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LTA regional award winner Maggie coaching kids
LTA Awards

LTA Tennis Awards: 70 inspirational regional winners unveiled

• 4 MINUTE READ

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.

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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.

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