LTA cash is good news for our best youngsters

JUNIOR tennis in the island is set to benefit from a £50,000 grant from the Lawn Tennis Association. The money will be invested in Guernsey's only indoor facility for the sport, the Guernsey Tennis Centre at Longs Camps, over 10 years.

It will primarily be used to pay for court time for junior coaching but also to bring elite performance coaches over from the UK and for arranging high-level tournaments.

The LTA has provided the funding after recognising the number of good players that Guernsey tennis has produced recently. The cream of the island's juniors is Heather Watson, who last year was crowned the under-14 British champion.

'For many years we've been trying to set up something with a local club to have dedicated court time for our best young players,' said the Channel Islands LTA development officer, Hugh Raymond.

'This comes at a time when Heather has been doing very well on the international scene and hopefully this will help the talented juniors in Guernsey follow what Heather is doing. At the end of the day if you've got the facilities and the coaches you will produce top players.'

Junior coach and tennis manager at Longs Camps, Andy Privett, believes the investment will be a massive boost for the development of the sport in the island.

'It's good news for Guernsey tennis,' he said.

Raymond will control what the money will be used for, but the Jersey-based officer hopes that a local person could take that over from him. He also hopes that in the future Guernsey will have a dedicated coach to oversee the development of the sport in the island.

'I love to think that someone will take the reins. It would be nice to go forward and maybe have a part-time development officer for Guernsey,' he said.

Junior tennis stalwart Geoff Martel welcomed the news but had reservations.

'Any investment by the LTA in local tennis is bound to bring about an improvement in the standard and development of the players associated with it,' he said.

'The good news is that the funding is spread over 10 years and will therefore see the current players through the system.

'What is unfortunate is that the funding will not allow access to indoor facilities at grass roots level as has been suggested in the LTA's Blueprint for British Tennis.

'The funding will therefore have little impact on these players. What has been required for some time on the island is a pay- and-play scheme which would be open to everyone.

'Tennis will find it increasingly difficult to compete against other sports for the same players unless these fundamentals are addressed.'