CONTENTS
Tennis
At Birmingham, we offer an extensive programme that facilitates complete beginners who want to try a new sport, through to high-performance players competing in BUCS competitions. Tennis is one of the largest clubs and sports at the university based on participant numbers. The club is highly inclusive for all players and we run events where players of any level can get together and play.
STUDENT CLUB
PERFORMANCE SQUADS
Our performance squads train 3 times a week and sessions are an hour long. This includes 1 coached session, 1 organised match play session and 1 free hit hour. Performance squads also play in local Birmingham leagues against other clubs, and we organise friendlies against other universities that we partner with to offer a full inclusive programme.
DEVELOPMENT SQUADS
If you are new to tennis or haven’t picked up a racket for a while, don’t worry! Our development squads are a great environment to pick up a racket again or for the first time. Development squads play 3 times a week, each an hour long, with 2 coached sessions and 1 free hit session. The development players regularly compete in our bigger social competitions.
SOCIALS
The tennis club host several social events each semester. This includes quiz nights, bowling trips, Padel tennis trips, Touch tennis indoor sessions, and club meals to name a few.
MATCHPLAY
Match play sessions give students a chance to compete regularly. These results are collected and put towards your World Tennis number. This is a new global system so if you have a year abroad/work abroad you know your standard of tennis which helps if you chose to join a tennis club overseas.
HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME
The BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) programme is made up of 20 men and 20 women. This is the highest standard of tennis at the university, and they compete against other universities in the BUCS leagues on Wednesday afternoons.
The BUCS players play 5 times a week with 2 coached sessions with our Head coach Jack, 1 match play session, 1 off court fitness session and matches on Wednesday.
The teams use video analysis, match charting to track progress and influence the training schedule and coaching programme for the BUCS players. This is done in partnership with Jack the coach. We also regularly compete against Nottingham and Loughborough Universities in the midlands area of the BUCS set up.
The BUCS teams train on the 10 Bournbrook Tennis courts on campus and use indoor courts for training and matches at our partners Edgbaston Priory Club and Billesley Tennis Centre. Both indoor venues are close to campus with the Priory being a 10-minute walk with indoor acrylic hard courts.
STUDENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
The inclusive programme is coached and run by a student workforce. If you have a level 1 2 or 3 coaching qualification, then you can come to Birmingham and coach the programme. Coaches are paid to work on our programme that uses the 10 Bournbrook floodlit courts on campus. Jack, who is the tennis development coordinator, also organises level 1 courses for anyone who wants to start their coaching journey and signposts and supports students who want to do their level 2 and 3 courses. We also offer significant discount on those courses through our coach qualification provider Inspire2coach.
Jack also runs regular continuous professional development sessions for the coaches to allow the coaches to share ideas and upskill themselves to learn and improve skills such as leadership, communication, tactical and technical information and organisational skills. This not only sets up the students to run an excellent coaching session but also provides transferable skills that are invaluable to future employers.
The club is also run buy a student committee where that includes roles such as: President, 1st 2nd 3rd team Men’s Captains, 1st 2nd 3rd team Women’s Captains, Social Secretary, Treasurer, Social Media Secretary, Welfare/Safeguarding Secretary, Performance and Development Secretary. The students in these roles are supported by workshops run by University of Birmingham Sport to learn new skills that are transformable to life after university that will improve employability. University of Birmingham Sport supports these students with professional advice and training to give them the tools to run the tennis club as successfully as possible.
FACILITIES
10 outdoor tennis courts
The Club has access to 10 Outdoor floodlight hard courts on campus. The club also uses indoor venues at Edgbaston priory club and Billesley tennis centre.
GYM
Our state-of-the-art gym is available for all your strength and conditioning needs.
TRAINING TIMES
- Monday Afternoon
- Tuesday Afternoon
- Thursday Afternoon
- Friday Afternoon
- Saturday Afternoon
- Sunday Afternoon
Exact times will be confirmed by the club upon registration.
COMPETITION OPPORTUNITIES
The club has 6 BUCS teams, 3 Men’s and 3 women’s that compete from tier 1 to tier 4 in the BUCS leagues. The club also has several teams that compete in local Birmingham leagues against local clubs. The club also runs internal competition on a regular basis in big one day events to weekly match play.