LTA Funding and Participation

Ratty · County player

RE: LTA Funding and Participation

Ratty · County player

Oh, I forgot the clay court one at Welwyn. That was even worse, the damp from the courts made it hideously humid, with a smell of mould. Grim.

EddietheEagle · County player

You'd find enough skills within an average club membership to do the groundworks in-house i.e. build the concrete anchor. The beauty of an air bubble is in being able to take it down during the outdoor season.

www.itftennis.com/technical/facilities/facilities-guide/indoor-structures.aspx

-- Edited by EddietheEagle on Saturday 14th of March 2015 08:16:56 PM

EddietheEagle · County player

Ratty wrote:
Oh, I forgot the clay court one at Welwyn. That was even worse, the damp from the courts made it hideously humid, with a smell of mould. Grim.

That's because members can't be ars.d to look after it properly or too cheapskate to pay someone to do it for them.

I played at a club which put down some Har-Tru, a fantastic playing surface. Only that nobody ever watered it. Hardly anyone ever played on it as a result. The ignorance was mind-boggling.

EddietheEagle · County player

Forum members have probably been saying much the same thing for years, not just in the last five minutes.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2999209/LTA-chief-Michael-Downey-unveils-long-term-vision-people-playing-tennis.html

I expect the sentiment expressed will carry more gravitas now it's been said by someone trousering £640,00 p.a.

Kenneth · Lower Club Player

Bubbles are great if a club doesn't have resources to build a permanent structure. Amazingly planning will be one of the biggest obstacles as nearby resident like being near a tennis club but not a dreadful thing like s "bubble", spoils ones view you know. Some clubs even struggle to get floodlights due to neighbours being NIMBYs.

As far as participation goes I see the new rankings system as destroying local/regional junior events with many players skipping their "own" age group to get more points. So there will be less events, making them uneconomical for clubs to run, lower ranked players having nowhere to compete etc.

Shhh · Challenger level

The floodlight problem was sorted in posh Thorpe Bay in Essex with those that periscope up for when is use, and retract down so not an eye-sore the rest of the time. Are the bubbles not seasonal as well? Not sure of the cost but, where there a will.......

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Still need planning for seasonal use and, surprisingly, it can be quite hard to come by.

-- Edited by The Optimist on Monday 8th of June 2015 01:10:37 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

When trawling around a bit about some of the girls who I'd never heard of in Surbiton Qs, I came across this from 6 months ago about Lisa Philipps:

www.chichester.co.uk/sport/other-sports/phillips-thrilled-to-pick-up-top-tennis-tips-1-6445666

Hardly ground-breaking but two points that I noted:

(1) great that LTA coaches are going around giving (presumably) free extra coaching to some of our hopefuls,

(2) but is it really normal that a coach would tell a 17 year-old to forget about her top-spin backhand and stick completely to a slice???? She may well have a wicked slice, and it may well be a better shot, but to say 'give up' on the other, at 17, seems utterly daft, and awful coaching.

(It's true that I have rather a bugbear about British coaches and their old-fashioned love of backhand slice but honestly???)

indiana · Tennis legend

I am certainly no sort of coach and indeed certainly no sort of player.

But, yes CD, that does seem incredible advice, even not allowing for 17 ( seventeen ! ) yo Lisa apparently possessing ( or did then ) a not inadequate backhand drive.

And, as a slight aside to that, I am sure ( OK, I trust ) that she has indeed got a very good backhand slice, but as good as he has evidently told her ? Really ?!

Otto · Social player

I think this comment must have been taken out of context as it's not possible to play with only a slice backhand. I'm sure he was talking about the way Graff would construct and switch in the pattern with her slice.

Oh and Louis Cayer is Canadian.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Sorry, Otto, I think (think) I knew Cayer was not British, but I meant LTA coaches, and obviously I didn't mean all of them, but I have certainly seen quite a few where this applies.

Cayer is the specialist doubles coach, isn't he? Which makes me suspicious, because (generalising) doubles players are more likely to see no need for a top spin backhand but rely on a slice as a good way of getting to the net.

So I hope you're right and it is just how it was reported. But it certainly doesn't read that way. (However, newspapers are hardly the font of all truth so ....)

anyway, Lisa - if you're reading this - go practice that drive and top spin !

Otto · Social player

No sorry CD, but you really can return in dubs with only a slice. This I am sure is a miss quote.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Good

We both agree then about the doubles. And the need for a top spin backhand in singles.

Anyway, if you ever see her, or him, in your professional travels, Otto - just mention it in passing !

indiana · Tennis legend

I do very much hope there has been some rather bad crossing of lines somewhere.

Because to me, apart from it taken as read looking very bad advice, the article ( with no evident intention of meaning to do so ) leaves me with the impresion of Mr Cayer being a bit of a bull****ter with regards to women's tennis.