A Letter From Laury

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Dear Members and Friends,

This coming summer of 2022 the Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club will celebrate the 110th year of being the leading tennis club in Utah. The Hammel Family is currently in our 23rd year of my family managing, working at, or owning the Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club.

●     Seven years of my parents managing the club from 1957-1964

●     Seven years of me working at the club in various capacities from 1964-1971

●     Eight and a half years of owning the club from 2013-2022

Our Club has obviously played a major role in the life of my family, and more importantly, our Club has positively impacted thousands of Utah families. We have been the home for lovers of tennis, swimming, and fitness for over a century.

When I purchased the Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis Club in 2013, the club was at its lowest ebb and literally two days away from bankruptcy. At that point, the physical plant, culture, staff, and membership were all in crisis. In my tennis and fitness entrepreneurial career I have turned around five failing tennis clubs, and it’s fair to say that what we now call the Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club has been my toughest test.  The list of challenges our team faced in making our Club successful is long and will someday be good food for a TV series.

Today we can celebrate that after eight years of a fanatic dedication to our mission and major capital investments, we can now say “we have succeeded in our quest to bring back the Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis Club to its former glory!  The truth of the matter is that we have transformed our Club into a community-based tennis and health business that has moved beyond what our Club was like in its heyday.

This newsletter is all about GRATITUDE! Our team is so grateful for the support we have received from you, our members. Without our members, our Club would not exist and this site would probably be some form of condominiums. We owe all of our members a humongous THANK YOU!

In particular, we need to recognize and appreciate that our members have abided by the safety policies and requirements during this terrible Pandemic. We want to strongly encourage everyone to be fully vaccinated and receive the Booster shot as soon as possible. We know that the vast majority of our members have taken these important safety measures.  I am humbled by your patronage and we will continue to do everything possible to improve our facilities, programs, and customer service.

This newsletter is featuring the successes we’ve accomplished and is sharing gratitude for our team members whose dedication and leadership has made this dramatic transformation happen. I am honored to have a team of dedicated and highly skilled professionals who are working to manifest our Core Values every minute of every day!

With deep gratitude,

This newsletter is featuring the successes we’ve accomplished and is sharing gratitude for our team members whose dedication and leadership has made this dramatic transformation happen. I am honored to have a team of dedicated and highly skilled professionals who are working to manifest our Core Values every minute of every day!

Laury Hammel, Owner and CEO

December 30, 2021

Celebrating Successes and Statements of Gratitude

Thank You to General Manager Karen Sato who has guided, led, and collaborated with our Team to transform our business. When Karen became the General Manager, she was working at a club on life support. With her determination, resilience, and her multiplicity of skills Karen was able to rebuild and re-create our club into a nationally recognized center for tennis and health.

Thank You Jesus and Josephina for ensuring that our Club sparkles and is in good repair! We deeply appreciate how you specialize in making the club beautiful and doing what it takes to get everything working properly, including raising and maintaining our massive bubble and our aquatic center during the summer.

Thank You to Karl Our New Director of Tennis for taking the lead and organizing one of the largest and most successful tennis programs in the nation. He has built a massive high school training program that has helped many teams take their tennis playing to a new level of success.

Thank You Azat for growing into an outstanding tennis professional. You have leveraged your stellar playing career to become a skilled high-performance pro who leads our Academy program. You have made a big impact on many of the top junior players in Utah.

Thank You David Archer for leading the best Red-Orange-Green Ball Tennis Program in the nation and for being the Pied Piper of thousands of fun-loving young racketeers. You have shown the tennis world what is possible and your book is gaining more traction every day. Thank You to your many highly skilled and fun-loving team members.

Thank you Henri for championing our adult beginner programs–Tennis 1-2-3 and for taking the lead in Green Ball and other programs. Your long history of teaching tennis coupled with your fun and humorous way of promoting tennis is extraordinary. We thank you for sharing your gift of tennis comedy. Your international reputation for your tennis comedy routines is well-deserved and we aim to offer more opportunities for Utah folks to have more fun playing tennis. We are blessed to have a renowned Legend in our midst.

Thank You Sebastian, Theresia, and Justin for teaching all levels of players and for contributing the knowledge and wisdom you’ve developed over the years from teaching, promoting, and playing tennis. In a very short time, you have made a positive impression on many of our members and friends.

Thank You Amy for building from scratch one of Utah’s most popular and complete Group Exercise programs that features extraordinary instructors who make getting in shape fun! Amy has a schedule that offers around 30 classes a week and includes over 200 participants on a weekly basis! Thank you to our Group Exercise Team for the motivation, perspiration, and inspiration every minute of every class!

Thank you Brooke for creating a safe, kind, and fun Child Care Center that lets the natural joy flow from our little ones. She has a knack and intuition of how to hire people who truly enjoy caring for young children. In short, Brooke has designed a beautiful space that enhances the beauty of a kind and loving staff. Thank you to our Child Care Center staff for caring for our little ones every day!

Thank you Stephanie and Walden for an incredible swim lesson program that has taught many young children how to swim and for the countless hours in the pool in all kinds of weather! Thank you to all of our swim lesson instructors who are dedicated to teaching swimming!

Thank you Kristin and Courtney for doing flawless bookkeeping, tracking numbers, and wrangling a large and complex payroll every two weeks on time.

Thank You to Tennis Manager (and former GM) Mike for supporting our staff, practicing our Core Values, performing superior customer service, solving problems, resolving conflicts, and doing what it takes to get the job done! Mike’s father, Tony Trabert, was a legendary tennis player who came two matches from winning the Grand Slam in 1955. Mike has carried on the legacy of his father with the thousands of people he has touched and inspired!

Thank You Heather for being our Queen of Sales and sharing with enthusiasm and integrity the benefits of exercise and good health. Because of her passion for our values, programs, and Club she makes every effort to answer all questions and meet the needs of folks interested in joining. She specializes in being available to work with current Members on any membership needs.

Thank You Georgy for leading and developing a world-class High-Performance Junior Program for many years. He has hired and developed a world-class team of professionals that now boasts the most successful tournament junior program in the Intermountain. We offer you congratulations on the recent birth of your daughter!

Thank You King for possibly being the most positive and upbeat person on the planet and for making every lesson magical! King does much work with the National Team and the Academy, but no matter your age, gender, or talent, if you can swing a racket he can help bring out the best in you and move your game to the next level!

Thank You Cherstin for being a leader in our Red Ball program and our school’s program. Our Red Ball players are the future of our tennis community and you and David are a terrific team!

Thank You York and Delia for growing our adult tennis programs that include 14 teams and over 150 players who are going for it, having fun, and making friendships that often last an eternity. Our teams have practices where they hone their skills as they work to improve their game.

Thank you Aaron and Team for doing one of the most important jobs in the club– offering a warm welcome to everyone who enters our club. Authentic care and service amplifies our culture of love and gratitude and sets the stage for a happy experience. Our Welcome Desk is the heart of our Club and the source of important information about our programs and business. Thanks to the Welcome Desk Team for an extraordinary and service-obsessed attitude every day and in every way!

Thank You Jaxon and Ross for designing the top individual and small group personal training program that enhances the health, strength, and wellbeing of all of our personal training clients. Your design of the Performance Lab is extraordinary and has helped us take our training programs to a new level of excellence! Thank you to Steff and Courtney for putting out 100% every day to support the health and wellbeing of our members!

Thank you Julie for directing an inspirational, motivational, and safe aquatics program that teaches children how to swim, dive, and improve their Personal Best! Our swim team in the summer of 2021 included over 250 young people! Wow! Thank you to all our lifeguards who enable our aquatics center to rock and roll safely!

Thank you Christina for jumping in `hands first’ into our Club community. With a `blink of her eye and a touch of her hand’ she began healing and strengthening members who were smart enough to sign up for a massage therapy session from one of America’s best healers.

What’s New and What’s Coming!!

A big part of our Club’s mission is to study, research, and identify ways we can provide the best possible facilities and programs for our members and our community. We will always be in a continual state of innovation and growth.

New Additions and Improvements

  • Upstairs Turf Area is Completely Enclosed and is separating completely with glass the soccer, class, and games from the Cardio Machine Area
  • A New Slam Ball Wall Room has been built that also extends the turf area in the Performance Lab
  • New Group Ex Storage Closet Upstairs has been built near the Group Ex Studio to conveniently store group exercise equipment
  • Enhanced Lighting in Performance Lab is being installed to brighten things up
  • Attractive new wood benches set up on our indoor courts
  • New Tennis Court Divider Net Bottoms are installed in courts #1-5

What is Coming By Summer

  • New and improved strength training equipment to arrive in January through March that will dramatically enhance our strength training facilities
  • Upgrading of upstairs weight-training area
  • Additional turf area for training in the downstairs fitness area to be installed
  • Enclosed Upstairs Turf Area to be set up for convenient TRX classes
  • Major roof repair in the Freed Tennis House
  • Install new roof in the original locker room, cafe, and office building
  • Complete remodeling of old men’s locker room with new Massage Therapy Room, Nutrition Consultation Room, and staff offices
  • New Tennis Court Divider Net Bottoms to be installed in courts #9-14

Longfellow New Hampshire Tennis and Swim Club Wins National Award

Last week Racquet Sports Industry Magazine honored Laury’s newest club, the Longfellow New Hampshire Tennis and Swim Club (Longfellow NH) with the Commercial Tennis Facility of the Year Award. Longfellow NH went out of business and shut down in the summer of 2018 after years of physical and programmatic deterioration.

Laury and his team purchased the club in September of 2018 and began to immediately rebuild the club. The club now shines bright and is the largest tennis club in New Hampshire with eight indoor courts, eight beautiful clay tennis courts, and a beautiful outdoor pool. Longfellow NH also finished 2021 being #1 in the nation for hosting more USTA tournaments than any club in the US.

A Poem to Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club Team 2021

Words of Gratitude

Our Tennis Club has been here for nearly 110 beautiful years,
We’ve worked so hard and given our blood, sweat, and tears,
Our Team celebrates our joys and faces our fears,
Then in March of 2020, a virus attacked threatening our health and our careers.

The Covid Pandemic created immense challenges and frustration,
Daily bouts with danger slammed every person and business throughout the nation,
We are blessed to have a team that possesses resilient dedication,
Laury and Karen and our Community are filled with love and appreciation.

Bringing happiness to our members our team does ensure,
Working together with champions of health is our delight and pleasure,
The difference you make in our Salt Lake community is beyond measure,
Your extraordinary customer service we will forever treasure.

During the pandemic, our aim was to hang in and survive,
Because of our extraordinary team, our Club is still alive and able to thrive,
Our programs and lessons are a blast and never boring,
We are bringing health and joy to Salt Lake and every department is soaring.

Another BIG `THANK YOU’ to every team member is certainly due,
The Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you!
Our holiday season is a time to relax and feel good cheer,
Our Club is poised to make 2022 a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Laury Hammel, December 2021