LTA Youth Matchplay | LTA

A tennis coach and a group of kids posing and smiling with their tennis rackets on court

LTA Youth Matchplay is an exciting, engaging competition format designed to give players their first experience of individual competition. In 2-3 hour competitions players compete in singles and doubles matches against players of a similar ability. There’s no overall winner, it’s about getting on court and having fun!

LTA Youth Matchplays can be delivered by coaches, competition organisers and referees. It’s a great way to enhance the competition programme on offer at your venue and give your players some competitive experience in a friendly environment, helping to retain them in the sport. You can utilise court time at quieter periods and could work with nearby venues to develop a circuit of Matchplay events.

You can run LTA Youth Matchplay competitions at any time and we have some great technology and resources to support you to deliver your events.

LTA Youth Matchplay competitions are easy to run and can be delivered by a coach, competition organiser or official.

Benefits of running LTA Youth Matchplay competitions

Give players their first taste of individual competition in a fun, friendly environment
Provide internal competition at your venue just for your players - or invite others to take part
Players that compete are more likely to play tennis more often and to keep playing for longer - great news for your programme
You'll be supporting players to reach the next milestone on the LTA Youth Compete reward scheme
Generate revenue by charging players a small fee to enter
Generate income for your venue through secondary spend at your cafe/bar or shop
Develop your skills as a competition organiser/official

The first step is to complete our LTA Youth Compete online training module. It's free and will take you less than an hour to complete. The training covers the principles of an LTA Youth Matchplay competition, things to remember on the day, and where to go for further support. After the training you can apply for your free LTA Youth Compete organiser pack containing great resources for you and your players.

Complete online training

After you've completed the training and applied for your resource pack you can start preparing for your first matchplay competition. You'll need to:

Decide when and where you want to run your matchplay competition
Book the courts and arrange tennis balls
Create your matchplay competition on the Competition Management System if you want external players to enter. If it's just for players at your venue you can advertise via email, clubspark or your club noticeboard and then submit your results online using Results Manager.
Accept the entries for your competition on a first come, first served basis
Email the players in advance using the 'Pre Competition email' template
Group your players based on the number of matches they've previously played
Deliver your matchplay competition - create a fun, enjoyable environment for your players to compete in - think group warm-up, a fun game at the end and lots of energy!
Afterwards submit your results to the LTA and email your players to say thank you for taking part

A more detailed step-by-step guide is available in the LTA Youth Matchplay organiser guide:

See organiser guide