The LTA

flamingowings · All-time great

Elsewhere at Roehampton, the two best clay practice courts (although the best of a bad bunch) have been dug up ahead of the clay season. British No 2 Cameron Norrie was unaware when told by reporters yesterday that they would not be ready until May.

Strongbow · All-time great

furious confuse

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

The LTA have announced today they have identified where to build new indoor centres. Trying to ensure everyone can reach an indoor tennis centre within 20 mins drive. Using Scott Lloyds considerable experience in building DL/Esporta centres. What was that famous quote..."NTC for £100m...I would of built 100 x 1m centres!"

the addict · Tennis legend

And curiously enough the tennis press weren't invited to the announcement

Mike Dickson

Verified account @Mike_Dickson_DM
5 hours ago

Mike Dickson Retweeted LTA

Sounds interesting (but don't know too much about it as the pesky tennis media weren't invited to the launch).

the addict · Tennis legend

Looks like a certain MP had fun there today though wink

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

Three new changes for next year:

LTA Ratings are being replaced with ITN (International Tennis Number) supported by the ITF, France and the US apparently.

Year of birth for competitions are moving to 1st Jan, instead of whatever it is now, say 1st March for example.

Winter Team Tennis is being introduced for juniors, not sure about adults.

Kolohead · Junior player

Is that moving juniors back to how it used to be. I remember parents complaining if born in jan if their little one was born in December of the same year. A certain Mr draper era was behind changing that. Meant those born earlier moved up earlier and those say may to dec stayed in another year and dominated. Didnt see what was wrong before they complicated it

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

If you only have one date, you'll always have the same problem, it won't make any difference if you choose Jan 1st (calendar year), or Sept. 1st (school year), or whatever.

For admin stuff (not events), calendar year seems more sensible to me.

But, for tournament entry, the key thing is to change, like most of Europe has done, to rolling dates.
This puts absolutely everyone on an equal footing.
Every child is the oldest in the event just before their birthday, and the youngest in the next event, after their birthday.
It works very well.

Kolohead · Junior player

Coup Droit wrote:
If you only have one date, you'll always have the same problem, it won't make any difference if you choose Jan 1st (calendar year), or Sept. 1st (school year), or whatever.

For admin stuff (not events), calendar year seems more sensible to me.

But, for tournament entry, the key thing is to change, like most of Europe has done, to rolling dates.
This puts absolutely everyone on an equal footing.
Every child is the oldest in the event just before their birthday, and the youngest in the next event, after their birthday.
It works very well.

Agreed. That would have been so much better. Instead we got a system to satisfy a few and have kids born say in jan feb or March have to go into higher age bracket months before their next birthday ( in sept).

why do all tennis orgs tamper so much maybe same person who worked on the LTA age changes a few years back moved to itf to dream up the transition tour. Perhaps his same child has benefited again ha ha

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Kolohead wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
If you only have one date, you'll always have the same problem, it won't make any difference if you choose Jan 1st (calendar year), or Sept. 1st (school year), or whatever.

For admin stuff (not events), calendar year seems more sensible to me.

But, for tournament entry, the key thing is to change, like most of Europe has done, to rolling dates.
This puts absolutely everyone on an equal footing.
Every child is the oldest in the event just before their birthday, and the youngest in the next event, after their birthday.
It works very well.
Agreed. That would have been so much better. Instead we got a system to satisfy a few and have kids born say in jan feb or March have to go into higher age bracket months before their next birthday ( in sept).
why do all tennis orgs tamper so much maybe same person who worked on the LTA age changes a few years back moved to itf to dream up the transition tour. Perhaps his same child has benefited again ha ha

Spain have a system in many sports where they have a 2 year cycle. So when you are in the younger year you play up much of the time against older players and then the next year you can be playing against people younger than yourself giving you perhaps more chance of success.

The best part of this is the names they give each group.

7-8yo = Pre-Benjamins

9-10yo = Benjamins

11-12yo = Alevins

13-14yo = Infantiles

15-16yo = Cadetes

17-18 = Juveniles

It does vary slightly from sport to sport. Love the way 13-14 year olds are still called "infants".

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The French names start with 'poussins', or little chickens - which is really cute.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

The International Tennis Number should stop you having to constantly convert French to UK Ratings Coup for the understanding of this forum!

-- Edited by Born2WinTennis on Tuesday 9th of July 2019 01:25:00 PM

EddietheEagle · County player

Another well-meaning LTA Johnny-come-lately jumping ship or sent on his way. This goes beyond parody imo.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-8106817/Lawn-Tennis-Association-performance-director-Simon-Timson-leave-join-Manchester-City.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2020/03/12/simon-timson-leaves-lta-role-mancheser-city/

I think really this forum needs to get its collective act together, form a consensus of where to go/what to do and then start writing to bodies who can operate levers. Plenty of time to do this while the national crisis envelops us and we inevitably spend more time at home.

At both upper and lower levels, the LTA fails the sport imo. First, structurally, it is essentially non-democratic. You cannot oust failures easily and the system of Wimbledon-orientated favouritism perpetuates this failure. I cannot think of a sport which has such a sclerotic governing body as the LTA. And why on earth is the LTA even run as a limited company out to make money? To my way of thinking it would be better run as a charity with a clearly defined mission. Leave capitalism to Wimbledon. They are the experts in that domain.

Second, at the coal face - the clubs - both player development and competition for those players is also sadly lacking. Juniors are simply not coming through in numbers and the quality and quantity of coaching is not there to instil high performance. Or at least, that is the personal observation which I see going on around me. There are presumably lots of good coaches around who could make a difference if properly motivated and supported. However, the present system seems to be more about a coach's business than about the developmental needs of young players. That tension needs to be resolved. Tennis parents should not exist merely to be fleeced.

The solution? I would have a leaner, flatter organisation. A small - tiny even - central regulator, promoter and enabler with maximum funds, manpower and decision-making authority devolved to the counties. Counties are ordained to facilitate the development of modern racquet clubs with bubbles or other indoor facilities, produce tennis players and run local competition. Favouritism would certainly exist, with counties that perform on key criteria receiving correspondingly greater central funding. That's the way Proctor's run their brands. You back your key brands, your performers. Competition works, even in charities.

High performance? If you have a well-run sport, high performance will largely take care of itself eventually. Performance coaches may have more to say about the specifics as it's not my field but I cannot see these two national academies achieving much for the simple reason that the LTA has no intrinsic competence in high performance and it's not something you can just create or, in their case, buy. It will only really come about in my view if there's a lot of altruism in the sport because high performance individuals need constant attention and there's only so much money in that. The Spanish clubs manage to do it and I don't see why we cannot too. How can you encourage that in tennis here when the chief executive gets paid £600,000 in salary and ex's with similar ridiculous amounts paid to suits and so-called, Rusedski-style coaching superstars who achieve sweet f.a. and where only lip service is paid to volunteers and that most disregarded resource of all, the tennis parent? All that nonsensical, counterproductive culture needs to be done away with. People in performance and past professionals should kit themselves out in tracksuits and spend hours on court or courtside, not doll themselves up in suits, play golf or yap away on tv in their cosy sinecures when not hob-nobbing at the All England. Henman in particular should walk the talk himself rather than diss Evans.

-- Edited by EddietheEagle on Friday 13th of March 2020 05:35:47 AM

ROSAMUND · Futures level

EddietheEagle wrote:
Another well-meaning failure jumping ship or sent on his way. This goes beyond parody imo.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-8106817/Lawn-Tennis-Association-performance-director-Simon-Timson-leave-join-Manchester-City.html

I think really this forum needs to get its collective act together, form a consensus of where to go/what to do and then start writing to bodies who can operate levers. Plenty of time to do this while the national crisis envelops us and we inevitably spend more time at home.

At both upper and lower levels, the LTA fails the sport imo. First, structurally, it is essentially non-democratic. You cannot oust failures easily and the system of Wimbledon-orientated favouritism perpetuates this failure. I cannot think of a sport which has such a sclerotic governing body as the LTA. And why on earth is the LTA even run as a limited company out to make money? To my way of thinking it would be better run as a charity with a clearly defined mission. Leave capitalism to Wimbledon. They are the experts in that domain.

Second, at the coal face - the clubs - both player development and competition for those players is also sadly lacking. Juniors are simply not coming through in numbers and the quality and quantity of coaching is not there to instil high performance. Or at least, that is the personal observation which I see going on around me. There are presumably lots of good coaches around who could make a difference if properly motivated and supported. However, the present system seems to be more about a coach's business than about the developmental needs of young players. That tension needs to be resolved. Tennis parents should not exist merely to be fleeced.

The solution? I would have a leaner, flatter organisation. A small - tiny even - central regulator, promoter and enabler with maximum funds, manpower and decision-making authority devolved to the counties. Counties are ordained to facilitate the development of modern racquet clubs with bubbles or other indoor facilities, produce tennis players and run local competition. Favouritism would certainly exist, with counties that perform on key criteria receiving correspondingly greater central funding. That's the way Proctor's run their brands. You back your key brands, your performers. Competition works, even in charities.

High performance? If you have a well-run sport, high performance will largely take care of itself eventually. Performance coaches may have more to say about the specifics as it's not my field but I cannot see these two national academies achieving much for the simple reason that the LTA has no intrinsic competence in high performance and it's not something you can just create or, in their case, buy. It will only really come about in my view if there's a lot of altruism in the sport because high performance individuals need constant attention and there's only so much money in that. The Spanish clubs manage to do it and I don't see why we cannot too. How can you encourage that in tennis here when the chief executive gets paid £600,000 in salary and ex's with similar ridiculous amounts paid to suits and so-called, Rusedski-style coaching superstars who achieve sweet f.a. and where only lip service is paid to volunteers and that most disregarded resource of all, the tennis parent? All that nonsensical, counterproductive culture needs to be done away with. People in performance and past professionals should kit themselves out in tracksuits and spend hours on court or courtside, not doll themselves up in suits, play golf or yap away on tv in their cosy sinecures when not hob-nobbing at the All England. Henman in particular should walk the talk himself rather than diss Evans.

I'm sure it's not intentional but why have a go at our 2 best men players before Andy Murray in a critical write up about the LTA.?

EddietheEagle · County player

Read the last sentence again. Both are multi-millionaires and have a duty, imo, to put something back. A key resource in any sport are past elite performers. They need to be encouraged to stay in the sport and help it along. Neither of those two pull their weight; Henman is too quick to criticise and does sweet f.a. himself (and I don't count swanning around Wimbledon or taking the ATP's shilling as helping) and he has past form on calling players out while Rusedski is greedy but that's just my opinion. Henman would possibly not have made it without the countless hours he spent hitting with Edberg at Queens. Why isn't he doing the same now?