 LTA chief Draper wants five British players in the top 100 by 2010 |
This week - as the majority of Britain's tennis players crashed and burned at Wimbledon - my 10-year-old son Samuel travelled to Croatia to play at Smrikva Bowl. The tournament's website plugs it as one of the most important under-10 tennis events in the world. Given that prestige you might have thought that the Lawn Tennis Association would have played a key role in securing Samuel's entry. You would be wrong. The only reason Samuel is out in the Balkans is because he is coached by a 26-year-old Australian called Rodney Rapson who, through his own contacts and initiative, canvassed for Samuel and another of the boys he mentors, Ben Mortimer, to be given entries for the tournament. "The LTA never wants to back people with just potential," said Rapson, who is head of Highgate Performance Tennis, the only LTA performance centre in Haringey in north London. "It's all about results and that's what funding is based on." It is not just Rapson who thinks Samuel has potential. A couple of times a week he travels to another tennis centre - Dukes Meadow, in west London - which is funded by French Connection owner Stephen Marks. There he trains under the guidance of Alan Jones, who worked with former British number one Jo Durie, and James Lenton, another couple of coaches who speak highly of Samuel's potential. Earlier this year Samuel travelled to Germany to play at a tournament where a former top-100 player Tomas Behrend was impressed by his level of performance. In the minefield that is British tennis junior development, Samuel is one of the lucky ones. After initially working with Samuel, Rapson had him assessed by his own mentor Australian Pete McCraw, who is currently the national director of coaching for Tennis New Zealand. Over a two-hour period, McCraw ran physical, physiological and psychological tests. Rapson has yet to witness a similar in-depth assessment of a junior since working in England. McCraw has advised Rapson on a coaching plan for Samuel and has been back to England to assess his development on a number of occasions. For the 10-year-olds that the LTA funds, the money is directed at a select few kids, but Rapson believes that strategy is flawed, arguing it is short-sighted to cherry pick at such an early age.  | 606: DEBATE |
"At a recent top-level clay tournament for the under-10s only 16 players were invited, kids selected from talent identification events," said Rapson. "There was no qualifying. But if you have a much larger draw, with qualifying, it helps to pull everyone up. "The Smrikva Bowl draw had 64 kids. Some were exceptional, some were good, some were average, but you could see all the kids raising their game." But children that win tournaments at the age of 10 and 12 are not always the ones that make the grade professionally. One of Rapson's friends is Simon Auteri, an Australian, who at the age of 12 was regarded as one of the most promising tennis players in the world. He ended up failing to win a single ATP point. Former world number seven Emilio Sanchez Vicario, co-owner of the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona where Andy Murray trained, has gone as far as to suggest that rankings should be scrapped until the age of 18. "Kids are so caught up in rankings and ratings that they can forget the long-term and the importance of technical development," said Rapson. "If funding is based on results then you concentrate on getting results. Germany funds programmes not kids and they have more people in the top 100," added Rapson, who has also worked as a coach in Germany. | The LTA needs to change the way kids are talent spotted |
More worrying is the accusation of bureaucracy that continues to surround the LTA. "It's all about box ticking, statistics and paperwork," said Rapson. "Those things are good for the business world, but I'm not sure if it's good for the sports world. "The LTA runs talent identification events at regional and national levels. "They see the kids for a couple of hours and they'll write a generic report, but how can you assess a child in such a short period of time?" Samuel has attended one of these LTA regional events. The report could hardly be described as in-depth - lots of textbook advice about how to play on clay, with a one sentence summary of Samuel's ability, which was of no help to either coach or parent. The difference with McCraw's rigorous assessment was embarrassing. "The LTA needs to target the ways kids are talent spotted," added Rapson. "People picking talent should have a good track record at the age of the players they are working with. At the moment there is a lot of guesswork. It's hit and miss - generally miss." Not that box ticking and paperwork does not have its place, not least for the importance of children protection issues. My wife has spent many hours working as Highgate's junior co-ordinator and has helped get LTA funding for more courts at Highgate. Her impression is that the LTA's intentions to bring on British tennis cannot be faulted. It is an organisation that is keen to support clubs that are doing well and provides a lot of practical information and help. In the last two years the LTA has dramatically widened the number of junior players competing in Britain. In 2006 there were just 8,000 junior players in the United Kingdom, but there are now 23,000. But Britain still has some way to go before it catches up with the likes of Spain (50,000 juniors competing, with 12 players in the top 100) and France (80,000 juniors competing, with 18 players in the top 100). "I think the LTA has done a lot to improve facilities and invest in performance centres - that is where a lot of the money is going," said Rapson. "I remain hopeful that in five to 10 years we will see young stars starting to come through. "I've also got a lot of confidence in chief executive Roger Draper's leadership, which has been a step in the right direction. Britain shouldn't throw in the towel just yet."
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