LTA Youth Matchplay
LTA Youth Matchplay is an exciting, engaging competition format designed to give players their first experience of individual competition. In 2-3 hour competitions players compete in singles and doubles matches against players of a similar ability. There’s no overall winner, it’s about getting on court and having fun!
LTA Youth Matchplays can be delivered by coaches, competition organisers and referees. It’s a great way to enhance the competition programme on offer at your venue and give your players some competitive experience in a friendly environment, helping to retain them in the sport. You can utilise court time at quieter periods and could work with nearby venues to develop a circuit of Matchplay events.
You can run LTA Youth Matchplay competitions at any time and we have some great technology and resources to support you to deliver your events.
LTA Youth Matchplay competitions are easy to run and can be delivered by a coach, competition organiser or official.
Benefits of running LTA Youth Matchplay competitions
- Give players their first taste of individual competition in a fun, friendly environment
- Provide internal competition at your venue just for your players - or invite others to take part
- Players that compete are more likely to play tennis more often and to keep playing for longer - great news for your programme
- You'll be supporting players to reach the next milestone on the LTA Youth Compete reward scheme
- Generate revenue by charging players a small fee to enter
- Generate income for your venue through secondary spend at your cafe/bar or shop
- Develop your skills as a competition organiser/official
The first step is to complete our LTA Youth Compete online training module. It's free and will take you less than an hour to complete. The training covers the principles of an LTA Youth Matchplay competition, things to remember on the day, and where to go for further support. After the training you can apply for your free LTA Youth Compete organiser pack containing great resources for you and your players.
After you've completed the training and applied for your resource pack you can start preparing for your first matchplay competition. You'll need to:
- Decide when and where you want to run your matchplay competition
- Book the courts and arrange tennis balls
- Create your matchplay competition on the Competition Management System if you want external players to enter. If it's just for players at your venue you can advertise via email, clubspark or your club noticeboard and then submit your results online using Results Manager.
- Accept the entries for your competition on a first come, first served basis
- Email the players in advance using the 'Pre Competition email' template
- Group your players based on the number of matches they've previously played
- Deliver your matchplay competition - create a fun, enjoyable environment for your players to compete in - think group warm-up, a fun game at the end and lots of energy!
- Afterwards submit your results to the LTA and email your players to say thank you for taking part
A more detailed step-by-step guide is available in the LTA Youth Matchplay organiser guide:
There are lots of resources available to support you to deliver your LTA Youth Matchplay competition:
Helpful documents
LTA Youth Matchplay Organiser Guide
LTA Youth Matchplay Organiser Warm-Up Cards
LTA Youth Matchplay Pre-Event Email Template
LTA Youth Matchplay TTP and CMS Video Guide
Training to deliver LTA Youth Competitions
LTA Youth Compete Online Training
Promotional resources
LTA Youth Matchplay Poster Templates
LTA Youth Matchplay Social Media Banners - Facebook
LTA Youth Matchplay Social Media Banners - Twitter
LTA Youth Matchplay Social Media Banners - Instagram
LTA Youth competition certificates
LTA Youth Red Competition Certificate
LTA Youth Orange Competition Certificate
LTA Youth Green Competition Certificate
It can often be helpful to learn from people that have first-hand experience of delivering a competition format, so hopefully the following case studies will be useful and give you some ideas of how you/your venue could benefit from delivering LTA Youth Matchplay competitions.
Read more about how The Parklangley Club have incorporated LTA Youth Matchplays into their venue programme:
Read Parklangley Club case study
Preston Lawn Tennis Club deliver an LTA Youth Matchplay competition every month - read their top tips here:
LTA Youth Matchplay competitions can also be delivered successfully as part of park programmes. Below's how LTA Youth Matchplays are delivered at Heath Park in Cardiff:
More case studies will be coming soon.
If you'd like to learn more about how to deliver an LTA Youth Matchplay competition and you haven't already done so then consider completing our LTA Youth Compete online training module. It's free to access and should take no more than one hour to complete:
If you've checked out the helpful resources on this page but need further guidance and support with getting your LTA Youth Matchplay competitions up and running please contact our Customer Support Team via the LTA Support Centre below and they'll put you in touch with your local Competition Development Partner.