Strategic Plan 2025-2027 in conjunction with LTA Central and East Area

I. INTRODUCTION
Norfolk has a track record of supporting tennis, from historic tournaments such as Cromer and Hunstanton, to a Coach and volunteer workforce aiding players, such as Amanda Brown, Chris Bailey, Richard Bloomfield and, most recently, Olivia Nicholls, to national and international levels of performance. The County also prides itself as being an Inclusive Tennis leader, and works extremely hard to empower, drive diversity and reach of activity across Norfolk, rightly proud of Grand Slam championship-winning Alfie Hewett, Para Standing world champion Georgia Routledge, and other significant players. Norfolk County has a high proportion of small village venues, plus a handful of larger clubs and park ecosystems. The following updated three-year strategy, to be reviewed annually, includes support of the growth of Padel, and ensures tennis and inclusivity continues to grow and thrive in rural communities.

II. ACCOUNTABILITY
Primary accountability for delivering this strategy rests collectively with the Norfolk Tennis management group, whose core values are teamwork, integrity, inclusion and collaboration. Within this framework, individual officers and post holders will be identified as having responsibility for delivering specific elements of this strategy. The delivery of some aspects on this strategy will be dependent upon programmes and funding managed by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and, particularly, the LTA Central/East area Head of Delivery and Delivery Team.

III. VISION
The vision for this strategy mirrors that of the LTA, namely

‘Tennis Opened Up’.

IV. MISSION
Our mission is to:

“To grow tennis in Norfolk by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable”.

V. OBJECTIVES
To achieve our mission we will:

1. Work with the LTA, venues, parents, educational establishments, and other organisations to increase opportunities for players of all ages and backgrounds to play and, where so desired, develop their games in a safe environment.

2. Promote and build support for tennis in Norfolk amongst players, parents, and stakeholders through a mix of readily accessible, up to date and user-friendly mediums.

3. Support and develop competitive tennis across the county and ensure county representative teams achieve the best results possible and are competitive in the County Cup Race.

4. Maintain and improve a broad-based coaching programme for juniors from all backgrounds with the aim of growing the number of Top 50-ranked players and Norfolk’s standing in the annual LTA County Cup Race.

5. Ensure the governance of Norfolk Tennis remains professional, committed to diversity, and maximises funding opportunities.
 

VI. DESIRED OUTCOMES

Increase opportunities:
1. Aim to re-establish competition for all juniors at every clubs/venue, i.e. Club Championships and/or regular internal tournaments.
2. Organise annual forums for coaches, parents, venues and volunteers to provide updates on County strategy objectives.
3. Build upon framework to support the development of venues by providing a focal point for enquiries and the dissemination of relevant information and support.
4. Identify existing coach, club/venues involvement with Norfolk schools and build upon current School Competitions/Festivals.
5. Assist unaffiliated League organisers with volunteer recruitment, and/or introduction of partnership/sponsorship schemes (if available). Continue to encourage organisers leads to attain LTA Verified League status.

Promote:
1. Further grow databases for all communication and marketing channels, notably social media and newsletters, for greater county-wide visibility.
2. Utilise key coach collaboration/mentorship work to drive up overall junior playing standards and etiquette.
3. Grow what it means to represent the County. Continue to promote the achievements of players, county teams, coaches, venues and entry for open tournaments within weekly newsletter bulletins.
4. Leverage recognition of LTA Awards and the number of nominations. Aim to establish an annual Norfolk Tennis Day at the Club of the Year venue.
5. In conjunction with the Padel Ambassador, support and educate clubs/venues on benefits of developing new padel facilities.  

Support & Develop:
1. Establish an annual red, orange and green ball circuits, (ideally across 4-6 venues), organised by each individual coach/provider, and open to all.
2. Encourage inter-club leagues to secure LTA Verified Leagues status.
3. In conjunction with the Inclusion Lead develop a framework to support the development of ‘inclusive tennis’ that encompasses ‘LTA Open Court’.
4. Improve communication to players of all ages to participate in open events, particularly the County Championships (new for 2025, padel).
5. Encourage all padel facilities to become LTA Venue Registered and abide by LTA safeguarding protocols.

Maintain & Improve:
1. Recognise work of key providers and attempt to establish 4-5 hub-based programmes for juniors, as a focal County point for development.
2. Establish the necessary infrastructure to support Norfolk Tennis’s participation across all age groups in Junior County Cup events.
3. Work with key stakeholders to grow the number of accredited coaches, registered padel venues, female coaches, officials and committee members.
4. Provide coach guidelines to part-time coaches at smaller venues on key junior coaching criteria in order to improve standards (ages 5-9) and a pathway everyone understands.
5. Improve the connection between, and the communication with, Senior County teams and captains (ages 35+); identify new players for squads.

Governance:
1. Complete the transition to CIO status; streamline financial processes.
2. Build on existing structures to ensure safeguarding responsibilities are resilient and responsive. Organise regular welfare officer forums.
3. Maintain a Risk Register; grow volunteer recruitment; conduct regular reviews of Association website, social media and other collateral.
4. Identify sponsorship and additional funding streams that will enable the County to increase opportunities; promote, support and develop every individual objective.
5. Develop short finance reports (to be distributed to County stakeholders every June or July), highlighting spend by project, successes and imagery.

Inclusion is at the heart of all of our objectives, and, in addition to the above, the County will:
1. Develop and maintain a clear pathway and framework for the development of inclusive tennis opportunities within the County.
2. Work in conjunction with LTA Open Court to develop this pathway, increase competitive opportunities and provide CPD opportunities for coaches and volunteers.
3. Work with Head of Delivery and Delivery Team to support work to increase the diversity of the coaching/activator workforce.
4. Engage with authorities, clubs/venues in areas of the greatest diversity.
5. Develop an Inclusive Recruitment Plan and Volunteer Recruitment Plan ahead of switch to CIO status.

VII. SCOPE
This strategy is time based, covering the period 2025-2027 and is primarily focused on venues, programmes, and individuals.

Venues: This includes venues where tennis and related activities, such as padel tennis and pickleball is played and includes all tennis clubs affiliated to the Norfolk Tennis, educational establishments that are part of the Norfolk Tennis’s outreach programme.

Programmes: This includes LTA and Norfolk Tennis sponsored programmes.

Individuals: This primarily includes players identified as being deserving of tailored support, for example coaching or financial backing. 

VIII. PLANNING PRINCIPLES
Planning principles should be immutable and provide the framework with which Norfolk Tennis operates. In delivering this strategy we will ensure our actions are compliant and consistent with:

• The aims, objectives and ways of working set out in the LTA’s strategy. We will adhere to the agreed Governance Principles and deliver our Core Activities.
• Statutory guidance for safeguarding, financial reporting, and CIO governance.
• Ensuring all expenditure represents value for money (VFM).
• Ensuring the welfare and interest of all players is paramount.
• Equality ensures that every individual has equal opportunities, regardless of their background, identity, or experience. Diversity recognises that, though people have things in common with each other, they are also different many ways. Inclusion is where those differences are seen as a benefit, and where perspectives and differences are shared, leading to better decisions. We will apply these principles to every aspect of our strategy.

IX. PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS
Planning assumptions are correct at the time of writing and set our operating parameters but can be subject to change.

In delivering this strategy we are making the following assumptions:

• The Norfolk Tennis’s budget primarily comprises revenue from LTA grants.
• That current levels of sponsorship will be maintained.
• That Norfolk Tennis will not borrow to fund initiatives or staffing.
• That the delivery of this strategy has the support of venues and coaches.
• That the majority of management group functions will be performed on a voluntary basis.
• When reviewing aspects of delivery for outside bodies, for example safeguarding, we will endeavour to have an independent reviewer on the team and will make appropriate use of peer reviews.
• We will look for opportunities to work with other county associations to spread/absorb good practice and, where appropriate, share or brigade resources.

DELIVERY FRAMEWORK
Performance against the objectives and outcomes set out in this strategy will be monitored at Norfolk Tennis management committee meetings and will be considered alongside the LTA metrics.

A dashboard will be adopted to support this.

A copy of the dashboard, together with its LTA equivalent, can be found at Appendix A below.

Responsibility for maintaining the dashboard will rest with the admin function.

The lead coordinator for each objective will be responsible for submitting quarterly progress updates.

Updates of progress against this strategy will also be provided to the twice-yearly Council meetings, the Annual General Meeting and the LTA.

This strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis.