LTA Tennis Awards: 70 inspirational regional winners unveiled
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70 outstanding individuals and venues across Great Britain have been named as regional winners of this year’s LTA Tennis Awards.
The awards recognise their contribution to grassroots tennis in 2018, with the winners selected from a record 1,500 nominations across the 10 categories.
Launched in 2015, the LTA Tennis Awards celebrate the thousands of individuals involved in tennis – from the 25,000 volunteers, to the 4,400 coaches and 940 officials. They also highlight the incredible achievements of 20,000 schools, 2,700 clubs and over 9,700 LTA approved tournaments in helping to grow the sport.
The regional winners from five regions in England were selected from County LTA winners, and now join the 10 winners from each of Scotland and Wales in progressing through to be considered for the national shortlist in each of their respective categories. Those that make the shortlist will be invited to Wimbledon for the LTA Tennis Awards event in July where the overall winners will be announced.
Alex Beaumont, LTA Volunteering Manager said: “Every year we're blown away by the standard of the applications and the phenomenal achievements they demonstrate in helping to grow the sport. The LTA Tennis Awards are an excellent way for us to say thank you to everyone and celebrate that progress.”
All of the 70 regional winners will be presented with their awards at one of the LTA’s major grass court tournaments this summer. Winners from London and the South East have been given the added bonus of a visit to this weekend’s Fed Cup tie against Kazakhstan at the Copper Box, where one lucky member of the group will perform a special role…
Joining Britain’s best on court at the Fed Cup
Maggie King, who volunteers at her local tennis club near Chichester, has been named as the LTA Young Volunteer of the Year for London and the South East. As a result of that recognition, Maggie has been selected by the LTA to perform a coin toss on Sunday for one of Great Britain’s Fed Cup rubbers this weekend.
Maggie, who turned 16 earlier this year, is described by those at her club as a fantastic volunteer with an abundance of enthusiasm. She dedicates her time on Friday evenings and weekends to helping out with the children’s coaching at the club, as well as volunteering at her school. Because she is so positive she makes a great role model with an ability to connect and engage younger children. She has helped with all the tennis camps at her club, as well as the Nature Valley Big Tennis Weekend open day’s each year. With a focus on making sessions fun, Maggie always manages to get everyone on court hitting, smiling and loving their sessions.
The fun Maggie always delivers on court for others though, is in contrast to what she experienced off court. Her father was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, and was told several times he would not make 12 months. As a result, the family has had to travel to Manchester on a regular basis for his treatment. Maggie’s mum feels her daughter’s involvement with tennis however has given her some stability among this disruption, and as she finds volunteering with the coaching so fun it has been a lovely distraction from what at times has been a really quite depressing tie for the family.
Whatever the emotions Maggie has coped with off court are never evident in her work on it to engage more young children in tennis. Without exception, she is always enthusiastic, happy, helpful, energetic, proactive and insatiably keen to help out in any way. She never complains about doing anything, with the Head Coach at her club saying they simply could not ask for a better apprentice or assistant.
Maggie’s love of coaching stems from watching the young children she works with grow and develop, being so pleased for them when something finally clicks and their learning curve shoots up. She is already making progress with her own coaching qualifications too, and will complete her LTA Level 1 qualification later this month – having booked on to a course the very day she became old enough to do so.
An asset to her club, and an asset to tennis, Maggie is a wonderful example of just what the LTA Tennis Awards regional winners are contributing to the growth of tennis right across the country – congratulations to each and every one of them.
LTA Tennis Awards – Regional Winners
Lifetime Achievement |
| London and South East – Peter Stotesbury |
| Central and East – Simon Grainger |
| South and South West – Paul Butcher |
| Midlands – Sue Bilton |
| North – John Taylor |
| Scotland – Hamish BcBain |
| Wales – Nigel Jones |
Volunteer of the Year |
| London and South East – Marina Foxlee |
| Central and East – Lawrence Hopkins |
| South and South West – Mark Taber |
| Midlands – Pat Clarke |
| North – Ken Thomas |
| Scotland – Iain Miller |
| Wales – Vicki Briadbent |
Young Volunteer of the Year |
| London and South East – Maggie King |
| Central and East – Callum West |
| South and South West – Connie Simpson |
| Midlands – Imogen Looker |
| North – Harrison Savage |
| Scotland – Alix Christie |
| Wales – Jonathon Dawes |
Coach of the Year |
| London and South East – Luke House |
| Central and East – Jon Maskens |
| South and South West – James Brobin |
| Midlands – Claire Norman |
| North – Sam Salt |
| Scotland – Alan Russell |
| Wales – Craig Ingham |
Official of the Year |
| London and South East – Emily McGuinness |
| Central and East – Matt Breese |
| South and South West – Simon Corbishley |
| Midlands – Ed Bradford |
| North – Dave Kitchen |
| Scotland – Teresa Tait |
| Wales – Mark Wilkinson |
Club of the Year |
| London and South East – Oakwood Tennis Club |
| Central and East – Ipswich Sports Club |
| South and South West – Redmarley Tennis Club |
| Midlands – Duffield Tennis Club |
| North – Alderley Edge Tennis Club |
| Scotland – Aboyne Tennis |
| Wales – Caerphilly Tennis Club |
Community Venue of the Year |
| London and South East – Parks Tennis in Kingston |
| Central and East – Parktennis (Hertfordshire) |
| South and South West – Winchcombe Tennis Club |
| Midlands – Horncastle Community Tennis Network |
| North – A690 (Sunderland) |
| Scotland – Fairfield Community Sports Hub |
| Wales – Aneurin Leisure |
Competition of the Year |
| London and South East – Sussex County Championships |
| Central and East – Bedfordshire County Closed |
| South and South West – Gloucestershire League Over 60s |
| Midlands – Leicestershire County Closed |
| North – Yorkshire County Championships |
| Scotland – The Glasgow Trophy |
| Wales – British Tour, Penarth |
Disability Programme of the Year |
| London and South East – Jimmy’s Tennis at Frindsbury Lawn Tennis Club |
| Central and East – East Anglia Tennis & Squash Club |
| South and South West – Portsmouth Tennis Centre |
| Midlands – Droitwich Tennis Lido |
| North – Clare Mount Specialist Schools College (Wirral) |
| Scotland – Accessible Tennis CIC (Glasgow) |
| Wales – Newport Tennis Centre |
Education Venue of the Year |
| London and South East – Deal Parochial Church of England Primary School |
| Central and East – Clapton Girls’ Academy |
| South and South West – St Mary's Church of England Primary School (Devon) |
| Midlands – University of Nottingham |
| North – Dame Dorothy Primary School (Sunderland) |
| Scotland – Lauder Primary School |
| Wales – Cardinal Newman Catholic School |
Get involved
Feeling inspired by Maggie and all of our incredible regional volunteers? From supporting your local venue to getting involved at our major events, find out how you can get into volunteering.
