2 December 2022 – The LTA, the governing body of tennis in Britain, and Podium Analytics (“Podium”), the NGO and charity committed to reducing injury in sport, have today announced a long-term partnership to understand and address the impact of injury in youth tennis.

The partnership will see an initial focus on research into the development experience of young players (10-18-years-old) across the LTA’s Regional Player Development Centre (RPDC) network and National Academies, and will seek to understand the impact of issues such as the growth spurt, workload, and mental health and psychological wellbeing on the participation, performance and injury experience of young players.

Michael Bourne, Performance Director at the LTA, commented: “Understanding and positively influencing the tennis experiences of our young players, at such a seminal age, is vital. Our partnership with Podium builds on our 2022 review of our Regional Player Development Centres, and will deliver further significant insight into the challenges and opportunities faced by young players, their parents and coaches – providing transferrable learnings for our other tennis environments and even other sports. Expanding to young adults in due course, we will also be focusing on optimising education and communications relating to injury prevention and recovery so that more players can reach their potential.”

Andy Hunt, CEO of Podium Analytics, added: “Reducing injury in youth sport and ensuring the best possible participation experience is at the heart of our collaboration with the LTA. We look forward to working in close partnership with the LTA in delivering research, insights, and in supporting programmes that help ensure more players can enjoy playing tennis throughout their life.”

Podium recently announced Tim Henman OBE, former British professional tennis player and member of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Board, as a Podium Athlete Ambassador.

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Media contacts

H Advisors/Maitland - podiumanalytics@h-advisors.global
Frederica Bendit - 07557 833 442
Alasdair Todd - 07825 867 343

About Podium Analytics

Podium Analytics is an NGO, registered as a charity (England, Wales and Scotland) with a vision to create a safer world of sport. Founded by Ron Dennis CBE, its mission is to significantly reduce the incidence and impact of sports injury, with a focus on 11–18-year-olds. Podium’s team is made up of hand-picked specialists with proven expertise in business, academia, science, technology and sport, who share in a sense of responsibility for shaping a safer legacy for sport.

podiumanalytics.org

About LTA

The LTA is the National Governing Body of tennis for Great Britain. We are here to govern and grow tennis, from grassroots participation through to the professional game.  Our vision is “Tennis Opened Up” and we’re on a mission to grow tennis by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable.  We work with schools, with volunteers, with coaches and with venues across the whole country. We also represent the interests of over 1,000,000 Members, men and women, girls and boys, playing on more than 23,000 courts. The LTA runs and supports a network of 11,500 approved tournaments for players of all ages, the four corner-stones of which are the premier grass-court events leading up to The Championships, Wimbledon: the Rothesay Open Nottingham, the Rothesay Classic Birmingham, the cinch Championships (at The Queen’s Club, London) and the Rothesay International Eastbourne.  For further information about the LTA and tennis in Britain:

Visit lta.org.uk 

Follow LTA on Twitter @the_LTA

About the RPDC

Regional Player Development Centres (RPDCs), set up in 2018, provide high-quality coaching environments which enable the best players from the regions to train regularly with each other. They nurture the best young players to establish a robust all court-game and prepare to successfully begin playing national and international competitions. These centres and their programmes are for players who are named on the National Pathway list; predominantly targeting players aged 14U. These RPDCs play an important strategic role within the National Performance stage of the pathway, to increase the number of internationally competitive 14U players with the potential to transition strongly to the International Junior stage.