There are many tennis courts around the area where I live, although the very closest are privately owned. The nearest public courts, are in Bury, the Abbey Gardens has 2 courts, but a �5 fee must be paid for each hour of using them. These courts are run and maintained by the local authorities. The Victory Ground and Risbygate are both clubs and require a joining fee to be paid initially, however both also have strict rules, which players must stick to. They run low level coaching sessions for all ages with a weekly amount to be paid. The cost to join these clubs wouldn’t be too much for a working adult to pay, however a person of my age may not be able to afford them. In order to join Risbygate Club you must pay �25 a year plus �2 per guest. To use tennis courts in villages, sometimes you must be a resident, e.g. the courts in Bardwell with one court and Tostock with one court. Though not all village clubs require this, for example Woolpit and Barrow, that both have more than two courts.
Bury Leisure Centre runs inexpensive tennis schemes, such as Champion Coaching where children from the age of 8-13 have the opportunity to learn new skills and practice their sport. However the actual Leisure Centre does not have tennis facilities itself. The only indoor tennis courts in the county are situated in Ipswich and are funded by Suffolk LTA. From doing a lot of research on tennis I know that there are very few recently published tennis books in the Bury and Thurston libraries, which cannot be doing a lot to promote the sport in this area.
‘Cliff Richard Tennis Trail’ is a scheme that helps clubs develop tennis in local primary schools. It provides coaches, equipment and funding to develop curriculum and after school tennis in hundreds of primary schools around the country every year. There are other schemes such as: The Yoplait Tennis Awards – aimed at kids of all ages and abilities provides an award scheme around the concept of rally activity. Nestle Ladder Competition – available to all junior players in schools and Clubs. Encourages competition for juniors. Mini Tennis LTA – provides the first steps in learning how to play tennis. Robinson’s JNR Tennis – aims to boost tennis participation among kids at grass roots level. focuses on kids who have graduated from the LTA’s mini tennis programme.
The National Lottery gives 28% to good causes from its total profits and sports are included under this amount. Sport then receives 1/6 of proceeds through grants to the Sports Councils. �1.147 billion was given to sport by the end of 1999; this has then benefited grass roots and elite athletes. �750 million is also being injected into school sport and after school clubs. Lottery funding under the World Class Performance Programme by UK Sport and Sport England supports elite athletes. It enables the athletes to improve their performance and win medals in the Olympics and major international functions.
The Youth and Lifelong Participation Branch within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have a special concern for young peoples sport and activity, from children’s play through to sport in schools. The DCMS works closely with the Department of Education and Skills and ensures a co-ordinated approach to the provision of curriculum PE and after school sporting activity. They also identify gaps in provision and develop strategies to address these where they exist. Sport England runs a programme called ‘Active Schools’ which aims to involve more people in sport, particularly young people. They recognise a schools commitment to providing a quality programme of physical education and school sport. It then provides a range of integrated services and products specifically designed to help schools enhance their provision and achieve the awards.
The LTA awards scholarships to upcoming performers to be funded through university. The funding assists with entry fees, travel, accommodation at tournaments, training camps, sports medicine, coaching and fitness training, testing and monitoring. It aims ‘to make Britain a great tennis nation by helping to grow the sport throughout the country at all levels, from the grass roots of the game to success on the international stage.’ The LTA also allows talented performers to be sponsored so that they can receive support from several corporate sponsors.