What is Tennis Clubmark?
Clubmark was introduced by Sport England in 2002 and is currently being implemented across 34 sports. The LTA administers its own version of Clubmark based on the National guidelines for best practice combined with real life examples of successfully run places to play across the Country.
There are over 600 Clubmark accredited places to play in the UK, with a further 600 working towards the best practice accreditation.
Tennis Clubmark is split into 4 sections:
Clubmark provides you with the tools and resources you need to ensure your place to play is delivering a quality tennis development programme and operating in line with best practice. Benefits of this include ongoing programme development, increased membership, increased participation, staff development, raised profile and access to more funding opportunities.
Clubmark is not intended to be difficult to achieve, but you will need to do some work to ensure that the minimum criteria is met. In many cases, facilities are already running a professional set up with a quality programme of activity. In this instance, Clubmark can be used as a resource to collate all policies and procedures as well as improve the communication between the various club officials and coaching team.
There is an online support area which contains the latest templates, resources and case studies to help you understand each element of the file, its relevance and what is required to meet the Clubmark standard.
All places to play awarded with Clubmark:
- Ensure the club/facility has a fair and transparent operational structure
- Adhere to best practice policies and procedures around safeguarding junior and adult members/users
- Deliver a comprehensive and all encompassing tennis programme for all ages and abilities
- Produce a clear plan of action for long term sustainability and future growth
Where do we start?
As a committee you need to review your existing policies, procedures and activities and then identify where additional resources need to be developed, deciding on the best methods for producing these resources.
Start by looking at the Clubmark criteria page – run through each item of evidence required and tick off what you feel you have in place to get some understanding of the remaining workload. Then divide the work across the various committee members and coach, put in timescales and ensure you meet regularly to monitor progress.
Your local Tennis Development Manager can assist with forming a plan to distribute the workload across the volunteer group to ensure efficient and effective progress.
Once all your evidence has been collated the folder/website area is ready for assessment – this is usually done by one of the local Tennis Development Manager or County Assessor.
On gaining Clubmark, what happens next?
Clubmark is not intended to be a one-off quality accreditation award but an evolving process, capable of supporting your place to play as it continually improves and develops. On achieving the standard required for the accreditation, it is important that the evidence file/website area is kept up to date.
It is recommended that ‘Clubmark’ is an item on the agenda of committee meetings to ensure maintenance is carried out regularly. The action plan clearly identifies areas of development and is a useful tool to focus the committee and coach.
Your local Tennis Development Manager will aim to visit at least every quarter if not more regularly depending upon the level of input required in your specific action plan, in terms of offering targeting resources, support and guidance. The aim of a regular meeting is to ensure the following:
- The club has made progress on the club specific action plan
- The club has updated the action plan in line with current progress and future plans
- All policies and procedures are up to date and in line with existing Clubmark guidelines
They will also be able to provide you with up to date statistics on membership, competition results submission, regularly competing juniors, coach licensing and registration and school links, which will be useful in keeping your records up to date and of course measuring progress against your action plan.
You will need to re-apply for Tennis Clubmark status after 4 years. Regular meetings with your committee in conjunction with your local Tennis Development Manager will assist in keeping the action plan ‘alive’ and renewal will be relatively painless.
How to apply
To qualify for Tennis Clubmark status, you first need to be affiliated to the LTA.
More information on Affiliation
To apply, contact your LTA county office. They will provide you with a resource pack and evidence file and can support you through the process.
There is no cost to apply. You will however be required to invest time in collating information to meet Tennis Clubmark criteria and your coaches and club representatives will be required to attend courses in child protection, equity in your coaching and first aid if they have not already attended these courses.
County Contacts 