As a keen tennis player, I have watched as ideas have come and gone through British Tennis with varying degrees of success. I have therefore thought a lot about the aim of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in pushing the notion of the Great British Tennis Weekend. After a significant amount of reflection on the idea in both a practical (working these free events with my club - Saltdean Tennis Club - as club performance psychologist) and philosophical sense, I would like to provide my thoughts to the wider tennis community.

 

I shall begin by setting out my understanding of the philosophy behind this idea. The weekends are a chance for tennis clubs to market their wares in order to attract more people to play tennis (given the sadly declining numbers actively participating in this sport) and, crucially, to widen participation in the sport. 

 

My initial thoughts are that this nationwide initiative is a really clever and inventive way of bringing tennis, and tennis clubs, to the attention of the masses rather than just relying on Wimbledon each year. The promotion of free tennis over three separate weekends in the summer is a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to try a sport they may not otherwise try. I therefore think the LTA should be applauded in its efforts. Furthermore, the verve and gusto with which this has been successfully marketed and adopted by tennis clubs throughout the land deserves acknowledgement and respect. It evidences that in times of trouble, the tennis community is a powerful force for good. 

 

So we have on our hands an excellent initiative with which to move forward and tackle the real problem facing the LTA when seeking to widen participation - the cost! Let's not beat about the bush here, tennis is an expensive sport to play and almost prohibitively expensive to become highly skilled at. So what the Great British Tennis Weekend initiative does, under certain financial constraints, is a bit like rubbing financial constrained people's noses in it. It provides people who cannot afford to pay often more than £200 per year membership fees with an opportunity to experience a sport over a weekend and then takes away that future pleasure due to the prohibitive financial cost of club membership - not to mention equipment, clothing, coaching and travel. 

 

What is needed is a development plan for working out viable means for private clubs to widen participation to those with lower socio-economic status. That is what widening participation in tennis should be about. There is very little room for widening participation to those who can already afford it. This is why the Great British Tennis Weekend is a great start but now it is time to work out the best ways to develop the initiative from here - otherwise the LTA will merely be paying lip service to its mantra of increased participation and tennis for all. 

 

As a starting point, the greatest and most viable widening participation initiative I have ever seen in tennis exists in the city of Brighton and Hove. In that city, there exists a 'Parks league' that allows tennis players to be a fully paid member of a tennis club, play a weekly competitive matches in organised leagues for 18 weeks, gain access to mental, technical, physical and tactical coaching as well as free club nights - all for an average cost of £45 per year. (More details can be found at www.brighton-parks-tennis.co.uk for those that are interested). 

 

So let's celebrate the Great British Tennis Weekends but acknowledge that it is now time to broaden the horizons to work out the best way to convert it into a Great British Tennis Summer without having to rely solely on the efforts of Andy Murray at Wimbledon.

 

Happy competing

 

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