Club Rules  

Court Hours: Dawn to Dusk (April thru October)

MEMBERSHIP RULES

• Only Members and their guests may play on the courts. Guest fees should be paid by the host member to the VFMRC Treasurer, PO Box 114, Valley Forge, PA 19481-0114  or preferably online from the reservation screen using a Credit card. Guest fees are $9/person/day; limit 5 visits for the same person.
• Proper tennis attire must be worn at all times; Shorts, Squirts, Shirts, and Tennis Shoes.
  Swimsuits, running shoes, and heavily-treaded shoes are prohibited.
• Children < 18 years are not allowed inside the courts unless accompanied by an instructor, parent, or adult.
• Access to the courts may occur through either the East or West Gate. The same combination will open either padlock and is subject to change from time to time. Please be sure to lock all gates when you leave.

COURT MAINTENANCE

• Please sweep the court after play - in addition to cleaning court lines – as a courtesy to the next group. The appropriate brushes (see below) should be replaced on the fence between courts after use.
• After a light rain, it may be possible to resume play immediately. After heavy rains, especially during the first month of the season, the court surface may become softened by the rain. Additional rolling and several hours of drying time may be necessary before play can resume. If you begin to play after a rain and the surface begins to "clump up," stick to your shoes and otherwise appear disturbed, please use common sense and return at a later time after drying has occurred!


• Court Tools
  • Aussie Sweep:
    This is the 4' x 10' green plastic drag “rake” hanging on the center fence pole at the east end of the courts. It is used to “lift” and remove leaves and particulate matter from the court surface. It is used with the “teeth” facing front and down, and is “emptied” after use -- by picking up the "loaded" rake, carrying it carefully out a gate and shaking it out (usually outside the West Gate; please do not shake it out over the gravel entrance walk!). Please use additional care when crossing the tape lines, because the teeth may catch on the tape edges, dislodging the tape (pulling the Aussie sweep at an angle across the tape lines tends to prevent the teeth from catching in the tape).
  • Drag Brooms:
    Please hang these on the fence (there are hooks on the broom handles for this purpose) between courts 1 and 2, or between courts 2 and 3 after usage for easier access by the next user. As the name suggests, the operator positions himself or herself between the handles and pulls the broom from one side of the court to the other (one may either sweep "with" the court or "across" the court, travelling back and forth, allowing room at the end of each direction for a 180° arc turn of the broom at the end of each pass. On the final pass, lift the broom from the ground, while still moving forward, to avoid leaving behind a "ridge" of granules.
  • Line Sweeper:
    The line brush is pushed along each of the tape surfaces after the courts have been brushed. They may be hung, by the handle, anywhere on the fence when not in use.