With tennis in the United Kingdom enjoying its highest profile for many years, and the numbers taking up the sport for the first time moving steadily upwards, a Scottish coach is launching a bold new initiative aimed at keeping more young players in the sport after they reach university age.

Stirling-based Euan McGinn is a former top ranked Scottish junior and a well-respected coach who has worked closely with former national coach Judy Murray, honing the games of players of the calibre of Andy and Jamie Murray, Elena Baltacha  and Jamie Baker among others.

He has teamed up with Irishman Jamie Pilkington, head coach at Dublin City University, to launch the European Collegiate Tennis Association.

McGinn and Pilkington both played college tennis in the US, a system that has produced leading players like James Blake, and their own experiences have inspired them to give similar opportunities to youngsters closer to home.

Having received endorsements from Tennis Europe and the European Universities Sports Association, the duo will run their first event this month at the LTA’s High Performance Centre in Roehampton, with another tournament planned for Stirling at the start of 2008.

“There is a lot of talk right now about the large number of drop off rates from the game between the ages of 16 to 23 and we firmly believe this could help greatly in keeping players in the game longer, whether playing, coaching, managing, officiating or whatever,” said McGinn. “There are a lot of players out there throughout Europe who would be very keen to compete at this level and in this kind of format.”

So popular is the idea that they have eight European universities signed up for their first tournament this month in London and have a waiting list of universities wanting to take part in future events.

Already in the mix are students from as far afield as Moscow, Montpellier and Cologne, while universities in Switzerland, Sweden and Estonia are hoping to become involved next year.

“It’s an untapped and unresearched market but there seems to be a big interest in it,” said McGinn, who hopes the forthcoming events will be a launchpad for a successful league.

“We want to provide a choice for European tennis players. There are maybe players out there who want to stay in Europe instead of going to the USA. We want to provide them with another option. What happens to the players aged 16-25 who are not on track to be in the top 100 in the world? We can provide a different kind of competition for them,” explained McGinn, who is now head coach at the University of Stirling.

But while there is clearly enthusiasm for the idea, the non-profit-making organisation still needs financial backing to develop the project. Barclays are supporting the initial event in Roehampton, but future funding is still uncertain.

“We’re providing accommodation for the players but there is a responsibility for individual universities to raise funds. We need sponsors. We would like the governing bodies to support the idea. Tennis Europe are very keen to discuss future development.”

McGinn also hopes that the initiative will boost tennis at student level in Scotland. While his own team at Stirling is one of leading forces in British university tennis, he believes other universities in Scotland could emulate his programme.

“There are several other universities in Scotland who could be just as good as Stirling if they developed their programmes. But there has to be someone there to drive it forward and invest in sport.”

In the meantime McGinn and Pilkington are concentrating on making a success of the events in Roehampton and Stirling.

“It is a long-term project, but if we can achieve half the success of the American model, then all the work we’ve put into this will have been more than worthwhile.”

AW

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