Park Startbaan 2023 – Advance / Accountability
Foreword and vision on the building plans
During the preparations for the takeover of the park from the municipality, the words worn out and overdue maintenance were regularly mentioned. The nearly 50-year-old tennis park was still almost entirely in its “original state”. That is in broker terms: there is a lot of delinquency and a lot to do!
The board of the Stichting Tenniscentrum Startbaan considered the takeover as an assignment to bring the Startbaan tennis park up to date again. And we have been constantly working on that from the end of 2017.
On these website pages about the construction, we will go into this in more detail and we will show what has already been realized, the status of the current plans and the future plans to be realized.
We would like to receive reactions from users, questions or feedback, everything is welcome. Various options have been built into these construction pages for this. And a promise is a promise: all responses will be answered quickly.
Our vision of the park
Why this intensive exercise to renew the park?
First of all, because we have confidence in a future for Park Startbaan. The philosophy is: if you don’t renew in time, you age quickly.
Although tennis has not grown in recent years and there is a loss of membership to other sports, we believe that Park Startbaan with an attractive offer and accommodation can compete with other tennis parks and other sports. In 2020 it appeared that corona has had a beneficial effect on the attractiveness of tennis. Tennis is a corona-safe sport. We hope to maintain this higher interest with, among other things, an attractive park.
There is a great shortage of tennis courts in neighboring Amsterdam. Many associations have waiting lists. An attractive park can compensate for the somewhat longer travel time to reach the tennis park.
Billiards also appears to be growing cautiously, partly due to the greater reputation of the billiard center in the region and the recent upgrade the billiard center has received. The growth is mainly due to loose rental and the snooker table in particular is popular. The accommodations for billiards in Amsterdam are decreasing in number or becoming unattractive due to poor accessibility and / or high parking costs.
The chances of padel are great. All associations that are switching to padel courts have been successful with this. Unfortunately, this is usually at the expense of tennis courts. At Park Startbaan we can build padel courts without having to hand in tennis courts. That is why we have decided to do so now.
The unique opportunities of Park Startbaan
The most distinctive thing about Park Startbaan is its unique position as a fully autonomous and independent park manager. That gives Park Startbaan decisiveness and that may well be said. That is certainly appreciated by the players, who play there regularly, outside and inside. Moreover, it is relevant for all target groups of Park Startbaan. Because it goes without saying for the most involved, there is a danger that this special position of Park Startbaan will not be explicitly mentioned in the communication about the new building.
