Tennis Programme
Person, Performer and Player development is integrated into the overall programme and prioritised at the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy.
Who are we?
Our vision here at Loughborough University National Tennis Academy is to be Great Britain’s first transformational environment for junior elite tennis players. We strive to be an Academy of accelerated progress and where whole chapters of development can be turned, as well as pages. Our mission is to develop Great People, Great Performers and Great Tennis Players, through high player-care and valuing the pursuit of excellence. We are a National Tennis Academy aimed at taking players on their journey to the top of U18 International Tennis and supporting their journey beyond through life-shaping experiences.
Our Developmental Philosophy
Our Development Framework is centred around development in three main areas:
Person
Our fundamental belief as an Academy is that players will have the best chance of performing if healthy, happy and well. We support our players to be part of their own vision, to have the skills to build and grow relationships, and to be selfaware individuals who have the resources to manage their own wellbeing.
Performer
Our environment is targeted at players enjoying their training and the learning process, all whilst developing a high standard of professionalism. Alongside this our coaching supports the development of the concept of giving unconditional tennis effort. We want our players to tackle each element of their programme with positive energy and maintain high focus in everything they do.
Player
Our approach to developing the Player tactically is centred around a player game style with relevant effective patterns, which is adaptable to the opponent, the environment, and the score. Our aim is to develop players who play good percentage tennis and have great court awareness. Our expert technical development delivered through group and individual training sessions both at base and on the road focuses on muscle relaxation, teaching timing, rhythm and momentum as key concepts.
Coaching
Our coaching is centred around developing an identity for players, but also recognising individual ability and game style.
We aim to develop highly focused players with great competitiveness, who are smart, skilful, and have great movement. The content and direction of our training sessions, tournament planning and Individual Development Plans are integral to the development of this identity. Ultimately, we would like to bring our players to the mentality of ‘Whatever happens, I can handle it’ and ‘There’s always a solution and I rise to the occasion’.
Our coaching team is led by our Head Coach, Nick. Players are assigned individual coaches who are responsible, with Nick’s direction and support, for the delivery of a players’ Individual Development Plan. This plan directs the areas of development through regular performance objective setting between the player and coach. The player and coach will highlight the expertise and support required across the academy to deliver on these objectives and our coaches also work with our players to set the tournament plan.
.PNG)