President's Welcome

As the LTA staff and management teams are having such a shake up I thought you might like to be given a few pointers about the way forward and how it may affect us in the Channel Islands. Great emphasis is being put on performance, coaches, players, clubs and tournaments.

The LTA aims, as far as juniors are concerned, is as follows:

A Getting the best coaches working with the best talent in the best facilities.

B Providing the best technical and sports science support and advice, in the most accessible way, to the right people when they need it

C Establish a straightforward high quality competitive framework that gives juniors the stimulus they need to get on, and stay on the winning pathway.

There are so many opportunities for young dedicated players to achieve their goals, that we felt that we should list some of these events that are available in the Channel Islands, so that players and their families can see what can be aimed for taking into account the following-:

A their present level of commitment

B a greater commitment to compete

C a single minded aim to climb the tennis ladder.

Lets’ start at the top of what the Channel Islands can help you achieve.

1 The Commonwealth Games in India in 2010 will include Tennis for the first time. To this end the CILTA are applying to both Islands CGA to join the relevant association in time (i.e. February 2007) so that we will be able to nominate players. There is also the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India in 2008.

2 NCL and NJCL. The NCL gives the opportunity to travel to the UK and play in a team from your Club against players you may never have seen before. NJCL begins with matches between clubs in your own Island, and is good team match experience. The most successful teams then play those from the other Island and the winners then go on to play regional rounds against UK teams.

3 Road to Wimbledon (R2W) for under 14’s. This is run by your club. No ratings are needed to enter. This is a great event in which to start playing matches. Clubs arrange their tournament to suit the players and their timescale. You may only enter 1 R2W tournament each year. The winning boy and girl from each club, and often the runners up go on to the C.I. County Finals in July. Clubs need to enter these events, NCL, NJCL and R2W by January.

4 Ariel Age group Tournaments. These are run by the County for you to have matches on indoor courts during the winter months. Please make full use of these if your rating is 10.1 or better, otherwise the LTA will not give us the small allowance towards courts that we receive, and everyone will have to travel to the UK for the same experience.

5 County Teams. We enter all the events that are run for the Counties by the L.T.A. Over 35’s, Summer county, Winter county, under 18, 14, 12 and 10. You need to get match results to be selected for these.

6 County Championships and Junior County Championships.

7 Club tournaments. The LTA will be talking with clubs to make sure they run tournaments to suit their members.

8 Your Island Association also organises Inter Insulars, Inter-club leagues and the Island Championships of Jersey and Guernsey.

9 National Competitions are also held in the UK which most of our players with rankings are eligible to enter.

10 The International events are also now held in Jersey twice a year.

Whilst the CILTA and the LTA is there to put on these events it is the responsibility of players their coaches and their parents to make sure they enter not the local office or CI coaches.

Tennis is a game, and there is a winner and loser of every match. However in the beginning the result is not as important as each player first needs to find their level, the rating system helps towards this, but to progress up the only way is to play lots of matches.

Once you reach 9.2 rating, you need 7 wins against like rated players between March and September, or vice versa, in order for your rating to improve. The ones you lose do not count, so you can see how many matches need to be played to move up - lots. We are trying to give young players these opportunities, but they must take advantage of the events or they will cease to be run.

As you play you will discover your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your opponents, again the outcome is not nearly as important as what you learn from the match. Correcting these weaknesses and finding they have been overcome, is a very rewarding experience.

Enjoy your tennis matches in 2008.

Di Hudson
President CILTA