University of Sheffield named LTA Tennis Awards University of the Year
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The University of Sheffield Tennis Club has been awarded the University of the Year accolade at the LTA Tennis Awards after a huge growth in membership and participation over the past few years.
The student volunteer-led club currently has 300 members, double the previous record, and a boom in membership has seen the formation of two men and one women’s development squads.
Professional coaching is now offered to social members and the amount of available weekly court hours has increased by 130 per cent.
The club were announced as the winner by tennis players and doubles pairing Olivia Nichols and Alicia Barnet at a live-streamed awards ceremony presented by LTA President David Rawlinson and hosted by the LTA’s Head of Men’s Tennis Leon Smith.
The LTA Tennis Awards are now in their seventh year and celebrate the achievements and contributions of outstanding tennis volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players across the country.
The University of Sheffield was hand-picked as one of 17 national winners recognised at the awards ceremony on Thursday, 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 also recognised how it welcomes new members.
The club introduced the ‘family’ programme, which sees experienced members help newer members settle into the club and form friendships within the tennis community.
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 acknowledge the achievements made by outstanding volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players, who are all vital in helping us to grow the game.
“The outstanding contributions the nominees have made to the sport and to their communities has been tremendously uplifting and I would like to thank them for their fantastic work.”
Congratulations to all of our University of the Year National Finalists:
- University of Birmingham
- University of East London
- University of Exeter
- Leeds Beckett University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Sheffield
- University of St Andrews
