Meeting with LTA Chief Exec

EddietheEagle · County player

Meeting with LTA Chief Exec

JonH · All-time great

Mark1968 wrote:
I'll second that JonH, that is a book I would want to read, a full autobiography from Jonny would be perfect. His win in 2012 is one of the greatest achievements in modern tennis.

according to an article 3 weeks back in the Yorkshire post, Jonny is working with his brother at a place in Sheffield called the Academy with Yorkshire juniors. He's also coaching kontinen and peers on a 12 weeks a year arrangement, not sure if that's for the slams and a few other weeks ( maybe week before each slam) or mainly grass season. Let's hope it's not currently though as kontinen and peers are going through a quiet patch!

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks for the feedback, Toby.

I have moved the thread from the men's section to the general discussion section for future reference. I hope this is OK.

Strongbow · All-time great

What are the targets for Management bonuses this year smile

indiana · Tennis legend

Strongbow wrote:
What are the targets for Management bonuses this year

As much as they can get away with

Strongbow · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Strongbow wrote:
What are the targets for Management bonuses this year
As much as they can get away with

I suspect you might be right wink

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

EddietheEagle wrote:
"We didn't discuss Team Tennis in detail, but he doesn't see the clubs as the right route for elite player development wants to see clubs building the base of the pyramid (particiption) and then regional hubs where players who have been identified as having ability will be directed to."

At what age? That is key. I don't think all younger players with promise should be removed from familiar surroundings. The coaches should go to them.

With a rapidly rising national population, holding numbers steady is not progress and I have seen figures which show numerical declines in tennis participation.

As regards the use of clubs to build the player base, that won't happen because there is insufficient incentive to take up and play tennis, particularly to a higher level where a degree of dedication and training is involved even at club level. The whole standard of tennis in this country needs to be raised right across the board imo and that's his major challenge. Away with this midweek mixed doubles mentality which is essentially the comfort level for British club tennis. Club team tennis with a bold vision and purpose is what's required if he wants to up participation and standards. It works elsewhere. Why not here?

I really don't agree with the LTA position on this at all. Since Draper arrived, promising youngsters have been taken away from their clubs and put into the money making academies (many of which were/are in DL clubs) where the vast majority of them lost their love for the game and stopped playing tennis completely. What incentive is there for a coach to really bring on a promising youngster if he/she knows that the player will then be removed from the club. The coach knows he will have no opportunity to learn more advanced coaching skills as the player moves through the levels. The ability of that player to inspire others in the club is also not going to happen. The general improvement of players in that club from hitting with a really good player is also not going to happen. The likelihood of the player who doesn't progress as far as they hoped, staying and playing in the club and teams for any of the rest of their tennis lives is zero. Really, why bother. Developing players do need to hit in groups with a similar or better standard but really sessions once or twice per week in a regional / county group could provide that alongside club tennis. (BTW, I believe some counties are now starting to offer sessions to their better players to just practice together with coaches around). The general standard of tennis is never going to improve in this country if the better kids are routinely syphoned off.

I accept that there will come a point when a player who is on target for a professional career will need to be in a specialised environment but the approach of routinely removing them as soon as possible from the club environment is damaging to both player (many more would keep playing longer and with more enjoyment if they remained partly with their original coaches in a club environment) and to the general improvement of tennis in this country (so many really good players falling out of love with a sport as adolescents and being lost permanently to the game, losing opportunities for club coaches to improve their skills, removing incentives for coaches to bring players on and clubs losing players at a young age who could be really inspirational in a club environment).

EddietheEagle · County player

I guess when you've steamrollered over so many traditional tennis clubs in building a successful fitness chain with attached tennis facilities, you end up being fairly dismissive towards what you have effectively been hammering and stealing market share from, for so many years.

As a traditional type of tennis player myself, I would never consider joining a commercial organisation although I'd certainly use one on a pay and play basis. That's all they're good for imo.

Michael D · All-time great

EddietheEagle wrote:
I guess when you've steamrollered over so many traditional tennis clubs in building a successful fitness chain with attached tennis facilities, you end up being fairly dismissive towards what you have effectively been hammering and stealing market share from, for so many years.

As a traditional type of tennis player myself, I would never consider joining a commercial organisation although I'd certainly use one on a pay and play basis. That's all they're good for imo.

It's the wrong model, and in direct contrast to France's far more successful community based model, which has led to a far greater flourishing of the game amongst an equivalent population size.

Etienne · Club Coach

"With a rapidly rising national population, holding numbers steady is not progress and I have seen figures which show numerical declines in tennis participation. "

The population isn't rapidly rising.

EddietheEagle · County player

You must still be wedded to your 1969 edition of Pears Encyclopedia.

Etienne · Club Coach

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/timeseries/ukpop/pop

Shhh · Challenger level

The population has risen in the last 15 years at 2-3 times per rate as before. I think the cliché of statistic applies here in that you can read different things out of that stat?

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, unless someone believes there is a definitive interpretation of "rapidly rising" here it seems all slightly in the eye of the beholder, but not a point personally I would have argued over. It is generally rising quicker than it was for a while.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Michael D wrote:
EddietheEagle wrote:
I guess when you've steamrollered over so many traditional tennis clubs in building a successful fitness chain with attached tennis facilities, you end up being fairly dismissive towards what you have effectively been hammering and stealing market share from, for so many years.

As a traditional type of tennis player myself, I would never consider joining a commercial organisation although I'd certainly use one on a pay and play basis. That's all they're good for imo.
It's the wrong model, and in direct contrast to France's far more successful community based model, which has led to a far greater flourishing of the game amongst an equivalent population size.

I dont know within the limitations of the status quo, we are so far away from a French model which might as well be pie in the sky, in terms of depth of players and administrators/volunteers that I can't see an alternative to bringing the best juniors together at centres of excellence.

It's pretty miserable being a half decent female tennis player in a club when you are 10/11 there are no other girls to play. I am just talking about the type of girl who can hold her own at football with the boys not necessarily a potential professional athlete. To meet up and play in a performance group with similar standard girls your age is much more likely to keep you playing through your teens.

I only have experience with one performance centre but my impression is it is empathetically co-ordinated by an emotional intelligent individual whose team work at a number of levels, yes there is an elite academy producing potential professional players and a steady stream of youngsters going to college but also there is a relationship with local clubs to deliver performance sessions and produce a cohort of good players likely to strength their first teams.