First Ever Competition Organiser Camp!
Over the weekend of 2 – 4 October 23 Competition Organisers, recruited through our successful partnership with v, were rewarded for their voluntary commitment to British tennis with a camp at the National Tennis Centre, aimed at Young Volunteers between the ages of 16 - 25.
During the course of the weekend they undertook various activities to give them a further insight into how they can develop their skills as a volunteer and give them a deeper understanding of tennis. Activities included a sports science workshop, workshops relating to other careers within tennis, a discussion about the Olympics, team building exercises, an introduction into more effective ways of communicating and encouraging more people to get involved.
Hugo Allen who attended the camp said, “I’ve really enjoyed meeting other competition organisers from all around the country and getting their different perspectives on how competitions should be run. I came really I think to get an experience of being at the NTC, the new home of British Tennis and to see how the sport will develop. The course absolutely met my expectations and I’m really glad I came.”
The National Volunteer and Club Development Manager, Sophie Curthoys acknowledged the importance all volunteers have to play in ensuring the continued success of British tennis. “All sports benefit from the time and passion its volunteers dedicate to various facets of the programme and tennis is no different,” she said. “This camp has been about not only rewarding each of the young volunteers who attended but also helping them develop new skills and opportunities which in turn will hopefully maximise their potential and their enjoyment. The 2012 Olympics will depend on 70,000 volunteers and I’ve no doubt that some of the attendees this weekend will make up those numbers, as they continue to support tennis over the next three years and beyond.”
With the success of the weekend and the growing number of people volunteering to organise competition it is hope that this camp will grow in the future.
Find out more about competition organising.
Join the Young British Tennis Volunteers Facebook Group.
Introducing a New Course.....
Done the competition organisers course and wondering what’s next??? Interested in getting into refereeing but the whole process seems to lengthy and unnecessary?
Well we have the course for you!
Launching this November will be a pilot LTA Competition Organiser Referee Accreditation Course. This will allow people that have attended a Competition Organisers course to skip the basic Refereeing Course and follow straight into a specially designed accreditation course.
Minimum requirements for attending this course:
1. Previously attended a Competition Organiser course.
2. Joined ABTO as a Trainee Member and paid the first year’s subscription of £20 - please make cheques payable to ‘ABTO’.
3. Obtained an LTA CRB disclosure.
This will be a full day course and will run on the 22 November at the NTC in London. If any one is interested, application forms, ABTO membership forms and LTA CRB disclosures, are available on request, from Sarah.Wooding@LTA.org.uk
The opportunities just keep getting better!
Rising Stars!
This August saw the end of the mentoring line umpire program for 2009. The program was highly successful and concluded with our stars taking to the clay courts of Bournemouth for the 14U Nationals.
Nerves shot through the group as for the first time they saw the hard hitting force of some of the top juniors. However, these upstarts where not enough to ruffle the feathers of our determined trainees, who took to the courts and preformed like long term pros.
By lunch time on the first day they had got into the swing of tournament life and mingled well with the rest of the ABTO officials in attendance. The successful group included: Amie Gilbert, Jenni Haslam, Laura Portor, Jack Sylvester and Oliver Tombs.
Their mentoring program might have ended but their journey on the officiating ladder is just beginning. All of the group are now full fledged members of ABTO and are currently working at tournaments across the country, with the aim of getting to Wimbledon next year!
We wish them all best of luck with their future careers on the lines!
Tip of the Month
This months tip comes from Lindsey Milne of North Scotland:
'Bringing an up to date phone book to your tournament can be very helpful when you need to get in contact with players last minute and you don’t have contact numbers.'
