The LTA has launched a major drive to increase participation in tennis in parks with the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of local communities.
The governing body for tennis in Britain has developed a package of initiatives to support park tennis facilities and open up the sport to more people, including over 1,000 priority target parks across the country.
The strategic programme of activity includes the roll-out of free technology solutions to improve accessibility, park-based competition and programmed activity to drive regular play.
The LTA reports that nearly 1.5 million people played on park courts over the last 12 months with almost half being from lower socio-economic groups. It says its package of initiatives will support local authorities to provide flexible, free and low-cost opportunities for anyone to play on park courts.
The governing body has launched Rally, a new free digital platform to make it easier to find and book a court, and plans to roll out ‘Local Tennis Leagues’, which offers friendly, competitive tennis for adults, alongside initiatives like ‘LTA Big Tennis Weekends’ to attract more local people to play through open days.
LTA Chief Executive Scott Lloyd said: “Park tennis facilities are absolutely crucial to us achieving increased and sustained participation levels in our sport, and so the development of this work has been a central priority since we launched our new strategy last year and our work to make tennis relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable to anyone.
“As park tennis courts open back up following the easing of restrictions from the Coronavirus pandemic, the LTA is determined to work in partnership with local authorities to safeguard park tennis venues up and down the country, drive participation in tennis in parks and help open up the sport and its benefits to many more people.
“We now have a ready-to-go offer in place for local authorities, with our LTA Rally online booking platform and gate access systems both easy to implement, while exciting acquisitions like Local Tennis Leagues and our range of programmed activity ensure park facilities will be able to offer something for everyone.”
Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: "Normally at this time of year we'd be looking forward to the start of Wimbledon, but there is no reason why we can't hit the tennis courts ourselves. Tennis is a brilliant sport for the whole family to enjoy and can be done easily with social distancing, so I welcome the steps the LTA is taking to open up local courts and encourage everyone to pick up their rackets."
Find out more at lta.org.uk.
