Cambs LTA Parent Information Plan
The County will liaise with our County players via their parents as follows:
- Provide County team event age group calendars to all those in County Training termly
- Provide County identified players with recommended training and competitive programmes sent out with termly County Training invites
- County newsletter sent out termly
- Communicate all County Training and County team selections with a month’s notice
- Termly request for feedback regarding the County programmes
- Regular Parent Evenings
We will also arrange presentations for the following groups of players and parents as they progress within the LTA competition programme;
- Introduction to U8 starter events
- Understanding U8 County Training red to orange ball transition and competition programmes
- Understanding U10 green to yellow ball competition transition (rankings, ratings, WTN)
Parental Representative
In line with LTA best practice, Cambridgeshire Tennis is aiming to appoint a County Parental Representative.
The Parental Representative will:
- Be a point of contact within their county for other parents (particularly those who are new to the sport of tennis)
- Help to organise and promote the ‘Competition Parenting Workshops’
- Feed back to the LTA Competitions team on key topics to help inform the parent strategy going forward.
The representative will have had previous experience of parenting in competitive tennis across a range of different age groups. They will also have received training via a range of courses facilitated by LTA. They will be familiar with the structure of competitive tennis at club and county level and understand the tennis landscape in Cambridgeshire.
In additions to the Parental Representative appointment, our county coaches are happy to talk to you about your child’s tennis development. Please do set up an appointment with them if you feel this would be helpful.
The Cambridgeshire LTA Management Committee is always keen to hear feedback on any aspect of our junior programme that can be improved. In the first instance, we would ask you to consult our Parental Representative when appointed. Contact details will be on our website.
Parents in Tennis: How to Support your Child
A range of helpful advice is available on the LTA website. The link below takes parents through suggestions for supporting your child through their early exposure to competitive
tennis. On the link below you will find a series of videos on “Fair Play values of tennis” as well as an introduction to red orange and green scoring and the basics of match play.
https://www.lta.org.uk/play-compete/getting-started/information-for-parents/
Below is a link to a publication called Start Competing – A Parent’s Guide. This takes parents through the range of tournaments available and what the grades mean. It also shows how to find suitable tournaments and then preparing your child for match play. Finally it provides useful advice on the suggested approach of parents before, during and after their child’s match.
https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/play/parents/start-competing-guide-a5.pdf
Competition Parenting Workshop
This informative online workshop is an interactive 2 hour session designed to provide parents with the knowledge and skills needed to optimally support their child at tennis competitions. The workshop is aimed at parents with children between the ages of 9 and 14 years who have either just started competing or who play regularly in competitions. The content has been designed in partnership with Loughborough University to address the specific needs of parents. Topics covered include parents’ roles during tennis competitions, communicating effectively with children before, during and after a match and managing the emotional demands of competition.
The workshop is available to everyone and it is free of charge to sign up. You can find details on:
https://www.lta.org.uk/workforce-venues/coach-teach/coach-developmentcourses/courses/?format=Workshop&cost=0-0&cat=1&provider=TP005
Mental and Emotional Skills -A Guide for Parents
Tennis is a tough game not only because it demands varied and coordinated physical skills but also because it challenges the mind. An understanding of the psychology of tennis will definitely help parents support their children and also provide some tips to help overcome nerves and to play as well as possible. The LTA have commissioned a very useful guide for parents which will help them to support their children with this aspect of the game.
https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/play/parents/mental-emotional-skills-guide-a5.pdf
