BOOST FOR NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SPORT AS LTA SPEARHEADS £250M TRANSFORMATION OF BRITAIN’S TENNIS COURTS
- Nottinghamshire set to benefit as Lawn Tennis Association launches biggest ever grassroots investment in the sport
- Initiative will focus on making courts easier to book and ensuring rain and darkness no longer stop play
- Communities across Nottinghamshire encouraged to come together and register their interest to receive funding to transform their local tennis courts
Nottinghamshire tennis community is set to benefit from the announcement by The Lawn Tennis Association of the biggest ever grassroots investment in the sport. The Transforming British Tennis Together initiative aims to make courts across the country more useable and accessible to everyone over the next ten years.
The £250m transformation of Britain’s tennis courts, comes at a time of huge momentum in elite British tennis and unprecedented levels of interest and pride in the sport, which together have inspired many more people to pick up a racket.
The LTA has committed to investing £125 million to improve community tennis facilities across the country, and plans to unlock a further £125 million through match funding from community networks with a shared vision for growing the game.
Tennis clubs, parks, local government, volunteers, coaches and businesses across Nottinghamshire are being encouraged to come together and register their interest in
bidding for the funds to transform their local tennis courts via the LTA’s website
www.lta.org.uk/TBTT
The funding will ensure that some of the key barriers to playing tennis are overcome. Currently, over a third of possible playing hours are lost due to rain as only 7% of Britain’s 23,000 courts have covers courts are covered and have floodlights. Furthermore, booking and gaining entry to a court too often relies on old, analogue systems, making it difficult to organise a game.
Transforming British Tennis Together will see the LTA work in partnership with local communities in Nottinghamshire to:
- Increase the number of covered and floodlit courts to boost available playing hours when it’s raining and when the sun has gone down;
- Install online booking and entry systems so everyone can book a tennis court easily from their mobile phone, computer or tablet;
- Refurbish courts, clubhouses and other social spaces to ensure players have a great experience every time they visit;
- Support other innovative and creative ideas that meet local demand.
By working with communities across Britain with a real passion for tennis, the LTA aims to deliver 750 newly covered indoor courts, over 4,000 newly floodlit courts and nearly 3,000 court entry systems across the country over the next decade