23 November 2018

ONE DAY TOURNAMENTS (Grade 4 & 5) & MATCHPLAYS (Grade 6)

TOURNAMENT APPLICATION PROCESS - 2019 SUMMER SEASON

Dear Competition Organiser,

Firstly, on behalf of the LTA, we would like to thank you for your support of the one-day tournament
programme. Without these tournaments, we wouldn’t be able to provide players with a Summer
County Tour programme. We appreciate the hard work and commitment that goes into organising
these tournaments, and thank you for your enthusiasm and dedication.

IMPORTANT UPDATE
From 1st April 2019 only LTA Registered Venues will be able to run Grade 1 to 6 competitions. The
opportunity to run graded competitions has been confirmed as a benefit of Venue Registration for
2018-19 so that we can ensure that all tournament venues meet Safeguarding Minimum Standards
and have adequate insurance cover in place to protect organisers, officials, players and spectators.
Prior to submitting any applications for competitions that will take place in the 2019 Summer
season you will need to ensure that your venue is registered or will complete the registration
process. No Grade 1-6 competitions will be approved at non-registered venues.

Please also note that from 1st April 2019 trainee referees will not be permitted to deliver Grade 5
competitions. Further information has been communicated to all referees who currently hold an RT
grade, if you have not received this information or you require further support please contact your
Regional Tennis Competition Coordinator or email officiatingsupport@lta.org.uk.

2019 SUMMER CALENDAR

If you delivered one-day events during the 2018 Summer Season you will be aware that a number
of changes were made to the competition application and approval process for that season, with
the aim of improving the competition completion rate across our grade 4 and 5 programme.

The positive news is that the one-day grade 4 completion rate increased to 68.4% in 2018S (from
59.8% in 2017S) and the one-day grade 5 completion rate saw a marginal increase from 38.5%
(2017S) to 40.6% (2018S). Whilst this is better, there is still significant room for improvement and
we want to continue to increase this figure as it is frustrating for both organisers and players when
events are cancelled. However, we also need to try and provide a calendar that offers sufficient
opportunities for organisers to deliver viable competitions, so based on the feedback we received
from organisers we have applied the following principles to the 2019 Summer calendar and
planning process;

- Whilst continuing with a ‘fixed-date’ approach that supports counties with planning county
training programmes, we have, where possible, provided whole weekends so that organisers
can choose whether to run events on a Saturday or a Sunday. However, we have also
continued to ensure that events do not clash with Team Tennis fixture dates. In areas where
there is limited Team Tennis provision the RTCC may allow more flexibility to organisers to
choose which day (Saturday or Sunday) they run their events.

- Organisers can apply to run mid-week adult events – these dates are not listed on the
application form, if you would like to run any of these events please email your proposed plan
of events to your RTCC.
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- We have endeavoured to ensure that on each competition weekend in the calendar there are
opportunities for organisers to run events for multiple age groups.

- Mini Tennis Events have been scheduled so that there are more instances where at least two,
if not three, events take place on the same weekend.

- We have tried to increase the number of grade 5 opportunities across all age groups so that
organisers can build larger grade 5 programmes.

- RTCCs can also, at their discretion, approve mid-week grade 5 competitions to take place
during school holidays. These are not available to select on the calendar so if you would like to
apply please email your RTCC, who will make a decision based on your previous completion
rate and the provision of weeklong grade 4 competitions in the area. No grade 5s will be
approved midweek during school term times.

GRADE 4 & 5 ONE DAY TOURNAMENTS

Please find below some key points about the Summer County Tour:

- The FAST4 scoring format should be used throughout the circuit (10U – Open)

- Players will be able to play up to 4 matches in a day, using FAST4, whilst maintaining a good
experience ensuring players are not needed on site for a long period of time, so organisers will
be able to choose from the following:

o 16 player elimination draw with first match consolation

o 16 player compass draws
o 8 player compass draw

- We would encourage you to consider applying to run grade 4 doubles events and they will
count for British Tennis Ranking Points.

Venues/organisers are encouraged to run multiple events on one day across different ages,
and grades (in accordance with the calendar).

We will also be looking to pilot some improvements to the Grade 5 programme during the 2019
Summer season and will be in touch with further information on this in due course.

Please also consider when planning that events for younger juniors should not be scheduled to
finish late into the evening on either Saturday or Sunday. We appreciate that available court time is
limited but we would ask that organisers adhere to the following when making any applications:

Age Group To finish no later than

8U/9U/10U 7pm
12U/14U 8pm Sat / 7pm Sunday
16U/18U 9pm

HOW TO APPLY – GRADE 4 & 5

If you are interested in delivering these competitions the next steps are as follows:

- Review the attached list with your venue to confirm if you have the courts available to run the
competitions available on the specified dates.

- Log onto www.LTA.org.uk/CompetitionPlanning to complete the availability form by Sunday 6th

January 2019.
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- Venues/organisers will be selected according to their availability, the location of events within
the region (we need to ensure sufficient access to competition according to the player base
within each area of a region) and previous tournament delivery experience.

- Successful organisers will be contacted and asked to create their competitions online (using
LTA Competition Creation) on Thursday 31st January 2019.

- Organisers to create their competitions online by Sunday 17th February 2019.

- Competitions will be sanctioned by Thursday 28th February 2019 and visible online.

- Competition Guides for each county will be produced and published by Friday 1st March 2019.

Failure to create your competition by the deadline may jeopardise your application.

GRADE 6 ONE DAY TOURNAMENTS

As in previous seasons all applications to run a tournament will need to be submitted online, so
please apply for your tournaments through the members’ area on the LTA website by 31st January
2019. These will be approved automatically by Thursday 28th February 2019. As these will be
approved automatically, it’s worth linking in with other local organisers to ensure your programmes
do not clash. Grade 6’s can be created after this date and will be approved weekly. Please note
that no grade 6 competitions will be approved during county championships week.

OFFICIALS LICENCE SCHEME

All referees delivering LTA Approved competitions graded 1-5 must hold a valid LTA Officials
Licence. Further information is available on the Officials Licence Scheme page of the LTA Website.

 Grade 4s should be run by a referee graded R4 or higher (R5s may be considered with the
approval of the RTCC).

 Grade 5s must be run by a referee graded R5 or higher.

MEDALS
An allocation of medals will be provided to support organisers running their Grade 4 and 5 One
Day Tournament Programme.

PLANNING YOUR COMPETITION – TIMESCALES

Please ensure that when planning your competition you adhere to the timescales for closing and
withdrawal deadlines, as listed in our ‘Planning Your Competition – Timescales’ document, which
is available on the LTA website in the Organisers and Officials Resources area.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting competition in your area and
we look forward to working with you to deliver a fun and enjoyable experience next summer. If you
have any questions or need any support please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Best wishes,

Sam Kemp
Regional Tennis Competition Co-ordinator
South West Region

M: 07934292792
E: Sam.Kemp@lta.org.uk