Have you considered becoming a tennis official? The LTA is currently pushing its latest five year plan to encourage more tennis competition at all levels, and we at St Ann’s Tennis fully endorse this objective. Here is their key message:
“The benefits of competition go beyond the court, it helps prepare you for life. It offers you a platform to develop problem solving, decision-making, social skills, emotional resilience, and good sportsmanship – all valuable skills for life beyond sport.
It doesn’t matter where you compete, whether it’s playing points with a friend at your local park, or getting involved in an LTA sanctioned competition, we are committed to driving a culture of competition for everyone – competition opened up.”
To make this happen, the LTA need more court supervisors and match referees. Forget – for now – the idea of sitting in the high chair on centre court. Professional umpiring is a different world which we don’t need to consider right now. We are, instead, focusing on the bottom of the pyramid, which means hosting and operating tennis tournaments – for juniors, and adults – at St Ann’s and beyond. And to do that, you need to qualify firstly as a court supervisor. It’s free, it’s online and you can do it here. The course takes 2-3hrs.
Online: Court Supervisor Course
I also need help from time to time with tournaments – LTA and club tournaments – and this role is easier if the individual has at least completed the online Court Supervisor course. Once you have completed that, the next stage is to qualify as an official LTA referee. That requires a two day (one weekend) course at an official venue, which costs about £150 and finishes with a 1hr written exam. At present, myself and Jimmy Smith are qualified referees, and we sometimes bring in other referee colleagues to help out. You get paid a modest match fee for each event.
Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about this process and how it works. Hosting an LTA tournament is no small undertaking, with typically young people (often accompanied by their entire families) travelling long distances to take part. Very often you will be supervising players taking their first steps in competitive tennis. All participants should feel confident they are taking part in a professionally run tournament. It can be tough, but it is also immensely satisfying. Get in touch if you would like to learn more – Conrad
