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Post Info TOPIC: London Corporate Tennis League


Club Coach

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London Corporate Tennis League


I had an idea about starting a London based Corporate Tennis League. I believe Paris runs a successful one and London had one called the Nomura Tennis Challenge upto roughly ten years ago, not quite sure why it ended.

Anyway would appreciate feedback on my idea, it would roughly be:

Four geographically split leagues of Internal M25 London.

Divisions of 5 companies in each league, seeded initially by player ratings.

Teams of 4/5 players, play four singles and two doubles (same as Aegon Team Tennis)

Play two home matches and two away over six months. Promotion and relegation for the next six months. 

Top two from each league meet in season finals.  



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A1 Pharmaceuticals are based in the east london borough of Havering and would consider entering if it did not clash with current team league matches .

I would suggest a 2 singles 1 doubles format to make it easy for teams to compete with up to 4 players participating 

 



-- Edited by A1 tennis academy on Friday 7th of November 2014 11:02:55 AM

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Gary Lewis


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Thanks Gary, what do you mean current team league matches, is this a county doubles league?

2 singles and 1 doubles with all 4 players involved or would you suggest a team could compete with only 2 players?

Where would your company play their home matches?

I work for DLG in Bromley and we could play our home matches at Bromley LTC.

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Current A1 Pharmaceuticals teams ( 5 Winter /7 summer ) home (westcoombe park rugby club /orpington 3 Tarmac /2 Roland G clay summer only ) 

 

mens kent doubles league  

mens north kent double's 

mixed north Kent doubles premier div

north Kent ladies 

kent mixed  doubles 

 

 

 

north kent cup :

men's singles ( highest ranked junior ) , men's doubles ( non ranked)

mixed ( current champs )

 

2 Aegon teams 

mens 1 ( current national champs )

Men's 2 ( county div3 )

 



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Gary Lewis


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Born2WinTennis wrote:

Thanks Gary, what do you mean current team league matches, is this a county doubles league?

2 singles and 1 doubles with all 4 players involved or would you suggest a team could compete with only 2 players?

Where would your company play their home matches?

I work for DLG in Bromley and we could play our home matches at Bromley LTC.


 Give the option of 

1)min 2 players but allowed  3 players so a vet who does not play singles but good doubles player could compete 

2) mixed version of the event 

3) don't have home & away legs instead a public draw I could provide a venue where opportunity for business network at the public draw . 

4) would also consider sponsoring the  trophies 

5) only 4 leagues north , South , East west . 

6)  4 teams go to the final 

men's & mixed version  ( instead of ladies which tougher to get out ! ) 

 

 

 



-- Edited by A1 tennis academy on Friday 7th of November 2014 01:54:49 PM

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Gary Lewis


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Born2WinTennis wrote:

I had an idea about starting a London based Corporate Tennis League. I believe Paris runs a successful one and London had one called the Nomura Tennis Challenge upto roughly ten years ago, not quite sure why it ended.

Anyway would appreciate feedback on my idea, it would roughly be:

Four geographically split leagues of Internal M25 London.

Divisions of 5 companies in each league, seeded initially by player ratings.

Teams of 4/5 players, play four singles and two doubles (same as Aegon Team Tennis)

Play two home matches and two away over six months. Promotion and relegation for the next six months. 

Top two from each league meet in season finals.  


 

Sounds like you should be running club tennis for the LTA !  The Herts league is you too, isn't it ? Wow, you must be a busy person . . . bravo.

Just for what it's worth, I think Gary's suggestion of two single and a doubles is probably a good way to start - more workable, takes less time, less court time to find etc.

I've played lots of events with this format.

Some stipulated a minimum of three players (to try and draw the most people in possible). Some stipulated 4 players but I don;t think this works well - not everyone is willing to give up a slug of time for a team match, sitting through the other singles etc. when all they get to play is doubles. (Of course, is doubles is really popular here you might find it's easy to get the doubles players and harder to find your singles players).

Frankly, I wouldn't stipulate how many in the actual team i.e. the thing you want to avoid at all costs is matches that don't get played because of people being unavailable. If you can only list 5 players and it has to be played with those 5 players, then that's a big risk. (I assume all the singles and doubles matches get played at the same time ? i.e. on the one evening or the one Sunday or whenever).

The rules that I played under were that you listed you team of, say, 5 players but that anyone could come in as a replacement as long as they weren't ranked higher than your top guy, or sometimes weren't ranked higher than your bottom guy, or the overall weighting of the team was the same. You choose but I think it's good to leave some flexibility.  

NB Don't know about Paris but the area I was in in France had a corporate league, although also run and organised by the Federation. I wasn;t involved in it but I know it was very popular - matches were in the evening (8 p.m I think) and either 2 singles and a doubles or 3 singles and a doubles. (Definitely not 4 and 2).

Trophies are easy to get and cheap. Shouldn't be a problem. Will you stipulate that new balls have to be used ? That can add up if the club won't provide them?

Personally, I like home and away matches. More atmosphere. Some come to watch. Involves the local club members so they might want to play next year. Local clubs take a bit of pride in providing a welcome (coffee? nibbles?).

Very best of luck and keep up updated. If you get a calendar, I'll try to come along and cheer loudly at one that's close to me.



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A1 tennis academy wrote:

 Give the option of 

1)min 2 players but allowed  3 players so a vet who does not play singles but good doubles player could compete Good idea, min2 and max4 players

2) mixed version of the event Good idea, I play in a local Herts league that is 1 woman and 2 men, you play 2 mixed and 1 mens doubles - popular format 

3) don't have home & away legs instead a public draw I could provide a venue where opportunity for business network at the public draw . Not sure I understand what you mean by a public draw. Do you mean just draw the teams out of a hat and the first team out is the home team? This would work for a knockout but not a round robin?

4) would also consider sponsoring the  trophies great

5) only 4 leagues north , South , East west . agreed, almost like Kent (south East), Middlesex/herts (north west), Surrey (south west), Essex(north east) - but only the parts that are within the M25.

6)  4 teams go to the final agreed

men's & mixed version  ( instead of ladies which tougher to get out ! ) agreed

 

 

 



-- Edited by A1 tennis academy on Friday 7th of November 2014 01:54:49 PM


 



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Coup Droit wrote:
Born2WinTennis wrote:

I had an idea about starting a London based Corporate Tennis League. I believe Paris runs a successful one and London had one called the Nomura Tennis Challenge upto roughly ten years ago, not quite sure why it ended.

Anyway would appreciate feedback on my idea, it would roughly be:

Four geographically split leagues of Internal M25 London.

Divisions of 5 companies in each league, seeded initially by player ratings.

Teams of 4/5 players, play four singles and two doubles (same as Aegon Team Tennis)

Play two home matches and two away over six months. Promotion and relegation for the next six months. 

Top two from each league meet in season finals.  


 

Sounds like you should be running club tennis for the LTA !  The Herts league is you too, isn't it ? Wow, you must be a busy person . . . bravo. yep I have a good singles league setup in Herts, and also in a few other places around the country.

Just for what it's worth, I think Gary's suggestion of two single and a doubles is probably a good way to start - more workable, takes less time, less court time to find etc. yep I like the sound of that, less barriers to entry.

I've played lots of events with this format.

Some stipulated a minimum of three players (to try and draw the most people in possible). Some stipulated 4 players but I don;t think this works well - not everyone is willing to give up a slug of time for a team match, sitting through the other singles etc. when all they get to play is doubles. (Of course, is doubles is really popular here you might find it's easy to get the doubles players and harder to find your singles players). Yeah I am keen to promote singles so would have to emphasise singles but happy for doubles too.

Frankly, I wouldn't stipulate how many in the actual team i.e. the thing you want to avoid at all costs is matches that don't get played because of people being unavailable. If you can only list 5 players and it has to be played with those 5 players, then that's a big risk. (I assume all the singles and doubles matches get played at the same time ? i.e. on the one evening or the one Sunday or whenever). agreed

The rules that I played under were that you listed you team of, say, 5 players but that anyone could come in as a replacement as long as they weren't ranked higher than your top guy, or sometimes weren't ranked higher than your bottom guy, or the overall weighting of the team was the same. You choose but I think it's good to leave some flexibility.  the only other thing I thought of would be that the players would have to prove somehow they were full time employees of that company, to avoid ringers.

NB Don't know about Paris but the area I was in in France had a corporate league, although also run and organised by the Federation. I wasn;t involved in it but I know it was very popular - matches were in the evening (8 p.m I think) and either 2 singles and a doubles or 3 singles and a doubles. (Definitely not 4 and 2). Yes 4 and 2 would be a bit too much on a week night, although I know some counties do play Aegon Team Tennis on week nights, but these counties probably have less long working hours and commuting cultures than London.

Trophies are easy to get and cheap. Shouldn't be a problem. Will you stipulate that new balls have to be used ? That can add up if the club won't provide them? Yes I think it would need to be new balls per match, only £10 from Sports Direct for 3 x tubes.

Personally, I like home and away matches. More atmosphere. Some come to watch. Involves the local club members so they might want to play next year. Local clubs take a bit of pride in providing a welcome (coffee? nibbles?). I think this would depend on what venues/clubs each company had access to, if none of the employees were members close by then they might have to hire a public venue. Not sure about this part at the moment, also central london court time is probably hard to come by at peak time.

Very best of luck and keep up updated. If you get a calendar, I'll try to come along and cheer loudly at one that's close to me. Thanks for your advice.


 



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Hi Folks

Corporate Tennis website first draft is now live...would appreciate feedback. Now looking to get a title sponsor, any ideas around that would be welcome too.

www.corporatetennis.co.uk

Thanks

Gareth


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Do players have to be employees of the company representing 



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Gary Lewis


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Yes players would definitely have to be employees of the company they were representing. I'm not sure how many semi-pro players work part-time for companies but this would be something that we may have to clarify in the rules.

Can anyone help with rough ideas of say the top 100 male UK players, how many are full time players and what type of jobs do the part-time players have apart from coaching (being the obvious one)?



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Thanks for sharing about this great event dear, I am also planning for a small event at my workplace and looking for some professional help on planning. Do you have any suggestion for me?



-- Edited by Nico77 on Saturday 27th of June 2015 06:28:19 AM

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So after a lot of hard work spreading the word and convincing teams to enter, we now have London's first Corporate Tennis League for ten years!

Some very strong players involved, especially in Investec and the Armed Forces.

lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx



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Well done! Hope it's a huge success!



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The first match has now been played, Investec with Steph Cornish (ex world ranked) and two regional/national men thrashed the Direct Line Group B team.

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