Planning Your First Tennis or Football Holiday Camp

Holiday camps are one of the most rewarding — and lucrative — programs a sports facility can offer. Parents actively search for them, children love them, and they fill otherwise quiet weekday slots during school breaks. But running a great camp requires careful planning. Here's how to do it right.

Step 1: Define Your Age Groups and Skill Levels

The first decision is how to segment your participants. Mixing a 6-year-old beginner with a 14-year-old club player creates a frustrating experience for both. We recommend separating camps into at minimum:

• Mini Sports (ages 5–7): Fun-focused, games-based, short drills
• Junior Development (ages 8–11): Skill-building, friendly competition
• Youth Performance (ages 12–16): Tactical development, match play

Within each age group, offer Beginner and Intermediate streams if numbers allow. This lets you market to more families and keeps group dynamics positive.

Step 2: Design the Daily Schedule

A structured daily timetable is essential — both for the children's experience and for safeguarding compliance. A typical full-day holiday camp structure:

Build in flexibility — if it rains for an outdoor camp, you need a backup indoor plan.

Step 3: Set Pricing and Discounts

Holiday camps should feel accessible but also reflect the value of expert coaching. Consider:

• Half-day vs. full-day pricing (typically a 60–70% ratio)
• Early-bird discount for bookings made 4+ weeks in advance
• Sibling discount (e.g., 10% off the second child, 15% off a third)
• Multi-week discount for families booking all three summer weeks

Club Term handles all of these discount rules automatically when each booking's invoice is generated, so you set the logic once and it applies consistently to every booking.

Step 4: Handle Registration and Medical Information

For any camp involving children, you must collect:

• Emergency contact details
• Any relevant medical conditions or allergies
• Consent for photos and social media (important!)
• Signed participation waiver

Doing this on paper creates mountains of admin. Digital registration forms mean all information is stored securely, accessible to coaches on the day, and GDPR-compliant from the outset.

Step 5: Promote Early

Camps fill fastest when parents book during the previous half-term or at the end of the previous camp season. Your promotion timeline:

• 8 weeks out: Email existing participants and parents
• 6 weeks out: Social media posts and local community groups
• 4 weeks out: Early-bird deadline reminder
• 2 weeks out: "A few places left" urgency push
• 1 week out: Final reminder with logistics info

Returning participants from the previous year are your most valuable audience — a simple personalized email ("Hi Sarah, we'd love to have Emma back at summer camp this year!") converts at a far higher rate than generic posts.

Step 6: Brief Your Coaches

Every coach should know before the first morning:

• Their assigned age group and group size
• The daily session plan
• Emergency procedures and first aid kit location
• Who to contact if a child needs to be collected early
• How to mark attendance in Club Term

Attendance records aren't just useful for analytics — they're essential if a safeguarding question ever arises.

A well-run holiday camp builds loyalty that lasts far beyond the camp itself. Parents who see their child improve, have fun, and feel safe will book term-time lessons, refer friends, and come back next school holiday. The investment in planning pays dividends all year round.