LTA Campaign Urges Public To Weather The Tennis Court This Winter
The LTA has launched a new campaign in a bid to encourage tennis players to continue playing on outdoor courts throughout the winter.
Teaming up with The&Partnership London, the pair have launched Weather The Court – a new campaign encouraging the nation to stay active as lockdown restrictions ease across England and tennis courts reopen – despite the colder weather.
According to the LTA, the campaign aims to ‘refute the myth that tennis is strictly a summer activity’. It will challenge perceptions and encourage players to embrace the winter conditions, highlighting the sport’s health benefits. However the governing body for tennis in Britain says it advises individuals and venues to ‘exercise a common-sense approach’ to playing outdoors in winter, and not to play in dangerous or unsafe conditions.
The campaign marks the latest phase of the LTA’s Play Your Way campaign, and will build on the rising number of players seen across Britain since the end of the first national lockdown in May – when the LTA says an increase of 567% was seen on its booking service compared to the same period in 2019.
Players are encouraged to share a picture or video on social media, tagging the location and adding the hashtag #WeathertheCourt, and will be in with a chance to win e-vouchers for sports store Decathlon, as well as tennis kit and other prizes.
Bring it on winter!
Our Weather The Court Challenge is here. For a chance to win some serious prizes, snap a photo or video of you on court, with your location and #WeatherTheCourt – the worse the weather looks, the better the prize.
For T&Cs: https://t.co/vCfNpphMHQ pic.twitter.com/nSVYqvlct9
— LTA (@the_LTA) December 7, 2020
“Winter weather presents a different opportunity to play, so with the launch of #WeatherTheCourt, we want to give tennis players old and new a boost this winter and incentivise them to get outdoors, get out on the court and reap the physical and mental benefits of keeping active,” said Richard Daish, Marketing and Commercial Director, the LTA.
“This is a continuation of Play Your Way – our ambition to make tennis more accessible and appealing for wider audiences, as we look to build on the growing number of players we have seen around the country this year. We can’t wait to see the creative ways in which fans and players from all areas of Britain get involved in the challenge, sharing their images or videos on social, and winning the exciting prizes on offer.”
Play Your Way was launched in the summer with the aim of increasing participation in tennis across the country after lockdown.
