Ifield Tennis Club's Paula White wins Volunteer of the Year at LTA Tennis Awards

After helping increase the club's membership from eight to 60 and redeveloping the courts, White's hard work has been recognised with the Volunteer of the Year prize at the LTA Tennis Awards. The LTA Tennis Awards recognise the vital work of volunteers, coaches, officials, and players across Britain, with as many as 2,500 nominations received each year.

The ceremony was hosted by LTA President Sandi Procter and presented by Leon Smith OBE, with a number of high-profile guests in attendance, including Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester. And White believes this is only the start of the club's story, with so much more to come over the next year."We have got so many plans for development in the future as well," she said. "It has been amazing; we are doing a club tournament at the moment. The club is buzzing, and it is the people. The core of the club and what makes it a success is the people, they are amazing, and everyone is thoroughly enjoying their tennis. It is just incredible, my husband, bless him, put the nomination in.

"I am absolutely blown away to be recognised, volunteering is such a wonderful thing to do. I have done a lot of things that I did not know I could do.

"Just to see everyone having such a brilliant time, enjoying the club and working with the community is really important to me. The culture of volunteering in British tennis is very strong and without volunteers, things would not happen.

"I would just say to anyone, if you want to volunteer go for it."

The great the good of British tennis attended the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, including LTA President Sandi Procter. And she was moved by the inspiring stories of the selfless individuals who give up their time to go the extra mile and make British tennis what it is.

"I found the whole thing quite emotional," added Procter. "The inspirational stories behind this lot, and for all that they do is unbelievable. It just brought tears to your eyes when I listened to all those stories from, from the young person of the year to Les Mellor, who got the lifetime is just incredible.

"It's so heartwarming, all of it is wonderful. I've visited a lot of the clubs and I've done a lot of the regional awards round and about all I can say is I have met the most interesting, incredible people all along the way.

"I've absolutely loved it."

To find out more information about the LTA Tennis Awards or for information on how to play, coach, volunteer or officiate in tennis, head to https://www.lta.org.uk/