Michael Downey - The four year plan for British Tennis

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Michael Downey - The four year plan for British Tennis

EddietheEagle · County player

Thanks for that.

There is actually a document, of which Andy Murray already has a copy. Where's ours? Anybody seen one?

paulisi · Tennis legend

I think the intentions are right - especially trying to find competitive tennis for 25-50 age group, build the pyramid and improve the general coaching.

The main area to focus on is getting the message out to the media and tennis fans. A podcast will only catch a small percentage of the target audience. Get regular features on BBC and national radio....

EddietheEagle · County player

I came across a short article on Andy Murray's reaction to being presented with an overview of The Plan which he was given on the eve of the Davis Cup tie. He had apparently scoffed at a load of waffle. I think scathing was the word used. Perhaps they've tightened their ideas up since then.

People will only get out and play tennis in greater numbers if there's something in it for them. Simply put, 'What's in it for me?'. Spending a fortune on promoting a bum product won't do it, Mr Chief Executive, I can tell you that for free. As it stands, the product itself, tennis, is failing in that participation is in decline. That question needs to be thought through first and resolved before clever promotion is put behind the sport.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

EddietheEagle wrote:
I came across a short article on Andy Murray's reaction to being presented with an overview of The Plan which he was given on the eve of the Davis Cup tie. He had apparently scoffed at a load of waffle. I think scathing was the word used. Perhaps they've tightened their ideas up since then.

One of the things that stood out for me in the interview was not what was said, re Andy, but what wasn't said. He described his meeting with Andy before the DC tie and said that Andy was "very engaged", "asked a lot of questions" and clearly had a keen interest in furthering the tennis cause in the UK, or words to that effect. I was waiting for him to say that Andy "fully endorsed" the 4 year plan or something similar but he never said anything remotely like that. Perhaps there is a reason for that ?

EddietheEagle · County player

I'll try and find the article as it gives more detail. From memory, Murray didn't mince his words. I think his criticism related to its overall generality and lack of specifics in the solutions proposed. Exactly what, Mr LTA, is in it for me? Why should I step out on some potholed, municipal court with five-a-side and netball lines painted all over it, in a blustery gale, to keep you lot in clover?

-- Edited by EddietheEagle on Tuesday 31st of March 2015 11:10:21 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I can imagine Andy being very engaged and questioning.

There have been many clear signs of Andy genuinely caring about other British tennis players of all abilities and British tennis in general - more signs indeed than I have ever seen from Tim as a player or now in whatever committee role he has.

And I can imagine him trying to get a fix on concrete changes that could make a difference behind the "waffle". "But anyway what about ..." :)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I listened to the interview while trying to do some work at the same time (ended up doing both things badly - quelle surprise). (Thanks for posting it though, Alib

)

A lot made sense. A lot of the overall observations and ideas sounded good. I particularly liked the emphasis on club participation (although I'm sceptical as to the real commitment to it). However, as above re Andy, there was a real lack of specifics.

And I thoroughly agree with EddieE - there's no point sticking your money into 'getting the message across' and 'believing in marketing' etc. (coz 'I'm a marketing man' - oh, help) when the underlying product is flawed.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I don't understand which areas you refer to as the "product is flawed"

In my view, the reason for the drop in participation is the cost of equipment, hire of courts, difficulties in finding opponents of similar ability and the number of other sporting options.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
I don't understand which areas you refer to as the "product is flawed"

In my view, the reason for the drop in participation is the cost of equipment, hire of courts, difficulties in finding opponents of similar ability and the number of other sporting options.

That's exactly it. That is the product they are offering.

The product is not the rules of tennis, in the abstract, but the game of tennis, as available to the market.

So the product offer of a business includes the 'thing' itself but it also includes the cost, the availability, the access, its competitive advantages or lack etc. etc. etc. As such, the product that the LTA offer (or GB tennis in general) is flawed because it's too expensive, too remote, no competition etc. etc. And, as business head, it's Downey's mission to sort that out.

So there's no point spending a lot of money promoting something that is not in a fit state to be promoted.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

Finding opponents of similar ability or slightly better is key. No one enjoys playing down in tennis, so it can be so hard to find the correct opponents at the correct times. Club politics and a massive focus on doubles and social tennis is another major obstacle. It's not the product it's the delivery of the product to the customer.

EddietheEagle · County player

The present incumbent is a marketing man. He predictably emerges with 'New! Improved!' as the answer to all our tennis woes (he's probably spent a small fortune on in-depth quantitative and qualitative market research - the results of which anyone on here could probably reel off in two minutes). Draper before him was an arch-politician, all bluff, bluster and weasel words wrapped in management-speak. By all accounts, he too paid a fortune on consultants plus a lot more, I hear, on lawyers keeping the lid on opinion evidence from those who knew the sport intimately and who told him it was all a pile of cr.p. Before that, you had a bunch of back-slapping, county blazers, more concerned with getting Wimbledon membership or free coaching for their kids than getting strangers out on courts to play tennis. They were clueless beyond their own cabbage patch.

Admittedly the blazers didn't cost too much as they come on the cheap although the damage they caused with their stultified thinking will run on long into the future. More latterly though, LTA chief executives have blown a fortune on consultants (as well as trousered small fortunes for themselves) and what have we learned? What happened to the last Blueprint for British Tennis? Where is Draper's promised pipeline of British top-100 ATP players coming on stream to blaze a trail of British tennis glory around the world? I haven't heard anything so far that an eagle-eyed, hard-nosed coach or semi-pro player wouldn't have been able to tell you for free.

I would like to see this plan. When I go onto their website it blazes out 'Find your closest court'. Why do I need them to tell me that? Then you have a load of childish newsbites plastered all over the webpage as though we were all a bunch of ten year olds with a ten second attention span. I want to see the beef, not the bull.

The LTA's No 1 problem, I suggest, is its own credibility.

-- Edited by EddietheEagle on Tuesday 31st of March 2015 01:14:43 PM

Otto · Social player

I just love you guys.....

indiana · Tennis legend

Fortunes om market research etc. hmm

Just make it one LTA person's job to scroll through tennis sites and forums ( this one of course being one of the best ! ). This person would find a multitude of well considered opinions regarding the future of British tennis, ideas to be implemented, concerns about some of the current ideas and plans etc etc and it all comes free.

Then they can report back to decision makers and many of these tennis site / forum suggestions could then be further discussed - some may be a bit too off the wall for them, some judged unworkable, some too exopensive etc, but some are probably ruddy good idea worth at least discussing.

In fact if the LTA aren't scanning such sites to some extent, that would seem very neglectful.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

EddieE, some of your turns of phrase bring joy to my days !

'Clueless beyond their own cabbage patch' should be made into a banner and become an emblem in its own right

PS When I called the LTA and was told there was no singles competition open to me (in London, for Lord's sake, not on the Isle of wherever) for six months, that is the product, Born2Win, not the delivery of the product. They had NO product to offer me. The product I was looking for was competitive tennis, and there was none on offer. It's like company X making a slightly different, rinky-dink mobile - there's no issue with the item itself (may well be A1 fine), or mobiles in general (people love them) but if X's one is twice as expensive as similar (although slightly different) ones, with a three-month delivery time, and no customer service, then the 'offer' of the company is wrong. No amount of marketing will make it right. And it's not the item itself, the business product is the whole package.