March 2015

Surrey Junior County Cup Policy

Introduction

County Cup teams offer the strongest players in Surrey an opportunity to represent theircounty and compete against other counties in various competitions. There are junior, senior and veteran categories in which players can represent their county.

It is important that a clearand transparent structure and selection criteria is in place to enable all interested parties to see how they can become a captain of a county cup team with the associated responsibilities and how players can achieve selection. This document is intended to clarify this process.

Junior Teams - 18’s, 14s, 12s, 10s, 9s (mixed)

Team Captains:

  1. Each team will have Team Manager and Coach, appointed by Tennis Surrey.
  2. Captaincy has no fixed term, an annual review of Team Managers and Coaches will becarried out by Tennis Surrey.
  3. Any person wishing to stand as a Team Manager or Coach should make this known to Tennis Surrey.

Responsibilities of Captains:

  1. To be a fully licensed LTA Senior Coach Level or CCA, or higher.
  2. To read and sign the Team Captain Guidance Form and return one copy to the County Office.
  3. To plan, organise and lead a maximum of three 2-hour county camps prior to the annual County Cup event (not required for 18U).
  4. To select teams for all county matches in conjunction with the Team Coach and feed back to the County Office for online nomination.
  5. To captain teams at applicable events throughout the year – paid per event in line with the county payment scale. Where a team is travelling by minibus and staying away, the Team Manager must travel with the team on the minibus and stay at the hotel.
  6. To be the point of contact for players and parents whilst training and at events.
  7. To be available to provide feedback about players to parents via phone or email where necessary.
  8. To submit a written report for submission to the Tennis Surrey website and ‘Tennis in Surrey’ magazine.
  9. To support/mentor the Team Coach
  10. At all times to adhere to the LTA policies for ‘Guidance - Supervising, Travelling and Overnight Trips’ and for ‘Guidance – Social Media’.

Responsibilities of the County:

  1. To facilitate and organise meetings of Team Managers and Team Coaches.
  2. To book the courts for county camps.
  3. To organise county cup events (travel, accommodation, funding for additional costs).
  4. To invite players (selected by the Team Manager and Team Coach) for camps and send formal confirmation to the players following their selection.
  5. To provide advice and support to Team Managers, Team Coaches, players and parents.
  6. To organise and manage the finances in relation to all court bookings and events.

Team Selection

This is an impartial process led by the Team Manager. When selecting players the Team Manager and the Team Coach will have a residual discretion on selection, which includes such matters as reliability, foreseeable physical fitness, conduct, and a player’s ability to work within the team.

18’s, 14’s & 12’s

With the exception of the 18’s age group, the top 12 players in the county, based on ranking/rating and recent results, will be invited to attend a series of camps prior to team selection. Final selection will based on a combination of direct entry players and wildcards as follows and the Team Manager’s residual discretion listed above:

Age Group / Direct Entry Places / Wildcard(s) / Team
18 / 8 based on ranking and rating / 2 / Max 10 players
(inc 1 non travelling reserve)
14 / 4 based on ranking and rating and performance at camps / 2 / Max 6 players
(inc 1 non-travelling reserve)
12 / 3 based on ranking and rating and performance at camps / 2 / Max 5 players
(inc 1 non-travelling reserve)
  1. For the purpose of rankings, ATP takes precedence over ITF 18U world rankings (up to max 500) which takes precedence over UK 18U National Rankings and Open Men’s rankings.
  2. Wildcard entries will be decided by the Team Manager and Team Coach in conjunction with the County Office.
  3. If the Team Manager decides not to utilise the wildcard option, the remainder of the team will be selected on a given date based on players’ranking and rating and performance at camps.
  4. If a player has not played a singles match in the last 12 months they will be automatically discounted regardless of rating.
  5. The decision of Team Manageris final.

10’s

Age Group / Team / Training Camps
10’s / 5 players / 8 – 12
  1. Between 8 – 12 players will be invited to attend training camps through recommendations fromthe Talent & Performance Team based on how players have previously competed.
  2. The team players will be selected after the training camps. Squad selection will be based mainly on rating and results (current and over the previous season), performance at training camps, and the Team Manager’s residual discretion listed above.
  3. The decision of the Team Manager is final.

9’s

Age Group / Team / Training Camps
9’s / 3 boys and 3 girls / Up to 8
  1. Up to 8 players (boys and girls combined) will be invited to attend selection camps through recommendations from the Talent & Performance Team based on how players have competed over the current and the previous season and on their performance at the camps.
  2. The team players will be selected after the training camps. Squad selection will be based mainly on rating and results (current and over the previous season), performance at training camps, and the Team Manager’s residual discretion listed above.
  3. The decision of the Team Manager is final.

Selection for the team will be done on studying competition results ahead of the event. Head to head results will be taken into consideration but the main criterion is based upon results at higher graded events. As players can ‘play up’ a ball colour in their last season – green ball performances will also be taken into account.Leaderboard positions and National ID performances will also be studied and can be used as criteria for selection.