The French Touch Academy is a state-of-the-art tennis facility located just outside of Montpellier along the French coast. The academy boasts an incredible 35 tennis courts including indoor and outdoor hard and clay courts, fitness areas and gyms, as well as an on-site campus with accommodation, medical centre and more.

Open to the most talented 14U players in the country, LTA National Age Group Coach Chris Wilkinson and the LTA Performance team have set up these training camps to give the players experience of an elite level environment and to develop their skills on the clay.

We caught up with Chris to find out more about the training camp, why they are important for players at this stage of their development and wider LTA support at the national age group level.

“We run two weeks of camps for our best 12U and 14U players (girls and boys) to give them a chance to play and train with the top players in their age groups,” Chris said.

“The idea of coming to the French Touch Academy is that we can give them better clay court experience. They get to travel abroad, play on indoor and outdoor clay and it gives them an opportunity to train like a pro for a week.

“They get to play a full programme with sessions in the mornings and matches in the afternoon, which runs through the week. It gives them that opportunity to get in a lot of tennis, become more comfortable competing on the clay, work with all our national coaches and it helps inform our decisions when considering GB teams and other trips.

“We also take other members of the Performance team as well. For example, a member of the Lifestyle Performance team runs a classroom session around preparing for the realities of competing on the international stage, we have a Strength & Conditioning Coach come and do some training with them, so they can learn a lot both on and off the court.”

The players are selected for the camps based on several different factors, but all of them are currently on our National Agre Group Programme (NAGP) on the Performance Pathway.

The NAGP aims to support the development of 12–14-year-old players who are showing the potential to meet the selection criteria for National Academy selection within two to three years.

“We run camps in the UK from September to December and then from there we choose the best performers as well as those who are getting strong results in tournaments to come out to France,” Chris explained.

“Players who have been on this camp have gone on to the National Academies in Loughborough and Stirling – so it’s a big part of their development.

“For our young players as well, having these trips and camps away gives them a chance to build friendships and camaraderie between each other as well, which is huge for our GB teams when we come to play in Winter Cups and Summer Cups.”

The French Touch Academy is the perfect choice of destination for Chris and the team for a performance camp at this time in the season.

It comes right off the back of the indoor clay court nationals at Sutton Tennis Club and looks ahead to the clay season on the Tennis Europe tour.

However, more than that, the academy gives the players everything they need to get that first taste of life as a professional athlete.

“It’s what we’d call a ‘working academy’,” Chris said. “This means there’s lots of other players around as well, from top 100 ATP and WTA players to those competing regularly on the ITF Tours and it just gives our young players a real feel for that kind of professional environment.

“We arrange lots of matches with players at the academy as well, so they get exposure to playing against lots of different people, especially those more familiar and at home on the clay.

“One of the boys – Eric Lorimer – who was in this latest camp is now going on to play some top-level Tennis Europe events on the clay, including a Super Category tournament. He’s currently ranked in the top five in Europe at his age group so having a full week’s preparation before that in an elite environment is invaluable for players like him.

“The more we can replicate that professional approach both on and off the court, the more it’s going to set them up for the future and having camps like these at world class facilities only helps that.”

Following a busy week of training at the world-class facility in France, Lorimer acknowledged how important these trips are for his and other players development.

“It was an amazing experience coming to France this year,” he said. "We got to play against their best players and it has helped me prepare for future events. It has made me realise the work and physicality you have to put in top be able to compete at the top of the game.”

French Touch Academy

Discover more about the French Touch Academy, it’s facilities and the range of programmes and courses you can experience for yourself.

Find out more