Nottingham University crowned University of the Year
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The University of Nottingham has been crowned a national winner at the prestigious LTA Tennis Awards.
The institution scooped the LTA’s University of the Award after being recognised for its inspirational work adapting to Covid-19 restrictions and showing sustained innovation through lockdown.
They were announced as the winner by Great British tennis ace and former World Student Games tennis champion Joe Salisbury at the live-streamed awards ceremony presented by LTA Head of Men’s tennis and Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith OBE.
The LTA Tennis Awards are now in their sixth year and celebrate the achievements and contributions of outstanding tennis volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players across the country.
And they were hand-picked as one of 16 national winners recognised at the awards ceremony last week, which honoured individuals involved in tennis at grassroots, county, regional and national level.
Nominations were drawn from over 25,000 volunteers, nearly 5,000 coaches and 1,000 officials, 22,000 schools, nearly 3,000 clubs and over 9,000 LTA approved tournaments, with the University of Nottingham recognised for their outstanding work.
Despite the restrictions of lockdown, the University of Nottingham continued to attract new players, held regular online workshops and logged a whopping 500-plus volunteering hours over the last 12 months.
The University of Nottingham’s coaching sessions are so popular that their 400 weekly coaching spaces frequently sell out within minutes. During 2020, their lockdown fitness sessions raised money for the NHS and the club was a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. On the match court, the club achieved four promotions and reached three BUCS Big Wednesday Finals.
The quality and quantity of the nominations demonstrate outstanding work that has been done in tennis through the pandemic and David Rawlinson, LTA President, said: “The LTA Tennis Awards are a real celebration of the people that make our sport thrive.
“They celebrate the achievements made by outstanding volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players, who are all vital in helping us to grow the game.
“The past year has been challenging for everyone, but to see the tremendous positive contributions the nominees have made to the sport and to their communities has been tremendously uplifting.”
National Runners Up
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh’s membership level reached a new high and the number of weekly sessions on offer increased by 75%. During lockdown, they provided members with fun online social events and fitness training and provided free and discounted sessions for those students remaining in Edinburgh. They also linked with the Judy Murray Foundation to train students to deliver tennis to the local community.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford Lawn Tennis Centre secured 300 new members at their virtual fresher’s fayre and adapted to Covid with online resources, team bubbles and taxi buddies. Their Volley Challenge, which totalled nearly 50,000 volleys hit, raised money for Crisis and they also launched a hardship fund for members.
LTA University of the Year 2021 – National Shortlist
- Bristol
- Edinburgh
- Nottingham
- Oxford
- Sussex
- York St John’s
