Rob Salmon: Let’s Make LTA Junior County Cup Even Better
PLS READ & THEN WHETHER YOU AGREE WITH ME OR NOT COMPLETE THIS SURVEY & HAVE YOUR SAY!
Just to be clear, County Cup’s one of my favourite things in the whole wide world. I want to start with this as everything you are going to read comes from a starting point of love and wanting to make something that is great even better! And you see, I do think Junior County Cup (focusing in on 11U, 12U and 14U) can be improved as a result of a couple of flaws - and I’d love to know if you agree and what improvements you’d make to LTA Junior County Cup. For avoidance of doubt, this is research I’m undertaking. It’s not affiliated to the LTA although I will look to share the findings with the relevant parties at the LTA.
If you prefer audio to reading the article below, do listen to the short podcast I’ve done below.
Here’s a quick reminder of where we currently are and what I understand the LTA were trying to achieve by the changes they made to Junior County Cup starting in 2023. As in most things, I think it is best to start with objectives. So here’s my perception of what the LTA were trying to achieve…
Have competitive play and stop one sided matches
Reduce travel for teams
To try and achieve these objectives for 11U, 12U and 14U County Cup, the LTA:
Gave top 6 counties (separately for girls and boys based on ranking of top four players) direct access to the Final. No qualifying required for these Counties!
Placed next 12 top ranked LTA Counties in 2 groups who compete to win the Group and qualify for the Final. The two winners make up places 7 and 8 at the Finals.
Created a load of Area League divisons of 4-6 Counties based as far as possible geographically close to each other. The winners of these groups cannot progress to the Finals. This is where the majority of Counties - around 24 - are placed.
I’ve been close to County Cup - over the past few years as a coach and as a parent. I’ve captained County Cup Team teams. Family members have competed at 11U, 12U, 14U, 18U and Men’s in 2024 alone. As I mentioned above I love County Cup! However, I strongly believe that the objectives the LTA have tried to achieve have NOT been achieved through the changes made. I put the evidence below. I’d then love to hear WHAT YOU THINK.
COMPETITIVE PLAY / STOP ONE SIDED MATCHES
Automatic Qualification: The automatic qualification system is based on the cumulative total of single points for the top four ranked players around 4 months before the Finals event. The flaw here is that the top ranked players with big points who achieve their teams automatic qualification do not necessarily play. Many do - don’t get me wrong - but a County can have one or two very highly ranked players who don’t play and this can leave their team mates potentially with a challenge in the Final. The data shows this.
Here’s one example - there are more if you check the results out.
One County ranked second on rankings going into the Finals had two top ranked players not compete. They finished the event in 8th position out of 8 teams. They lost 4 matches out of 4. They won 4 rubbers and lost 20. They lost the 7th/8th play off 6-0.
This isn’t the players fault (either those who can’t play or who do play) in any way shape or form or the Counties fault. Players have very legitiamate reasons why they can’t play from injury to international events. It is a flaw in the system.
Area Leagues: The thing is, the Area Leagues also don’t seem to have stopped one sided matches. I was looking at the results of one County from 12U County Cup area division. Across the boys and the girls, they won 35 rubbers and lost 5. An 88% win rate is in my mind one sided. If you look through the results you’ll see this is the case with other Counties too both in terms of winning a very high percentage or losing a very high percentage. The Area Leagues are not always competitive either. Again the objective has failed. And would the strongest teams in the Area Leagues be able to compete with teams who received Automatic Qualification who were missing their strong player(s)? My hunch is they may. The point is we will never know.
Personally, I’d like every team to have the opportunity to qualify. Otherwise I don’t see it as a Cup. Please do FILL IN THE SURVEY BELOW to let me know if you agree!
REDUCE TRAVEL FOR TEAMS
But what about the second objective of reducing travel for teams where possible?
I think the evidence suggests the current approach hasn’t really worked!
Take these journeys - all from the 12U ‘area’ leagues…
Nottinghamshire to Northumberland
South of Scotland to Derbyshire
Hertfordshire to Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire to Shropshire
Oxfordshire to Suffolk
Cheshire to South of Scotland
Cumbria to Derbyshire etc etc
There are of course also lots of examples of massive journeys from the groups you CAN qualify from as they could be from anywhere in the UK. Essex to Lancashire anyone?! East of Scotland to Lincolnshire?!
CONCLUSION
The approach to automatic qualification for six Counties has a fundamental flaw - the players who achieve the automatic qualification may not play. And Area Leagues aren’t always that competitive - sometimes they are very one sided. I’d love every County to have a chance to qualify for the Finals.
Add in the fact that there are still lots of long journeys going on - in my book this is all part of the adventure - and I think the two objectives outlined above are not being met.
PLEASE DON’T GET ME WRONG…
Please please don’t get me wrong. County Cup remains an amazing event. And trying something is not a bad idea at all. But you also need to learn from experiments.
As a family we still love County Cup. We go and watch the adult event every year and it has been amazing to see the children get to play for their County. What an honour. They might just love it a bit more if they had something to play for. I honestly believe their teams - and lots of other Counties - could be competitive against the Counties who go automatically through if their highly ranked players don’t play. And they don’t always play. The memories made by players would be even more amazing, their love for the game even greater, if they had the chance to qualify for Finals. What a weekend that would be!
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
I’ve got some ideas, but I’d LOVE to hear yours and then I’ll do a follow up article and podcast containing lots of the ideas and share in the most constructive way possible with the LTA. I may even put a slide show presentation together and try and meet the team!
HOW CAN YOU HELP? COMPLETE THIS SURVEY!
Please please pretty please complete the survey below - whether you agree with the points I’ve made or have a totally different view I’d love to hear from you - together we can come up with ideas to make 11U, 12U and 14U LTA County Cup better! All survey responses will REMAIN COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS. PLEASE ENSURE YOU FILL IN EMAIL - IT’S THE ONLY REQUIRED FIELD!
