Tennis players on the island will soon be able to enjoy the sport year round, as the Vashon Tennis Club expects delivery of an air dome — often referred to as a bubble — cover for its courts at the Vashon Golf & Swim Club by early November.

“Vashon is the only reasonably sized island in Puget Sound without indoor tennis,” said Marcus Gautesen, co-founder of the Vashon Tennis Club and one of the driving forces behind getting the dome for the courts. “So it was kind of due.”

Gautesen, son of islander Rondi Lightmark, moved to Vashon about two years ago with his family after having lived in various countries throughout Europe. It was there that both he and his children started playing tennis and fell in love with the sport. But the state of Vashon’s tennis facilities presented some issues.

“School tennis doesn’t start until high school here,” he said of the options for kids on the island, “which is sort of impossible for such a difficult sport.”

Aside from no tennis options for younger kids, there were the issues of court conditions and of course, the weather.

Lisa Brougham, VHS girls’ tennis coach and co-founder of the Vashon Tennis Club with Gautesen, as well as Michael Richards, Ron Irving and Thomas Baker, agreed.

“We (the high school tennis teams) end up in the gym for much of the season,” she explained. “That makes it really hard to compete against kids who have access to indoor facilities. It gets very frustrating to have to go off island when you want to practice.”

After working out an arrangement with the Golf & Swim Club and their vision for the future of island tennis clear, members of the group formed The Vashon Tennis Club, an LLC in its own right. It operates in conjunction with the Golf & Swim Club, using, caring for and managing the courts, offering lessons, camps and court time to its members.

First up were the courts themselves — the clay surface was in poor shape, cracked and uneven due to weather and tree roots. After a few of the tennis club’s founders came up with the money, Gautesen and his friend, Czech tennis coach Jaroslav (“Jerry”) Honc, set to work on resurfacing the aging and neglected courts, using YouTube videos for reference.

“My next court would be better, but it came out alright,” Gautesen said. “And doing it ourselves was about $40,000 cheaper than hiring a company to do it.”

Next on the list was getting the dome — a process that took much longer than any of the group anticipated, mainly due to county permitting requirements — which has been ordered from Broadwell Air Domes and is expected to arrive in time for a tentative Nov. 5 to 7 installation. Since it has been permitted as a temporary tent, it is only allowed to remain up for 6 months out of the year.

“It’s a massive project,” Richards said of installing the cover. “We’ll need 15 to 20 people to show up — preferably strong people — so we can lay the cover out on the court, install the anchor bolts around the perimeter then get it pumped up. It’s a two- to three-day process, from what we understand.”

The tennis club, which has received support from numerous Golf & Swim Club members as well as other islanders and island businesses, will offer court time from 5:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. for both tennis and pickle ball. Players must be tennis club members to book time, and membership is offered via the Golf & Swim Club under the category of “tennis.” Once someone becomes a member, they will be sent a link to download a digital app that the club uses for scheduling. Members are allowed to bring guests to play a certain number of times per month. Those who pre-pay for membership by Oct. 7 will receive exclusive use of the covered courts in November and December and a discount in dues. The VHS boys’ and girls’ tennis teams will also have access to the covered courts throughout their seasons.

The tennis club has seen two busy summers since its inception, with tennis camps for kids — taught by Honc — and a box (doubles) league of 72 players this year. Ultimately, the agreement with the golf club will see the tennis club absorbed back into the Golf & Swim Club’s management, but only after all of its start-up debts are paid off.

“Eventually we’ll just fold back into the golf club,” Richards said. “None of us really went into this wanting to run a tennis club, so it’s fine.”

Gautesen noted that the site just works really well for the founders’ vision.

“The golf club is a great fit because it has the ability to become a family meeting point, with the restaurant and changing rooms and the pool and all,” he said. “I really miss in Europe the town square, where people just bump in to people or the clubs there, which were massive family scenes. So I’d love this club, with the golf club, to go in that direction, where there is a lot of activity all the time.”

The Vashon Tennis Club will host a box league award ceremony and dome party at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at the Vashon Golf & Swim Club. For more information regarding the event and membership, see the Vashon Tennis Club’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/VashonTennisClub.