Barclays and LTA in five-year deal to get 150,000 people into tennis

LTA, the UK’s governing body for tennis, has announced a new five-year partnership with Barclays that aims to get 150,000 people playing tennis more regularly.

The collaboration forms part of LTA’s vision of breaking down barriers to access tennis and bridging grassroots tennis to local communities. The partnership will see three individual programmes being launched, each aiming to give people of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds a “welcoming and accessible opportunity” to play tennis in their local parks.

Barclays Free Park Tennis is the first of three initiatives the partnership will launch. Rolling out across the nation in 100 public parks by the end of 2024, free one-hour volunteer-led tennis sessions will take place on weekends at public parks, allowing the public to enjoy the benefits of tennis.

The sessions will be run by LTA-trained volunteers (Barclays Activators) from the local community – with all tennis equipment provided. So far, 175 volunteers have already received training for the role

Alongside Barclays Free Park Tennis, Barclays will also become the lead partner of Barclays Big Tennis Weekends – free tennis open days hosted by park, club or community tennis venues throughout the year.

The third initiative, Barclays Local Tennis Leagues, will see friendly, mixed singles and doubles leagues being set up for adults at local parks.