Internal and external competing opportunities
Your Childs Pathway to Competing
Introducing your child to external competitions can seem quite daunting. Firstly, there is no expectation that every child at Latika should compete, but it can be an enriching opportunity to put their skills into action. Please ask their coach for advice if you need to know whether they are ready.
If you want your child to try competing, here are some helpful tips and insights into how to compete and a pathway to follow.
Junior LTA Advantage Account
The first step is to create your child's LTA Advantage account and LTA number. The LTA number is a unique identifying number the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) allocates to individual tennis players in Great Britain.
To create this account for your child, please go to this part of the LTA website to register them. Please note this account should be for your child's details. This will be separate from the LTA account you use on our ClubSpark account to book them into sessions. You should have your own Parent LTA account for bookings. Your child needs their own LTA account to compete and rank.
For example, looking at Emma’s profile on the LTA website, her LTA number is 104542912.
Which age category to enter
The year your child was born determines the age group of competitions they can enter. The LTA has an age calculator here. Input your child's DOB; it will tell you the competitions they can enter.
Internal tournaments
As a starting point, we suggest getting involved in our internal tournaments, which are open to all age groups for Latika members only.
We run our Winter Club Championships from January to March. Each age group plays in its own event. From the U11s, the boys and girls are split, and the format is Round-Robin, meaning everyone plays everyone. Due to unpredictable weather, we ask parents to coordinate the games with each other and book the courts to make it as flexible as possible.
Next on our calendar are the Squires tournaments, typically held in June, just before the summer holidays. This is a fun singles and doubles event for all our members, named after the Squires family, who donated the trophies for the event in memoriam. As we do not split the tournament into age groups, this is effectively an U18 tournament. However, the emphasis is on fun, and the club pairs the more experienced players with the less experienced for the doubles.
We hold our Summer Club Championships in September following the summer holidays. These are split in the same way as our Winter Club Championships; however, we play them on a fixed date at the club, and the format can vary depending on the number of players entered to keep it time-friendly.
We host an awards ceremony in October to recognise the winners and runners-up of all the above tournaments and present them with a memento. For the Summer and the Squires, the winners are also presented with a larger trophy and asked to have their names inscribed on it to become part of the club's history—unfortunately, we do ask for that one back so we can present it again the following year.
Each player can enter more than one age category/event in each tournament, and our guidance is their age category and the one above. We currently ask for a £9 entry fee for each event to help with the running cost. The dates and details of these tournaments are advertised on our notice board at the members' clubhouse and in our Latika newsletters.
LTA Youth Leagues
What's next? Each year, players from the club represent Latika in the LTA Leagues, playing against other clubs in Berkshire. From October to April, there is the Winter League, and from April to July, the Summer League. There are two divisions: Division One is for the more experienced players competing regularly and those training with the Berkshire County squads. Division Two is for the less experienced players who may be new to competing. Division Two is a grade 5 tournament, and Division One is a grade 4 tournament; I will discuss the grades in the next part and why they matter.
Our head coach, Matt, puts together a list of players he thinks are ready, and players are invited to take part. There is no fee for entry; however, we do ask a parent of one of the players from each team to be the captain. Their responsibility is selecting the players from the team for each match, talking to the opposition to ensure they have a team for the day, as well as being there and taking the score. Our Fixtures Secretary will book the courts for the home matches, provide all the necessary information, and guide you through the process. Each league will typically have three to four teams, each playing each other once. Without parents volunteering to captain, we cannot enter the teams.
We encourage our members to participate in competitions not just to win for Latika, but because challenging themselves helps improve their tennis skills and teaches valuable life lessons. As our older players would tell you, you learn as much, if not more, from the losses as you do from the wins. Learning to cope with not winning every time is an important life skill for youngsters to develop.
External Competitions
To seek external competitions independently from Latika, you can find tournaments on the LTA website: https://competitions.lta.org.uk/tournaments. Using the Advanced search, you can filter the list of tournaments by date, distance from your postcode, age group, grade, etc., or enter the name of the club in the Search. Entering "Latika" and hitting Go is a quick way to see what we have coming up, both internal and external, at the club.
Competitions are graded on a scale of 1-7 to help you determine if the standard is suitable for you. Grade 7 is internal for members only, while Grade 1 could see you compete for a national championship. You can find more information on competition grades here: Competition grades.
If you are new to competing, consider looking for Grade 6 tournaments, although these can be hard to find for some of the older age groups. You will likely need to start from Grade 5, the first grade to award ranking points. The points awarded depend on how well your child progresses in the tournament. The higher the age group and ranking the more points awarded.
Once you have entered and the deadline closes, there are usually a couple of days where you can withdraw. If you decide to withdraw, you will receive a refund minus a (3.4% + 40p) admin fee.
Don’t leave it until the last moment to enter, as players will be accepted into Grade 5 events on a first come, first served basis.
Regardless of the tournament grade, the level of competition depends on who has entered. You can drill down on the Events tab of the tournament to see the players who have entered. Additionally, you can look up the players by their name to see their profile and WTN. This is a common practice among parents whose children compete.
Once your child has completed their first Grade 5 tournament or LTA League, they will appear in the LTA ranking tables.
ITF World Tennis Number (WTN)
All the competitions and tournaments mentioned above, including our internal tournaments, contribute to calculating your child's ITF World Tennis Number (WTN). The ITF World Tennis Number is a global rating system for all tennis players, starting at 40.9. As your child competes, their WTN will be recalculated every Wednesday based on their results.
For example, this Latika member’s profile shows a singles WTN of 36.9 and a doubles WTN of 29.7.
Playing for Berkshire
Berkshire Tennis offers both county and county development squads. For children aged U11 and above, to be considered for these squads, they must be listed in the LTA ranking league with Berkshire as their Play County in their LTA profile. Selection is based on their competition profile and WTN. While it is preferred that your child competes in an external tournament once a month, not doing so does not necessarily exclude them from being invited.
For younger age groups, U10 and below, players need to be recommended by their head coach, or selected from a Berkshire Tennis Fun Day, and are evaluated based on their competition profile and recent form for 9U.
Follow this link for the Berkshire Tennis selection policy.
Some final thoughts
Some children may feel hesitant about competing in external Grade 5 tournaments because they don't fully understand all the rules, such as how long they can take for a water break. Please don't let this discourage you. If your child can compete in our internal tournaments, they will be more than capable of competing in external ones, as we follow the same format and rules. Newcomers are always welcomed at tournaments by the coaches, organisers, and the more experienced players.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our External Competitions Secretary Mat Hayward-Hill at haywardhill@googlemail.com