The path
To excellence
Beginner: All equipment, coaching and court time are paid for by the individual. Costs are limited but the coaching can be of any standard. Some coaches may provide tennis rackets for children, balls are usually provided at no extra cost.
Improver: Before club player standard there are improvers, here it is likely that the coaches will have a DCA coaching qualification at least. Some clubs may provide free or cheaper coaching to these participants, although they are likely to have supplied a club-joining fee, and still buy their own equipment.
Club player: Here a participant may look to coaching outside of his/her club, costs therefore rise as there is travel cost and the coaching is likely to cost more- private coaching usually costing around £15 per hour with balls included.
Satellite/ County players: Many more travel costs, as tournaments are regional. Tennis equipment can be expensive, as you need rackets, shoes, clothes and balls. However, at this level it is possible to be sponsored and so cost falls. Tennis coaching is provided free to this level of participant, in return for the representation of their county.
Professional: A salary is paid annually for being on the ATP tour. Prize money can also be won at tournaments. They will pay a coach an annual salary, as well as an agent/manager and a physiotherapist.
Excellence.
Unless a participant is from an affluent background they may find it hard to progress through these stages, even if they have the ability to do so. Greg Rusedski relied heavily on his family, who were not particularly rich, to put up the money for him to travel, have coaching and for all the equipment he needed. They placed all their money into him and so he felt obliged to perform to his peak all the time, which is how he became professional. There was no governing body to put up the money to enable him to play.
Routes to national excellence: There are three main routes to national excellence:
1) Ratings: If a participant wishes to take part in a tennis tournament they must be a member of the L.T.A. When the participant joins they are given a rating, usually 7.2.
“The Lawn Tennis Association’s ratings system allows players of all abilities to assess their performance against all other tennis players in Britain.”
”It also allows tournament organisers to match players of comparable skills against each other.”
There are seven divisions in the ratings system:
Whenever a match is played the winner will gain an amount of points, (contributing to the improvement of their rating), the amount of points depends upon the division of their opponent. The better the rating of the opponent, the more points gained by the winner.
Every registered tournament has restrictions on the players who may partake, based on the system of ratings. For example, if the tournament was constructed for the best juniors in the country then they are likely to only accept players with a rating of 3.2 or lower.
2) Through coaching: It is possible to progress to excellence by being coached at county level, progressing to regional then national. This would run along side ratings progression although you may not need a great rating if you are taught due to potential.
3) School recommendation: It is possible for a pupil to be recommended to take county trials by a schoolteacher; from here the route will be the same as two.
Regional provision of courts (Suffolk): There are 46 registered tennis clubs in Suffolk: Here are a few examples with their surface type:
“Woolpit LTC - Rectory Lane, Woolpit. Courts: Maccadam-3 (Floodlit).”
“Victory Ground Tennis Players - Nowton Road, Bury St Edmunds. Courts: Grass-2, Maccadam-2.”
“Brettenham Park TC - Brettenham Park, Bildeston IP7. Courts: Artificial Grass-3.”
There are more than ten different tennis surfaces within Briton.
Disabled provisions: There is a level of provision for those who have disabilities which affect their level of performance, however, there are no centres specifically designed for disabled tennis players.
Briton has a number of disabled players who compete to a very high standard, some competing in the Paralympic games of 2000.
As of yet there is no provision in Briton for those who have impaired site, unlike football there are no tennis balls which produce sound and so enabling the partially sited to play.
Coaching: The structure of coaching. There are four levels in coaching tennis in England- All run by the L.T.A.
1.The LTA Tennis Assistant Coach Education Course (The first step in coaching)
”The Tennis Assistant Course is aimed at those interested in assisting in the development of tennis in clubs and schools”
2. The DCA award is the first official coaching award, it is equivalent to an NVQ.
3. If you wish to progress you must take the club coach award and from here choose a path- either development: development through levels of participation. Or, performance: how to enhance performance at each level.
(Each is closely related).
4. The final stage for top coaches, at this level it is important to be a high quality player as well as communicator and teacher. The backbone of coaching in the UK they will work with more than one club and try to improve the areas standards of coaching as well as the facilities and interest within their clubs.
The LTA Coaching Scholarship
”Coaching scholarships are aimed at young people considering coaching as a career and are available to students in any UK University.”
Conclusion:
At present there is a good level of provision for most areas of the public. There are many different surfaces on which to experience the game and many organised clubs where it is possible to play at a range of levels, ranging from ‘grassroots’ to ‘national excellence’.
An area where I can see that the provision of tennis to the public of the UK could be improved would be for the disabled sector. This market segment is made up of those participants who may have been forced out of the game due to injury or illness. Therefore in my opinion national provision of tennis in the UK should invest into ideas, which will enable these former participants to play once again. As the game is ever improving then all who wish to play should have the opportunity to participate.
