because they have a way to keep their children busy for three hours in the afternoons, and most importantly, the tennis programmer is happy because all of those people are satisfied with his work.  

This is one way to keep your summer from coming to a boring close.