How Do Tennis Clubs and Coaches Equip Beginner Clinics Without Buying a Racquet Fleet?
The Short Answer
Australia’s beginner tennis pipeline is enormous — Swisse Hot Shots Tennis reached 189,966 participants in 2024–25, up six per cent, and every Cardio Tennis class advertises the same thing: “racquets provided, just turn up.” All of those players are, by definition, people who do not yet own a racquet.
The answer to “how do we equip them without buying a fleet?” is to stop buying the fleet. An unattended, cashless rental kiosk beside the court rents a beginner racquet on demand — before a clinic, before a Cardio Tennis session, or when a newcomer turns up on a Saturday morning — with a small fee only per successful rental, no fixed monthly fee and no roster. The club stops carrying a depreciating stock of loaners, and no beginner is turned away for not owning gear.
Beginner Programs All Promise “Racquets Provided” — Someone Has to Supply Them
Tennis Australia has deliberately built entry to the sport around the idea that gear is not a barrier. The numbers show how big that promise is:
- Swisse Hot Shots Tennis reached 189,966 participants in 2024–25, a six per cent increase on the previous year, delivered at more than 1,000 locations across the country (Tennis Australia Annual Report 2024–25).
- A record 700,328 children experienced Hot Shots in 2022–23, and the Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow has put more than 200,000 racquets into schoolchildren’s hands since 2017.
- Cardio Tennis, the adult beginner-friendly group program, is marketed with “Racquets and all other equipment is provided, just turn up with runners and a water bottle” — no experience required.
- Tennis in Schools reached 567,597 students at 3,168 partner schools in 2024–25, up five per cent.
Conclusion-oriented point: every one of these programs converts a non-player into a player by removing the equipment barrier — which means the cost of that equipment is silently transferred onto the club, coach or venue that runs the program. Somewhere, someone bought, stored, regripped and eventually replaced every single one of those loan racquets.
A Loan Racquet Fleet Is an Expensive, Shrinkable Asset
The conventional way to honour the “racquets provided” promise is to keep a shelf of loaners. That shelf has a specific, unflattering cost shape.
| Requirement | Club-owned loan fleet | Unattended rental kiosk |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Buy dozens of racquets across junior and adult sizes | One-off hardware purchase |
| Ongoing cost | Constant restocking, regripping, replacing lost/broken sticks | Small fee only per successful rental |
| Staff to hand out gear | Coach or desk staff interrupts the session to lend racquets | Self-service, tap-pay-collect |
| Open when beginners turn up | Only during rostered hours | 24/7, no opening time |
| When nobody shows | The fleet still depreciates and gets worn | Costs nothing when idle |
| A beginner who quits after a term | Leaves behind a loaner that was bought for them | Paid only for the rentals actually made |
The decisive line is the last one. A beginner is, almost by definition, someone who has not committed to the sport yet — many will try a term and stop. A club-owned racquet bought for that player keeps costing you after they leave. A rental, by contrast, is paid for the moment it is used, so the cost tracks actual usage instead of sitting idle.
What an Unattended Kiosk Does Differently
For a club, coach or leisure centre running beginner programs, a Dark Pro Shops kiosk turns the equipment problem into a self-running service:
- On-demand gear for clinics and drop-ins. A beginner grabs a racquet before a Hot Shots or Cardio Tennis session — or just on a casual visit — without the coach pausing the class to hand out loaners.
- Multi-sport from one unit. Tennis, badminton, squash, padel and pickleball in the same kiosk, so a venue running beginner programs across several racquet sports needs only one machine.
- No fleet to maintain. The club stops buying, storing, regripping and chasing down loan racquets — the machine holds the stock and tracks what is out.
- No fixed running cost. One-off hardware purchase, no fixed monthly fee, no minimum and no lock-in — a small fee only when a rental succeeds, plus standard card-processing rates.
- Remote visibility. A cloud dashboard shows what is out and what is returned, so a head coach or club manager can see equipment usage without walking to the court.
Conclusion-oriented point: a coach’s job is to teach, not to run a pop-up equipment library. A kiosk gives the beginner the racquet they need at the moment they need it, and returns the coach to the lesson.
The Numbers Worth Tracking
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hot Shots Tennis participants (2024–25) | 189,966, up 6% | Tennis Australia Annual Report 2024–25 |
| Hot Shots locations nationwide | 1,000+ | Tennis Australia |
| Children through Hot Shots (2022–23) | 700,328 | Tennis Australia |
| Racquets distributed to school kids since 2017 | 200,000+ | Tennis Australia Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow |
| Tennis in Schools students (2024–25) | 567,597 at 3,168 schools | Tennis Australia Annual Report 2024–25 |
| Australians 15+ who played tennis (2025) | 1,118,000 | AusPlay (Australian Sports Commission, Apr 2026) |
| Adults playing organised tennis (2025) | 441,000 | AusPlay (Australian Sports Commission, Apr 2026) |
Every figure points the same way: a large, structured, growing flow of beginners whose entry to the sport is premised on borrowing gear — and who need that gear available at the exact moment they decide to play.
The Bottom Line
Tennis Australia has spent years lowering the barrier to entry by promising beginners they do not need to own a racquet — and the program numbers prove the strategy works. But that promise lands as a cost on the club and coach who must supply, store and replace a loan fleet that is constantly being lost, broken and worn out.
An unattended 24/7 rental kiosk is the model that fits the beginner pipeline: it rents a racquet on demand for clinics, Cardio sessions and casual newcomers, costs nothing when the court is quiet, and charges a small fee only per successful rental — no fleet to buy, no desk to roster, and no beginner turned away for not owning gear.
Want to see how a kiosk would sit beside your courts and handle your beginner and coaching programs? Contact us and we’ll model it. Or see how it works and review the hardware.
Outside Australia and New Zealand? Our global sister brand KioskForce handles equipment hire worldwide.
Data sources: Tennis Australia Annual Report 2024–25 (Swisse Hot Shots Tennis 189,966 participants, up 6%; Tennis in Schools 567,597 students at 3,168 partner schools, up 5%; more than 350 clubs offering padel, POP tennis or pickleball, up 38%). Tennis Australia Hot Shots Tennis Racquet Roadshow (200,000+ racquets distributed to school children since 2017; 700,328 children through Hot Shots in 2022–23; 1,000+ locations; program for ages 3–10+). Tennis Australia / Clubspark program pages (Cardio Tennis and adult beginner groups advertise ‘racquets provided / just turn up’; no experience required). AusPlay, Australian Sports Commission, released 30 April 2026 (1,118,000 Australians aged 15+ played tennis at least once in 2025; 441,000 adults in organised tennis; 187,000 children 0–14 in organised tennis outside school; 648,000 men and 469,000 women). Dark Pro Shops product documentation (one-off hardware purchase; no fixed monthly fee, minimum, or lock-in; small fee only per successful rental; standard card-processing rates; refundable deposits held and released via the payment gateway; 24/7 unattended operation; tennis, badminton, squash, padel and pickleball from one machine).