A1 Pharmaceuticals Academy news

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

RE: A1 Pharmaceuticals Academy news

indiana · Tennis legend

I guess if it happens, we'll find out in time. Maybe best not to publicly speculate.

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Be nice to help out a GB tennis player again but in 2015 gonna focus on junior football in poor part of East London back to my roots & sponsoring education of poor kids in a village in South africa .

Tennis - still sponsoring the Aegon team and I am sure a player will come along one day the chemistry has got be there you know when it clicks like it did with Marcus .

Tomorrow it's the Macmillan cancer coffee morning wife has bought enough coffee to create a shortage in brazil ! Lol

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Did offer an opportunity to jonny but did not want to commit to our Aegon team a common problem .

Middle class pro players rarely understand the concept of you scrub my back I scrub yours ! which always baffles me . I guess have worked my living since I was 13 and from a working class background I understand that theres no such thing as a free lunch .

-- Edited by A1 tennis academy on Thursday 25th of September 2014 11:37:36 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
Tomorrow it's the Macmillan cancer coffee morning wife has bought enough coffee to create a shortage in brazil ! Lol

Nah. We have got plenty of it over here.

We have our Charity Tennis Tournament next week also for MacMillan. I am flying home for a week to play.

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Lost some very close friends /family to cancer so proud that nations getting behind it ! The British public are incredibly generous !

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
Did offer an opportunity to jonny but did not want to commit to our Aegon team a common problem .
Middle class pro players rarely understand the concept of you scrub my back I scrub yours ! which always baffles me . I guess have worked my living since I was 13 and from a working class background I understand that theres no such thing as a free lunch .

-- Edited by A1 tennis academy on Thursday 25th of September 2014 11:37:36 PM

Cutting to the chase, if you're offering £25k (the figure you previously mentioned for Marcus) to someone and the only condition is that they play 6 matches (+ finals if necessary), I think that's very reasonable/generous.

I can quite understand that Marcus may well need to 'move on' and be master of his own destiny now, but I would certainly never give money on Pledge Sports, for instance, to a young, lowly ranked player who'd turned it down. A lot of players would give their eye teeth for that . . .

Everything comes with conditions; even the very top funded players at the NTC (or wherever they are now) have to toe the line to a certain extent and if they don't, they're suddenly on their own and that's a whole different kettle of fish (see Oli).

I hope you find a good fit with the tennis, as you say, someone where it 'clicks' in terms of personality.

PS Just to be clear, the 600-700 euros rate I mentioned is not for two days of matches but just for one (the guys have to play singles and doubles but it's all on one day - either the Saturday or the Sunday, depending which league the club is in. I don't even know quite what you mean about two days of matches. But, equally, as I mentioned, the money seems to be going down, rather than up.

Spectator · All-time great

In fairness to young players, my own sense from reading posts over the past year was that the funding also requires a certain willingness to let Mr Lewis set the agenda more generally. For some players that may be a good thing; for others, it could inspire conflicts. To each his own - but I wouldn't critique any player either way.

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 26th of September 2014 08:50:52 AM

EddietheEagle · County player

In my view, high-level inter-club competition in the UK won't lift off until there are literally dozens of sponsorship and player funding schemes that mirror the support that A1 is providing the sport.

One of the problems in the UK is the relative lack of local TV media support compared to say Italy where there are literally dozens of small, local TV companies only too willing to send out a camera crew to record a local event. The little club I used to play for in southern Italy (only 2 clay courts) managed to put a 5,000 euro or so prizes pot together for a tournament, partly paid by local sponsors with 2,000 euros put up by the comune (local council). This was accomplished on the back of promised TV support coming from a local TV company, the final itself being televised in full on one of the many Sky TV channels they have over there. Because of the money on offer the event attracted decent pro players from far and wide, some provided hospitality paid by the club. The sponsors were delighted to see their name in lights on TV and the event was a success. There's no Aegon over there to act as a crutch for the sport. Things are conceived and organised in a much more local and entrepreneurial way.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
In fairness to young players, my own sense from reading posts over the past year was that the funding also requires a certain willingness to let Mr Lewis set the agenda more generally. For some players that may be a good thing; for others, it could inspire conflicts. To each his own - but I wouldn't critique any player either way.

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 26th of September 2014 08:50:52 AM

I completely agree that Gary is, no doubt, a 'big' personality and not for the likes of everyone. And I have zero criticism of any player who feels it's not for them.

However, I also have zero sympathy for any (theoretical) player who feels it's not for them and then moans about lack of funding later. Especially if they never even try.

Many people have to work for bosses who are not really their cup of tea. It's a choice. You can do a 'Dustin Brown' and sleep in your camper van and cadge free meals wherever you can; you're a free man and live or die by your own rules and choices. But when serious funding is being offered, and with a certain track record of success, you have to have a serious Plan B (or serious 'principles') to turn it down.

NB Excellent post from Eddie - very similar to the way tournaments work in France

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 26th of September 2014 11:51:00 AM

sherbert · Lower Club Player

Last year, Neil was paid 1000 euros per French league match and his flights were paid for. This equated to just over £4000 for 5 weekends. I know he would much rather play NCL but a big percentage of the money is based on the team winning. Unfortunately, the main reason for the top GB players to play French league/NCL is to fund playing futures, so they have to go where the money is guaranteed.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

sherbert wrote:
Last year, Neil was paid 1000 euros per French league match and his flights were paid for. This equated to just over £4000 for 5 weekends. I know he would much rather play NCL but a big percentage of the money is based on the team winning. Unfortunately, the main reason for the top GB players to play French league/NCL is to fund playing futures, so they have to go where the money is guaranteed.

That seems an excellent deal, Sherbert. Well done smile

Has he renegotiated the same for this coming year ?

Mind you, Neil earned it - as I remember, he won practically all his club matches . . .

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

EddietheEagle wrote:
In my view, high-level inter-club competition in the UK won't lift off until there are literally dozens of sponsorship and player funding schemes that mirror the support that A1 is providing the sport.

One of the problems in the UK is the relative lack of local TV media support compared to say Italy where there are literally dozens of small, local TV companies only too willing to send out a camera crew to record a local event. The little club I used to play for in southern Italy (only 2 clay courts) managed to put a 5,000 euro or so prizes pot together for a tournament, partly paid by local sponsors with 2,000 euros put up by the comune (local council). This was accomplished on the back of promised TV support coming from a local TV company, the final itself being televised in full on one of the many Sky TV channels they have over there. Because of the money on offer the event attracted decent pro players from far and wide, some provided hospitality paid by the club. The sponsors were delighted to see their name in lights on TV and the event was a success. There's no Aegon over there to act as a crutch for the sport. Things are conceived and organised in a much more local and entrepreneurial way.

Agreed I know Aegon not there yet but if we continue to support the competition and Matt Byford does an amazing job then with a great venue at west hants I hope that we will eventually get some TV level of TV coverage . It's going to take time but there are now a number of sponsored teams . In 2015 we will be competitive with french league it's a movement in the right direction.

We had mutual success for both the team & Marcus last year so it worked . It's seems a shame that players are lost to french league rather than being show cased in our own country .

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

No was surprised that jonny not interested I think main problem was our desire for commitment to Aegon team matches and pretty well funded .

I have got to be honest and say theirs not such thing as a free lunch . Some players desire funding we ideally want an GB team its a matter of using common sense . I am on it early because don't want the personal stress of chasing players at last minute . if you watch my Aegon team finals winners interview you will notice inspite of the elation still mentioned the wasted nominations .

So keen to get it right would love to have Neil P back in the team after helping us in previous regional tier he had a lot of commitment & obligation . I hope Stacey and myself can come to an agreement and we can also keep Marcus in the team even of he only plays 2 fixtures & finals .

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

I want to do my best to match Neil's french league deal and keep him in GB

young miss herbert has worked miracles planning Neil's schedule we of course bear in mind that Neil supported us in the past ,

it be great if as many people on this forum came and supported our Aegon matches .

Finals were highest quality ever for Aegon /NCL in Bournemouth and great matches strong clubs like sutton & raynes park in the group stage & of course .

Be great to see the Berkshire pairing Neil & marcus reunite for A1 team .