LTA funding

indiana · Tennis legend

LTA funding

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

One word that seemed to crop up a lot was "status". I dare say it applies as much to the hiring of Canadian chief execs, high profile star coaches, even talented Performance Directors from other sports, as it does to spending £600 on travel etc so your son/daughter can win funding of £500 for being part of a group seen as having certain status. The LTA's hiring policies seem to scream short term, yet the language from those appointees is very much 7 years, 8 years, 10 years to achieve anything.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I listened to the whole hour.

Naomi and Alan came over very well, but I got the impression that they are happy in their own little bubble(private coaching) and don't necessarily see the bigger picture with the less privileged.

Peter Keen seems very articulate and seems to know what he is doing, Michael Downey was disappointing. I got the impression he lacked knowledge about the previous issues and ended up trying to defend areas from the past. He didn't really look forward. I get the impression he is a money man and not a tennis man.

I do think things are changing, but the communication from the top is severely lacking - i.e nobody seems to know about the impending changes to junior funding.

Nice plug from Alan Jones about Finn Bass(although he didn't name him)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Pretty much agree with that summary, Paulisi. I was surprisingly impressed by Peter Keen. Think Alan J was saying that what makes a professional is their attitude, talent and the right coaching and that will never change and that some of the myriad of LTA initiatives just miss that point. Thought his plug described Alistair Gray though rather than Finn, as Finn has had a lot of official support and, because of his small physique Alistair did not. He also has a very tall mother!

-- Edited by The Optimist on Friday 4th of March 2016 07:23:34 AM

Spectator · All-time great

Going back to the new LTA policy; in some ways, it seems to make more sense than many that have preceded it. Firstly, it recognises that there may be 'senior pros' that need support - so presumably no more saying that if you leave the US system and start off at 23, you're going to be out of the matrix before you've even had a chance to get started. Secondly, while the 'aspirant' may be a bit vague, it means that you don't have the ludicrous situation where if you're at 225 you can't get funding and if you're at 199 you can. Personally, I'd like to have seen a little more flexibility with the 'senior' pros - it is ludicrous to me that Colin Fleming - ex-top-20- who had the hardest of knocks when his excellent partnership dissolved through no fault of his own, would fall entirely outside the funding system because he's at 58. A wee bit of investment in the Fleming/Erlich partnership would seem only sensible - and very likely to receive payback. Ditto Jonny Marray and the Skupskis.

Meanwhile Colette Lewis has published an interview with Martin Blackman, head of USTA player development. True, it is a lot easier when you start off with the USTA's situation. But even so - he seems, from the outside at least, to make a lot of sense: www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp. Valuing every player ... bringing more women into coaching ... using your former pros ... providing key support to Challenger-level players ... working with, not against, juniors' own coaches ...having a players council to give feedback on USTA decisions ... prioritising communication ...

And I particularly liked this:

CL: Have you made any mistakes in the last eight months?

MB: I've made a lot of mistakes ... None that I'm going to own up to, but I will say my approach to making mistakes is that when you recognize you've made a mistake, or someone points it out to you, you own up to it and you pick up the phone and you call the people that are affected immediately. That mitigates the effect of whatever it is. When you don't do that, try to justify it, or make excuses for it, or scapegoat people, then it becomes a major issue ....

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 4th of March 2016 07:25:46 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

The other thing that annoyed me was a fairly typical comment from Imogen Magner's dad that as Imogen progressed she had to play further away to find players of a similar level and costs increased.

Why not stay locally and play older players rather than stay in the age group.

I think his mentality is starting to change and more players are playing open age.

Spectator · All-time great

I posted this in the junior rankings section, but it speaks to what you are saying, Paulisi: blog.universaltennis.com/2016/01/13/i-want-to-quit-tennis/

paulisi · Tennis legend

Another thing that I picked up on was trying to get more school children to play tennis.

There are several issues with this.

Firstly as stated in another thread, young players tend to start playing early if they are from a tennis background, i.e if their parents/family play. The big aim some be to attract people in their 20-40's back into the game, which would bring the uptake up when there children become interested.

If you start pushing tennis into schools, you have several issues:

1 - lack of facilities
2 - even with outdoor facilities you only have a short window to play
3 - even with four courts, you would struggle to get a full class on the courts at one time
4 - PE teachers are generally not trained to coach tennis - more the populist sports - football, rugby, athletics, cricket
5 - you have competition against numerous other sports

It is still very difficult for a talented tennis player at a state school to progress as you need so much time to play tournaments these days. Therefore I see that most of the kids playing tennis Europe or ITF juniors are home schooled or go to tennis academies or private schools that encourage these events and the time off.

It is a very expensive sport - coaching/equipment/court hire/travelling that it really is only open to the elite in this country even at junior level and this should be the big focus for the LTA.
if it is free or relatively cheap you will get lots more players turning up.

paulisi · Tennis legend

LTA junior girls training camp at La Manga this week. I wonder who the chosen few are:

It's not: Emily Appleton, Nell Miller, Jodie B, Georgie, Eden or Lauryn who are all on entry lists for this week.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
LTA junior girls training camp at La Manga this week. I wonder who the chosen few are:

It's not: Emily Appleton, Nell Miller, Jodie B, Georgie, Eden or Lauryn who are all on entry lists for this week.

From the tweet I saw, it is the JTC group rather than an LTA group

paulisi · Tennis legend

Martin Weston ‏@martindweston · 52m52 minutes ago  Cartagena, Spain

Have arrived @LaMangaClub for a week long National Player Camp for girls.

JTC players seem to be in Uzbekistan for G3

Vandenburg · Futures level

New Plan for funding.

You receive funding up until the age of 25, if by that point you have not made enough (eg in top 100) to live off prize money, then your funding is stopped.

Far too soft in this country.

For all we know, we could still be funding Jamie Delgado, as he has a promising doubles career ahead.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
LTA junior girls training camp at La Manga this week. I wonder who the chosen few are:

It's not: Emily Appleton, Nell Miller, Jodie B, Georgie, Eden or Lauryn who are all on entry lists for this week.

Presumably it's the Emma Raducanu group.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 13th of March 2016 04:14:07 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Martin Weston ‏@martindweston · 52m52 minutes ago  Cartagena, Spain

Have arrived @LaMangaClub for a week long National Player Camp for girls.

JTC players seem to be in Uzbekistan for G3

Didn't see that one. Saw this one from Jo Durie

Fab day for a spot of tennis @JTC_Tennis @LaMangaClub

paulisi · Tennis legend

Looks like there are more coaches than players

Martin Weston
Jane O'Donoghue
Nick Weal
Jo Durie - may also be there.

Not easy to identify the players - Esther Adeshina is definitely there and the two other girls in the photos look like Hannah McColgan and Gemma Heath, but not 100% sure.