Venue and Coach Support

Venue and Coach Support

Cambridgeshire Tennis provides support for Cambridgeshire venues and coaches to help them increase tennis participation - the number of people playing tennis and the frequency of play. We can always be contacted via the County Office (admin@cambslta.org.uk) to assist with any questions you may have. 

We aim to provide support by the following means:

Advice

• Club Liaison Team. Club Liaison Team aims to provide venues in Cambridgeshire with a designated county contact - contact us if you would like to join the scheme. Our goal is to create stronger links between the clubs and the county by establishing a regular two-way dialogue, that strengthens both club and county activities. The team comprises volunteers who have been or are currently involved in tennis club management and/or leadership roles within the county. Guided by the Regional LTA team and the County Executive, the group's aim is to be a contact point for information about local or national tennis initiatives and to offer general help and advice where we can. Even if we can just point clubs in the right direction for assistance, we're here to share our knowledge and be that personal link with local understanding of tennis matters in Cambridgeshire.
   
• County Office. Access to our administration staff to consult on all tennis matters via phone and email - please contact us on admin@cambslta.org.uk or by phone: 07464 049654
   
• County Management Team. Access to relevant personnel who sit on our Management Committee and other committees (Performance, Participation, Finance and Sponsorship) to discuss specific club needs.
   
• Advice on Inclusive Tennis. Cambridgeshire is active in promoting inclusive tennis. Several clubs have links with a number of special schools throughout the county and a special schools tournament is held annually. The Cambridgeshire Tennis also supports a yearly inclusive tennis event at the Cambridge University Sports Centre run by Power2inspire which is open to everyone. Wheelchair tennis is offered by Papworth and the City of Peterborough Tennis Clubs. Later this year it is hoped that Visual impairment tennis will be offered at Hills Rd Sports Centre. Walking tennis is being promoted by the LTA nationally and is currently offered by clubs such as Wisbech, Huntingdon and Ely. Other walking tennis projects are currently in the pipeline. Funding is available to start up new initiatives. For more information about this and for advice about how to make your club more inclusive please contact Steve Shaw on stevecshaw@btinternet,com or phone/text him on 07485 279776. 
   
• Support with Social Media. Cambridgeshire Tennis providers specialist advice for venues and coaches on how to use social media to promote their services and keep their members/players up to date. Please contact us if you would like some help.
   
• Club and Coach Forums. Cambridgeshire Tennis runs annual Club and Coach Forums at which the latest LTA and County initiatives are presented. These Forums are also designed to let attendees share ideas.  The LTA have an excellent Venue Support Toolkit (https://www.lta.org.uk/roles-and-venues/venues/) where you will also find recordings of Venue Webinars on a range of useful subjects.

Funding

• Participation Grants. We provide small grants to enable venues and coaches to get more people playing tennis in Cambridgeshire. Participation Grants usually meet the following criteria: -

Funded projects increase participation by either getting new players to play tennis or infrequent players to play more.

• Projects are often linked to and enhance existing LTA offers e.g., LTA Youth Start, LTA Youth Schools or disability and inclusive tennis.
• Recipients usually have a record of supporting the County.
• The project hasn’t already started.
• Our fund typically provides grants of between £300 and £1,000.

To apply please contact Bill Skead – billskead1@tiscali.co.uk or 07751 366934

Download the application form

• Grant funding and application service. Cambridgeshire Tennis funds the services of specialist grant finder - Steve Goswell. Steve is a County Veteran Tennis player who has raised over £700,000 pounds in grants for tennis clubs in Cambridgeshire. If you’re looking for funding for facility or revenue projects, please contact us and we can put you in touch with Steve. For approved projects, the County will pay for the fundraising costs. To date, Steve has helped clubs with grants to build new courts, resurface existing courts, provide new floodlights, replace existing floodlights with LED, build new and upgrade existing clubhouses, provide disabled access and provide funds for coaching projects and equipment for clubs wanting to increase membership. Steve will give written advice on funding and will write funding applications for your club.
  
  His website is www.Funding4Tennis.uk and Steve can be contacted directly at s.goswell@gmail.com
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• Funding for Inclusive Tennis Projects. Funding for coaching children who have additional needs is available through the Richard Darton Tennis Foundation. Funding for other projects can be applied for through the LTA nationally as well as through Cambridgeshire Tennis. In addition Steve Goswell has a lot experience in applying for funding for coaching children and adults who have additional needs or who are in an under-represented group. Please contact Steve Shaw who will be happy to advise you further about funding in this area. He can be contacted on stevecshaw@btinternet.com or 07485 279776.
   
• County Funding for Facility projects.  While our preference is to help raise funds from third parties, the County will make small grants or interest free loans to Clubs for facility projects. Please send us a short summary of any project and we will be in touch.

Promotion

• Promote Your Venue or Activities on the County’s Website and Social Media platforms. If you’ve got an event, course, open day, or job to advertise share it on the County’s social media platforms.  Simply follow us on social media and we will repost your post.

Celebrating success

• County Awards. Cambridgeshire Tennis wants to support venues by celebrating their achievements and those of their volunteers, officials, and coaches. To do this the County runs the LTA awards at a county level – promotes nominations, adjudicates the awards, and runs the county awards presentation. Launched in 2015 with the help of former LTA President Cathie Sabin OBE, the LTA awards recognise the many thousands of inspirational individuals involved in tennis who dedicate their precious time and energy; across the county 25,000 volunteers, 6,000 coaches and some 1,000 officials!  This is an excellent way to show your appreciation for someone simply by nominating them – we have had National Winners in the County who have been treated to an amazing Wimbledon related experience.