LTA launches Allplay scheme

When I was watching Queens earlier in the interval they showed the unveiling of a new scheme called 'allplay' designed to help get more children in Britain with a tennis racket in hand and taking up the game more. This scheme works more in a 'social network' way and is aimed at people of all ages.

Question is though, does get at the heart of the problem in British tennis? Yes it could help identify young tennis talent, but what doesn't change is how they get lost within the LTA development system. Also it doesn't change the cost of tennis club memberships and the lack of 'free' courts for people to play on.

For me the only way they can get more children playing is by having a successful player come through the system from juniors to adults. Andy Murray was rising through the ranks before he was sent off to Barcelona to complete his development and he hasn't looked back. I think if the LTA had a true product of the system, more people would buy into it. If I had a talented child who was coming through the ranks, I know I would seek he/she to finish her development elsewhere that has a proven track record.

I will be joining allplay so I can see if I can find anyone I can play in my area.

What do you guys think?

Legend, I have a great club when I am in southern CAlifornia. They have full time match arrangers. When you first sign up at the club they rate you and then they have a couple of gals who sit around on the phones all day arranging courts, and match times with equal strength players. Of course the club is expensive but i think a similar system by the LTA were they rate and arrainge matchplay for young players to play on their own for the joy of it might help. The USTA does a lot of this.

Hey socal. I have always been intrigued about how the USTA runs tennis right from professional ranks, through to lower local levels and how they get involved with the structure and funding and how they maintain all those areas as an organisation.

Lk

You could be right but not everybody has the funds to send their kids abroad.

Hey eric,

The LTA fund players developments abroad. This does play into the players hands though with the Naiktha Bains situation by where the LTA would have funded her development elsewhere provided she represents GB at all tennis events and has now become an Australian citizen.

I have no problems with our youngsters going abroad, but then ask the question why the LTA cannot develop players the same way they do in France, Spain, USA?

I have joined Allplay and no-one from Brighton on there!!

Disgrace!

Lk

Our coaches are rubbish.

Sounds like a good idea in practice...they tried it a few years back under a different name but it didnt really work, hope it does this time. Might take a few months to get going as people 'sign' up for it?

I hope so lydian. I like the idea. I signed up. I am hoping that if I can have matches with others, maybe look into the coaching side of it at a latter stage.

Guys

Google "tennis for free" and you'll see Tony Hawks (the comedian and not the skateboarder) has been running the same thing for about eight years now around the country. Started in south west london and now dotted around the country where councils are prepared to offer their courts for free.

Usually two hours on a Sunday and free to all. Sounds familiar? - well Draper didn't obviously want to help fund something he could take no credit for.

Could be a good initiative but when the LTA say it's going to talent spot there let's hope they mean it rather than the half baked attempts previously tried. Where talent is identified it should be nurtured within that particular scheme as appropriate.

It is a start I suppose, but the hard part then is how to spot those kids who show the true talent to play the game at such a young age. Also there needs to be a way to identify and track a kid's overall physical development as he/she grows and gets older, so that appropriate fitness and nutrition schemes/programmes can be given to help produce an ultimate tennis player who by his late teens has near to the physical presence/power of a Rafael Nadal or a Joachim Johannson.

erictheblueuk wrote:Lk

Our coaches are rubbish.

Nothing to do with our coaches, when our produced players are rubbish. Remember we have had leading foreign coaches of the calibre of Peter Lundgren (former coach of Roger Federer) and Paul Annacone (former coach of Pete Sampras) as part of coaching our Junior players in the recent past. Despite their pedigree in coaching, even they couldn't help produce a Junior player who looks capable of breaking into the top 50.

I joined this to check it out, and it appears that if they manage to get word out there that it exists and loads of people sign up, it will be great for arranging matches etc.

It's actually one of their better ideas, but they just need to make sure they let as many of the tennis players in the UK know about it.

We have got a plethora of good coaches teaching the basics and beyond, but fall short of being able to get them into and onto the pro circuit with any degree of hope to get into the top 50. that is where the LTA fail the kids and why going abroad is the only option atm.

But I agree with Legend, all this smacks of papering over the cracks again and not getting the bull by the horn and actually getting kids to take up the sport at their local parks.

Without decent courts, what chance have they ?

Tennis UK is going from strength to strength, forging ahead and getting youngsters involved, but they do not have the financial clout of the LTA.

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the LTA, can't put my finger on it, but Draper wants to keep the ball in his court all the time and doesn't want to share it.

How much longer do we have to go on like this and put up with half baked ideas and tons of gloss over paint.

gboycottnut wrote:

erictheblueuk wrote:Lk

Our coaches are rubbish.

Nothing to do with our coaches, when our produced players are rubbish. Remember we have had leading foreign coaches of the calibre of Peter Lundgren (former coach of Roger Federer) and Paul Annacone (former coach of Pete Sampras) as part of coaching our Junior players in the recent past. Despite their pedigree in coaching, even they couldn't help produce a Junior player who looks capable of breaking into the top 50.

Those coaches are never going to find the future champions in the first place. They will at best improve the better players.

The problem in the UK is that the base of the pyramid of tennis player (young and old) is not large enough and good enough. There are good clubs with a good level but few and far in between.

The sport is getting more popular, essentially thanks to Murray and Nadal so the level will raise quite a bit very soon but they woudl need a bigger pool of better players spread all over the country, which is not the case now.

A good start for the LTA would be to scrap Roehampton. De-centralise it and by district set up centres of excellence and then look at 'talented' youngsters and see if they can be considered for further development albeit in this country or another until the LTA can set up a system to where juniors from 15-18 can get the proper developmental training needed to take their abilities forward.

To be honest i'd like to have a total bottom up system and dispense with the top entirely if necessqary

I think they should put the majority of money into the basics of providing free courts. They need a database of all the free courts around the country and should provide funds to help with basic maintainance of those courts and where there are gaps, lobby to create new ones. To be honest if most money get spent on his intially then i don't care if some player have to end up in Barcelona or where ever to finish off their youth as at least we would have a volume of players for the most talented to come through. they also need a basic system of tournament creation, whereby kids can maybe enter tournaments and even win a few pennies/equipment/ free coaching with regularity.

As has been the case for years and years. The way the LTA does things, not only are we picking from a small number of kids who like tennis in the UK, but then we are saying only the richer of those are really in with a shot of progressing their games. Thats a tiny talent pool - its disgraceful. To be honest the sacrifice Murray made by spending his youth away from from home, not getting drunk at parties etc is likely to be one of the things that helped him break onto the tour - because he had personally invested a lot of himself in the game. The sad truth is that some of the kids from richer families are never as likely to really make it because they have a nice cushion to fall back on.

Lk

Why were Lungren and Annacone employed if our coaching's was so good ?

Anyway surely these guys dealt with our elite juniors and top players ? I think by then it's too late the damage has already been done by previous coaches.

Also Didn't the LTA and their coaches take charge of Jamie Murray ? When he was one of the worlds's top juniors with victories over Nadal and other good junior players. They then collevtively ruined his game. I think this was one of the main reasons why Andy packed himself off to Spain.

Lk

From Wiki :-

"At the age of 11, Jamie finished runner up in the boys under 12 category at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl. Murray was the junior world #2 when he was about 13 years old and was selected to be educated at The Leys School while being coached by national coaches. Jamie's younger brother Andy said of this experience that the LTA 'ruined' him when he went to Cambridge"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Murray

I see Denise Lewis is being taught how to play over 6 months as part of the AllPlay scheme.

Whi knows, Lewis may just have as good a chance as our own LTA stock for Wimbledon 2012! Be interesting to see how far 6 months elite training can take her....wouldnt we all like to be trained by Greg and co for 6 months...?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/06/07/denise-lewis-begins-a-six-month-journey-to-learn-tennis-115875-23184631/

Tom_____ wrote:To be honest i'd like to have a total bottom up system and dispense with the top entirely if necessqary

I think they should put the majority of money into the basics of providing free courts. They need a database of all the free courts around the country and should provide funds to help with basic maintainance of those courts and where there are gaps, lobby to create new ones.

Such a database, with access from the internet and the ability to find such courts, reserve and play would be nice additions.

Tom_____ wrote:As has been the case for years and years. The way the LTA does things, not only are we picking from a small number of kids who like tennis in the UK, but then we are saying only the richer of those are really in with a shot of progressing their games. Thats a tiny talent pool - its disgraceful.

It is to some extent, but the need for education vs. a sports career does require some parental discretion and support. Educating parents and kids together and planning a sports career is a significant undertaking.

Tom_____ wrote:To be honest the sacrifice Murray made by spending his youth away from from home, not getting drunk at parties etc is likely to be one of the things that helped him break onto the tour - because he had personally invested a lot of himself in the game. The sad truth is that some of the kids from richer families are never as likely to really make it because they have a nice cushion to fall back on.

That is too much of a generalization and seems to be bit biased that the current generation is a partying generation with no other ambitions except having a 'good' time. There is also the question of which sport to pick, Tennis being one of myriad choices.

Not everyone is a Gulbis.

Re: coaching - Olga Morozova too, going further back - she couldn't do for our game what she helped to do in Russia.

But then again some of our coaches have had success with foreign players e.g. Tony Pickard with Edberg, Nigel Sears with Hantuchova.Presumably the foundations in their games were already laid in their home countries and our guys did the finishing touches, but like a lot of people I'm far from convinced that we are competent at developing good juniors over here.

Judy/Andy/Jamie have this initiative....

http://www.set4sport.com/