The Junior Committee- Some Background
The Junior Committee was set up several years ago, at Nick’s request, by a group of involved and enthusiastic parents, to represent the junior needs within the club.
The LTA (from whom the club has a substantial loan) have granted performance status to Thongsbridge, which means that the junior programme needs to meet certain standards. The Junior Committee aims to support the club and the coaches in maintaining the required standard.
Juniors form the lion’s share of the membership had no representation on the committee until the Junior Committee started. The aim was to include them more in club life, encouraging integration with the senior membership and allowing them to develop a social life within the club, while encouraging player development and supporting the coaching staff with this.
The aim is not to allow juniors to “take over the club,” or dominate the club in any way, but to unite all groups within the club, which in turn would benefit juniors and seniors alike.
The Junior Committee meets approximately once a month. It has its own constitution, which aligns it with the main committee. The Junior Committee has a cross section of parents, and coaches, and aims to represent views across the programme.
The main areas we deal with are:
1) Coaching issues- support coaches, help run tournaments - some of which are an LTA requirement to ensure we comply with our obligations as a performance centre. This is done with volunteer parents, saving the club money (most clubs need to pay coaches to run such events)
2) Provide funding for or contribution towards projects/items coaches feel appropriate
2) Social events- for families and juniors, and encourage integration of these groups into the club.
3) Run the junior fund and organise fund raising for the junior fund.
4) Promote the club and the junior programme through regular newspaper reports, the web site and the newsletter.
5) To provide a voice for juniors and their parents on the main committee.
We very much appreciate that the juniors are the future of the club. If we can nurture a sense of belonging, there is more chance that these youngsters will stay with us or rejoin us later. We have a vibrant and thriving junior community, who have to learn to respect and accommodate the senior membership, and similarly the senior membership needs to welcome and embrace the youngsters. The junior committee aims to facilitate this.
The Junior Fund
Several years ago, Tim Horsfall started the Thongsbridge Junior Open, which has now become a major event in the Junior Competition Calendar. Tim invested some money into this event to get it started, and aimed to generate money from that event, that could be invested back into our own youngsters and the programme.
With the enthusiasm of the Junior Committee, this idea grew, and although the Open remains the most significant fundraiser, there are a variety of events to raise small amounts of money through the year.
This encourages the youngsters to get involved and take some responsibility for the fundraising to be re-invested into the development of the programme and players.
It allows the Junior Committee to support the coaches, with some financial help in areas that they feel will benefit our young players. Although Thongsbridge has produced some players of high performance quality, it does not get anything like the level of funding that a high performance centre receives. The hope is that the fund can provide a little extra to support player development.
The Fund has bought a variety of items, some examples are listed:
1) Specific items, such as the theraband system, which benefits not just juniors, but all tennis club members.
2) It has subsidised a wide range of trips, both training trips and competition trips, for a large number of youngsters, helping to make a very expensive sport a little more affordable for players and their parents. This includes a training trip for our top players at the National Tennis Centre, some mini player day trips, weekend training trips in Goole and Doncaster, which have involved futures and development players, and competition trips to Winchester and Oxford.
3) It has paid coaches to attend additional events with youngsters, such as “player plus events”, which are valuable in terms of player development.
4) It has paid for things for the juniors that were previously paid for by the club, such as the buffet spread on prize night, and some of the medals and trophies that have been awarded, hence saving the club some money.
In Summary
The Junior Committee is passionate about
- An integrated club
- Providing support to the coaches- recognising their job is demanding
- Trying to fill the financial void we face with lack of LTA funding, to help develop young players and enable them to reach their potential
The Junior Committee is what sets our programme apart from other clubs. We talk to many parents from other clubs, and the junior programme, and indeed the whole club, is the envy of many across the country. The Junior Committee, and its fund, is helping our youngsters remain actively involved in a sport that they will hopefully have for life, and to achieve their potential.
Get Involved
If you would like to become a part of the Junior Committee, please contact Shona Atkinson or any member of the Junior Committee.
Alternatively, leave a message with reception who will pass that along to the necessary people.
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