Placement experience at the LTA

Second year Sport Coaching BSc(Hons) student, Russell Butlin, had a day’s experience with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) as part of his course.

Russell told us about his experience: “ I am very privileged to have been given the opportunity to go to the LTA and speak to their performance analysts and other members of staff. The experiences taken from that day are priceless.

“When I arrived at the LTA, I was greeted by the head of the performance analysis team, Hannah, while we watched a training camp and she told me more about the LTA and also what it provides for their elite athletes right down to their young performers. We then went to the performance analysis suite, where I got to see how they analyse performance using different software.

“I met with the other members of the team, and spoke to them about their definition or interpretation of what performance analysis is and more importantly their experiences and also what steps they took. Charlotte, one of the members in the team, showed me how they use Dartfish to analyse performances of not only their players but also that of the opposition and the tagging panels they use.

“After she had shown me everything they allowed me to analyse the Australian open final between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic using one of their tagging panels. This was a fantastic experience because not only did I get an insight of what they do, I also had the experience of doing it myself.

“Gordan the other member of the team showed me more about the complex system which is hawk-eye, and how they can use all the data that it gathers to enhance the performance of players. Overall, I had a break-taking time at the LTA and the experiences and knowledge gained have had a massive impact on what I want to for a future career.”

Senior lecturer Flo Pietzsch said: “Russell had a great experience with the Lawn Tennis Association and we hope that many of our other students will also be offered the same opportunity.”