Ilkley Tennis Club:
A Premier Multi-Sports Community
Ilkley Tennis Club is a friendly club, run by its members for its members. With a long history stretching back to 1880, the Club enjoys a fantastic position next to the River Wharfe with panoramic views across Ilkley’s famous moor. Over the years the Club has grown into a dynamic multi-sports community and is now widely recognised for its high level facilities. Alongside our traditional rackets offering of Tennis, Squash, Racketball and Padel, the Club is also recognised as the premier fitness facility in our area.
Ilkley Tennis Club is managed by a full time General Manager who is supported by a fantastic team of dedicated staff and coaches. The team are always on hand to provide you with the best experience throughout your member journey with us.
Latest Club News
Our Operations Team
General
Manager
Gavin Sutcliffe
Having been appointed as Head of Rackets and Development in 2024, Gavin has gone on to assume the role of General Manager in 2025. Gavin will be particularly focused on consolidating the club’s position, member experience, establishing a welcoming environment as well as seeing through the future club developments. The club has a proud heritage with passionate staff and members alike and Gavin is excited to work alongside them to build on what has already been achieved.
Assistant
Manager
Nicola Bayne
Nicola was a Club member before joining the team. She is responsible for the memberships and management of the duty managers. As a tennis player, she played in the ladies rota, match-plays and Wharfedale teams and captained the Bradford Parks U15’s and Wharfedale A teams. She works to implement steps to ensure a fabulous member experience at our amazing club.
Head of Sales and Marketing
Zoe Judkowski
Having been a tennis member for over 20years, Zoe has always been familiar with the club and has represented the Ladies 1st team as well as playing for Yorkshire between the ages of 10 and 18. Previously a Personal Trainer in the club’s gym, Zoe changed roles to take on the sales and marketing position in October 2022. She has now completed a Digital Marketing course and works closely with the team to help the club continue to grow.
Head of Fitness
Marcus Whitehead
Marcus was appointed as Fitness Manager in December 2013 after a period as Senior Fitness Instructor and Maternity Cover Manager. Marcus is a Level four qualified fitness professional with over twenty years in the fitness and leisure industry, with over fifteen years’ experience at management level at various clubs around Leeds. Marcus has strong expertise in coronary rehabilitation and is a muscular skeletal specialist having worked with some of the best in the field at Leeds General Infirmary.
Head Coach
Kyle Brassington
Kyle was appointed Head of Tennis in September 2019 and prior to this was head of performance tennis for over 5 years at the club. Kyle grew up in Ilkley and was a member of the club in the early 90s. After his time at Ilkley as a junior Kyle tested his game against some of the best in the world on the professional circuit. He had a career high of 10 in GB and 810 on the ATP tour. Kyle now leads the coaching team at Ilkley and coaches players ranging from club improvers to national champions.
Business Development and Events Manager
Lucy White
Lucy brings over 23 years of experience building and leading businesses across the event management, hospitality, and beverage manufacturing industries. In recent years, she has also successfully run a specialist headhunting agency focused on these dynamic sectors. Lucy will play a key role in enhancing the club’s event offering, including the prestigious Ilkley Open Tournament, as well as developing and enriching the overall member experience.
Grounds & Facilities Team
Head of Grounds
Will Rigg
Will joined the team as an Assistant Groundsman in 2015 and then, after having a brief year away from the club, he came back as the Head Groundsman in Spring 2022.
Will has always watched or played sports from a young age, mainly rugby union where he played all of his career for Otley XV. He has a keen interest in what it takes to prepare and maintain sports turf, especially grass surfaces, in a range of sports. He is currently undertaking a number of courses to improve and develop his knowledge and qualifications in this area.
Will also maintains and improves the surrounding grounds here at ILTSC, whilst also looking after the indoor tennis and squash courts and the outdoor all-weather courts.
Head of Facilities
James Smith
James has qualifications in construction and building having worked in the building industry for a number of years before he decided to expand his knowledge into Facilities Management. For the past 9 years he has specialised in the management of tennis facilities, in addition to his work as a swimming pool engineer.
James’ passions outside of work are caving, climbing, mountaineering and mountain biking.
He aspires to run and create a carbon neutral property which delivers the best customer experience and satisfaction.
grounds assistant
Peter Crowther
Pete has now been working here for nearly two years on the grounds team after a career including a wide variety of roles; farming, tree surgery and a head butcher. It is safe to say he has found his favourite role down here at ILTSC, mainly of its stunning location, colleagues and members. Pete takes real pride in maintaining our outdoor and indoor facilities, from cutting brilliant stripes into our grass courts to cleaning the squash courts.
Our club officials
President
Terry Burgoyne
Board
Chairman
Mike Henley
[email protected]
Honorary Treasurer
Director - Tournament
Rik Smith
rik@iltsc.co.uk
Director - Chair of Rackets and Fitness Committee
Mel Halsall
Director - Business Development
Alistaire MacGregor
Director - Outreach
Helen Peace
Director - Commercial
Nic Fearnley