LTA Tennis Academy
Tennis is a fantastic sport that can be enjoyed by everyone in your family even at the moment whilst you are based at home. See our video wall for some great tennis challenges.
Wheelchair tennis is also widely played by your age group and will be featuring in the School Games in September 2021.
Last September (2019) the LTA Tennis Academy was launched at Loughborough University.
The first players arrived on Ist September 2019 and all 8 players have now settled into their new environment extremely well. They have adapted quickly to their bespoke training programme that is delivered by the team’s world-class coaches and performance support practitioners.
The philosophy of the Academy is person, performer and player and one of the key goals,which began even before the players arrived in September, was to help manage their transition into the National Academy. The focus was to ensure every player was able to be happy, healthy and settled in their new environment. It was a huge step moving away from home, going to a new school, getting used to a new programme, making new friends and managing the changes which come with developing a relationship with a new coach and a support team.
For the first few weeks in September therefore the focus was all on induction where the players took part in a wide range of activities designed to help them familiarise themselves with exactly what they needed to know about how the National Academy operates and what was expected of them and importantly also build some great relationships with the rest of the players and the staff they would be working with. These activities ranged from educational workshops on health & hygiene, social media and time management to fun on and off court tennis sessions and team building sessions like a scavenger hunt and laser tag!
After the first few weeks training definitely got tougher and the National Academy’s focus turned towards a busy tournament schedule and since October the players have already competed in a total of over 30 tournaments that have ranged from domestic tournaments in Bolton and Bath to international tournaments in Miami, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Norway to name but some.
They are aiming to become the best players in the World and compete in the biggest tournaments like this...
As well as tennis, the National Academy has continued to develop a special relationship with Loughborough Amherst School which provides the players with the highest standard of education and pastoral care to complement their busy training and tournament schedule. Not only does the National Academy work closely with the school to plan tennis and gym sessions around classes and teaching, the players are also supported in their education whilst away at tournaments. The players have access to remote learning and can keep in touch with their teachers to keep on top of any work missed and players have settled into the expected routine of allocating time to their studies around their match schedule which is supported by the rest of the coaching and support team. When the players are back there’s always the opportunity to travel home at weekends or in between tournaments as well for some well earned rest and quality time with family and friends to break things up a little.
See our Week in the Life Diary of Tennis Academy players at the end of this article.
With the weekly support on offer and built into the weekly schedule for the players that includes performance analysis, strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, nutrition, psychology and performance lifestyle the National Academy now has a great understanding of each individual player across all disciplines. Every player is different and will have a different game style, personality and will always be at a different stage of development and maturation so although the philosophy stays the same the approach for each player is as bespoke as possible and we work hard to make sure it’s right for every individual. This individualised and interdisciplinary approach to tennis development will hopefully give the players the very best opportunity to be successful British tennis players of the future.
With thanks to Loughborough Sport and LTA for the use of videos in this article.