A new association, Tennis Eastern, will run the code in Hawke's Bay from July 1.
It will be a sub region of Hamilton-based Waikato Bays Tennis and will also be responsible for administration of the sport in Poverty Bay. For the last eight years tennis has been run by Waikato Bays Tennis.
"Although it is early days for the new structure we now have a strong team of committed local tennis people driving tennis initiatives in our region. For any sport to be successful in an environment where there are so many activity choices for children and adult tennis players we need to be dynamic and innovative," chairman of the advisory group which has established the new organisation, John Penny, said.
The group has been in place for several months not only preparing for the change but driving new initiatives. One recent initiative is the Rowe Light Limited-sponsored mixed grade premier grade competition which kicked started on Friday night.
"The aim is to grow competitive singles play for both men and particularly women, who have lacked strong singles playing opportunities over the last few years. We have teams of four players with each team having at least one female," community development officer Paul Evans said.
