We are thrilled to announce that British Tennis icon Judy Murray OBE is coming to visit ARC on Wednesday 18th September! Judy is visiting to see first-hand ARC’s ongoing commitment to ensuring racquet sports and fitness activities are affordable, accessible and inclusive for the local and wider North Devon Community.

The ARC Club Championships Grand Finals took place on Sunday 8th September after many weeks of preliminary rounds. This incredibly exciting competition remains one of ARC’s standout events of the year, and 2024 brought us a showcase of amazing talent across Tennis, Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, and Gym & Fitness. A huge thank you goes out to everyone who took part in the Club Championships this year, read on to find out the full list of winners!

The ARC Club Championships early rounds have been taking place throughout August, and it’s almost time for the Grand Finals, taking place on Sunday 8th September! The ARC Club Championships are an incredibly exciting competition that showcase the amazing talent of ARC members across Tennis, Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, and Gym & Fitness. The Finals are a brilliant all-day event at ARC, and an opportunity to see some amazing matches and feats of fitness. As ever, we’ll have a lunchtime BBQ on offer and a great atmosphere.

Read on to find out who’ll be be battling it out in the ARC Club Championship Finals 2024, along with the order of play for the day!

In September we’ll be offering two weeks of completely free Squash & Racketball sessions, with a further two weeks of free sessions for anyone who signs up to a coaching programme! This incredible offer is open to everyone, and with sessions taking place for adults, teens and minis, there really is something for everyone.

ARC will once again be hosting our LGBTQIA+ Make A Racket Festival to welcome LGBTQIA+ people and allies from across Devon to join us for a fabulous afternoon of sports activities. This is a perfect opportunity for people to come together in a fun, safe, supportive and welcoming environment, and to experience and enjoy racquet sports and fitness in a friendly atmosphere amongst likeminded people.

On Saturday 3rd August the ARC community was out in force for our Grounds and Maintenance Day. Maintaining our extensive site is no small task, with the vast majority of grounds and maintenance work completed by a very small team of volunteers, led by Phil and Simon. It was incredible to see volunteers, staff, members, friends and families all join us for the day, and make such an impactful difference.

The ARC Fitness Club Championships get underway on Sunday 8th September from 11am, alongside the finals for our racquet sport competitions! There will be both Adult and Teen (ages 12-16) categories, with 3 ‘super’ workouts designed to challenge your strength, stamina, and movement skills. We’ll be announcing one superhero-themed workout each week throughout August in the lead up to the event!

This August, we’re offering all our Badminton, Squash and Unlimited Racquet members free fitness classes to help get you into shape for the new season! That’s a whole month of Functional Fitness, Functional Strength, HIIT, Pilates, Yoga and more, completely free!

ARC will be launching an incredible range of new and improved Badminton sessions in September 2024, with the first four weeks of sessions completely free to attend! The new Badminton programme includes evening and weekend kids and adult coaching for all abilities, as well as social mix-ins, and inclusive sessions.

Do you like the idea of representing one of our Squash Teams in the Devon Squash League next season? Get involved in our Squash Team Training coming up in August! As a member of one of our team squads you’d be required to play one ‘best of 5 games’ singles match against your opposite number in a team of 4. Matches are both home and away and take place from September to April. Home matches happen on Mondays, Wednesday or Thursdays. Away match nights vary and can often involve long distance journeys to South Devon. Players wanting to get involved must be prepared to travel to away matches as well as home matches. A match fee is charged to cover the cost of courts and food afterwards.

From Thursday 18th July you’ll now be able to play Pickleball at ARC! Pickleball is a fun sport that combines elements of Badminton, Tennis and Table Tennis. Pickleball can be played indoors and outdoors on a Badminton-sized court and a modified Tennis net. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball over a net.

On Saturday 6th July ARC hosted a free Family Open Day at the centre, welcoming more than 200 visitors to try out all of the facilities and sports ARC has to offer. Visitors of all ages were able to try out Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash, and Gym & Fitness workshops. Taster sessions were on offer for a wide range of sessions including Yoga, Pilates, social mix-ins, Kids’ Holiday Camps, and many more.

The ARC Club Championships will be returning this summer, taking place from Wednesday 31st July and culminating in the grand final on Sunday 8th September. The Club Championships will include Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash and Gym & Fitness. Entries are open now for all events!

On Saturday 15th June ARC was proud to host our annual LGBTQIA+ Make A Racket Festival, welcoming LGBTQIA+ people and allies from across Devon who joined us for a fabulous afternoon of sporting activities. We were delighted to welcome Bideford’s Mayor Rachel Clarke for the event, the UK’s second ever transgender mayor.

This summer we’re encouraging our members and local community to get active by offering an incredible 50% off all indoor tennis court bookings until 26th July!

From Monday 17th June until Friday 14th July, we’re offering all new visitors to Atlantic Racquet Centre ONE HOUR of tennis completely FREE of charge!

The ARC Tennis Summer Open for Adults and Juniors took place from 25th May to 2nd June and delivered some fantastic tennis. The weather wasn’t quite what we would hope for - we experienced all four seasons during the week - but conditions were great for the final weekend.

Join us at Atlantic Racquet Centre on Saturday 6th July for our FREE FAMILY OPEN DAY! No booking required, simply come along and enjoy guaranteed fun whatever the weather! We’ll be running free taster sessions for all ages across our facilities including gym & fitness, tennis, badminton, squash, and table tennis. There’ll be so much to do with something for everyone, with a BBQ and drinks on offer all afternoon. Plus we’ll be streaming Wimbledon LIVE on our big screen!