At the start of April, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) launched ‘Level Up’: a new junior programme aimed at bringing children aged 4-to-18 years old into tennis via enjoyable sessions designed to create ‘skills for life – on and off the court.’
The courses aim to develop a range of physical and neurological abilities and skills including balance, coordination and fine motor skills and activities will involve decision-making and strengthening hand-eye coordination.
The initiative is promoted through a digital-first campaign spearheaded by a gaming-influenced hero spot called ‘LTA Youth – Level Up’ which challenges young viewers to ‘level up’ and introduces the new #LTAYouth action-packed tennis programme which seeks to ‘supercharge kids’ skills on and off the court’.
The video and supporting content seeks to drive viewers to the online web hub to find out more about the programme.
This new initiative builds on the LTA’s existing ‘Tennis for Kids’ and ‘Team Challenge’ programmes which the UK tennis governing body has rolled out in recent years.
The governing body believes that competition is ‘essential’ to retaining children in sport and helping them develop’ and so the initiative also sees the return of several kids competitions such as the ‘LTA Youth Team Challenge’ organised through to the LTA Youth Local Tour.
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The campaign rolled out as outdoor tennis began re-opening across the country and, according to the LTA, the aims is to inspire 10% of UK kids to play tennis once a week by 2023.
The initiative and training approach was partly informed by research showing that children’s physical literacy is deteriorating and the falling percentage of UK youngsters playing sport daily which has dropped by 47% to 19% during the pandemic.
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