Former British No.1 Johanna Konta & Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith support launch of Fair Play campaign
• 4 minute read
To coincide with Junior County Championships taking place across the country, we are launching “Set the Standard”, a new Fair Play campaign.
The campaign is designed to promote positive parent behaviour and support coaches, referees, and organisers in creating better competition experiences for young players.
The campaign video features Johanna Konta, former British No.1 and Leon Smith, Davis Cup Captain, LTA Head of Men’s Tennis, and Andy Murray’s former junior coach.
By encouraging collaboration between coaches, parents, and officials, ’Set the Standard’ aims to give players the best possible competition experience and help keep them playing the game for longer.
The campaign supports the LTA’s five-year Competition Plan (2025–2029), which aims to grow the number of children competing and ensure competition is safe, welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring. As part of the plan, the LTA is working closely with National, County and Island Associations, venues, officials, organisers and coaches to ensure junior competition promotes the highest standards.
Supporting the competition workforce
“Set the Standard” provides the competition workforce with supportive guidance and practical tools to manage parent behaviour positively and confidently. Its purpose is not to criticise, but to encourage officials, venues and competition organisers to work with parents to create a knowledgeable and supportive competitive environment.
Negative parent behaviour can discourage children from competing and while most parents support their children in the right spirit, poor behaviour by a small minority can have a lasting impact. The campaign focuses on providing guidance, promoting positive parental behaviour and increasing awareness and understanding to prevent problems from arising.
The LTA is rolling out a suite of new materials to support parents, venues, referees and competition organisers including:
- A powerful campaign video featuring Johanna Konta and Leon Smith, highlighting the importance of “Setting the Standard”. The video showcases how positive parent behaviour helps players thrive and the video will need to be watched before a parent can enter their child in a competition via the LTA Competition Management System
- Parent learning module available online, to help families understand how their behaviour and the nature of support influences their child’s attitude, resilience, and long-term enjoyment of the sport.
- Training for licensed officials and referees introducing new modules on communicating with players and parents and managing and de-escalating challenging situations
- Printed and digital resources including court banners, posters, and business cards for local use by venues and organisers to reinforce positive culture at competitions.
As part of our commitment to supporting Fair Play at competitions, the LTA are also trialling electronic line calling (ELC) at selected competitions, through a partnership with PlayReplay, with a view to reducing incidents of bad line calling and as a result, enhancing the experience for players, parents and coaches.
Smith has seen firsthand the impact parents can have and is delighted to be involved in the campaign. He commented: “This is not about finger wagging or telling parents how to behave. It’s about engaging and communicating with them so that together we can set the standard.
"Parents are the single biggest influence on a player’s attitude. Before the match even starts, parents influence the mood. They shape what happens on the court. By staying composed from preparation through to playing, they are giving children the best chance of performing well and having fun.”
Reflecting on her own experience as a player, Konta added: “When I started training at eight years old, my parents provided the ultimate foundation. They were the exact opposite of overbearing sports parents; instead of adding pressure, they taught me how to stay calm and remain grounded. Their positive reinforcement and unwavering support directly shaped my competitive mindset, which is exactly the message this campaign aims to celebrate”.
These resources have been co-designed with two leading academic experts in the field of sport psychology, Professor Chris Harwood, Director of Sport, Health and Performance from Nottingham Trent University and Doctor Sam Thrower, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Oxford Brooks University.
Professor Harwood commented: “Research tells us how important positive parental support is to a young player’s development and experience of tennis, and how negative parent behaviour can put unnecessary pressure on kids and be hugely detrimental.
"Tennis is a superb lifelong sport, and the aim is to improve the competition experience for everyone involved and ultimately increase the number of regularly competing juniors progressing through the age groups. When working on these resources we have considered carefully how we can promote the range of supportive behaviours that parents can show, reinforcing that they are vital allies in creating an enjoyable, developmental experience for their child.”
LTA’s Managing Director, Tennis Development, Olly Scadgell commented: “Everyone in tennis has a shared responsibility to make competition a positive experience that ensures young players have fun and want to come back. That means placing the wellbeing, safety and enjoyment of every player above everything else – including winning.
"This campaign reinforces that principle. Coaches and officials play a crucial role on the ground, in shaping a young player’s experience, and supporting parents. This campaign gives them the resources to make conversations with parents easier and more constructive, as well as talking to parents directly and reminding them of the vital role they play in 'Setting the Standard'.”
Throughout May and June over 250 referees and competition organisers were briefed on “Set the Standard” in a series of regional referee workshops.
Parents
Parents can watch the “Set the Standard” video and learn more through the 15-minute guide via our parent support webage.
This page also provides other helpful resources for parents and carers including our Competition Parenting Course.
Competition workforce
Competition workforce (referees, court supervisors and competition organisers) who are running a County Championships this Summer, or a weeklong competition during the October half term break, will receive campaign materials including banners/posters/cards in the post.
They can find out more about the “Set the Standard” campaign, including details of CPD opportunities, in the Officials Hub.
