The LTA launches new programme to train an army of Tennis Activators across Scotland
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The LTA is today announcing a new £250,000 investment into a workforce programme to train over 500 people to become Tennis Activators in Scotland. This investment will help deliver more free and affordable tennis provision in local communities, with a particular focus on recruiting activators to work in Scotland’s parks.
This builds on the LTA’s Park Tennis Project, a nationwide investment of over £45million from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation and local partners. The project has now brought more than 3000 park tennis courts across Great Britain back to life and into long term sustainable use for local communities. This includes hundreds of courts in Scotland.
The recruitment of a new army of Tennis Activators, which will be delivered in conjunction with Tennis Scotland, is intended to expand the tennis workforce across Scotland and help to capitalise on increased access of facilities including in parks and Community Indoor Tennis Centres. This will provide more local and accessible tennis sessions for local communities through programmes like Barclays Free Park Tennis, which offers free, weekly sessions in local parks with equipment provided.
Tennis Activators play a vital role in facilitating play for adults and children by providing a fun and engaging environment to participate, particularly for those who are new to tennis. Activators help to make the sport more accessible for people picking up a racket for the first time, and for children who have played tennis in schools through the LTA Youth Schools programme and want to continue to play outside of the school day.
The LTA and Tennis Scotland are looking for parents, young volunteers and anyone passionate about tennis in their community to take part. The ambition is for the new Activator workforce to be reflective of local communities across Scotland, with gender parity across those recruited and trained.
Activators complement the existing professional tennis coaching workforce, and help provide much needed additional support to facilitate introductory and group sessions.
The LTA’s ambition is that more than 75 of those who train as Activators will go on to become LTA Qualified Coaches, accessing the qualification pathway through the LTA funded Coach Development Centre, delivered by Tennis Scotland.
This new investment from the LTA is intended to build on growing participation in Scotland and recognise the inspirational achievements of Andy Murray and Jamie Murray over many years, contributing to the ongoing achievements of players including Gordon Reid, Jacob Fearnley, Cam Norrie and Maia Lumsden.
Olly Scadgell, the LTA’s Managing Director of Tennis Development, said: “Tennis Activators are vital in helping to provide fun and informal opportunities for people take up the sport whatever their age. So we’re really proud to be launching this scheme, working with Tennis Scotland, to train over 500 new Tennis Activators in parks and community venues across the whole country.
“It’s an exciting time for Scottish tennis, particularly with the investment that we have made into park tennis facilities, and this is just one of a number of initiatives that will help support continued growth at grassroots level.”
Today’s announcement also follows on from a new plan to drive tennis take-up in Scottish schools which was recently unveiled by the LTA, LTA Tennis Foundation, Tennis Scotland sportscotland and Scottish Government. This will see an investment of £1million into the national schools programme, LTA Youth Schools, with the ambition that every child in Scotland will have the opportunity to try tennis.
It also builds on the LTA’s investment in growing Scottish tennis in recent years including a commitment of £7.5million to the Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis Fund (TSIT), working alongside sportscotland and Tennis Scotland to develop more indoor tennis courts. Projects are complete in Moray and Edinburgh and work is in progress on a centre in Dumfries and Galloway.
Over and above TSIT, since 2019 the LTA Tennis Foundation has also supported the development of facilities across projects totalling £3.8million, through provision of £1.3million in loans. The LTA’s Park Tennis Project has also invested an additional £2.5million into bringing dilapidated park courts back to life for local communities across Scotland, unlocking a further £0.5million of local partner funding. The LTA is also investing half a million pounds annually into the Scottish National Player Pathway to develop young Scottish players.
Meanwhile the LTA remains committed to working with partners in Scotland to secure the future for a tennis centre of national significance for Scotland and is continuing to discuss options for this.
