Aims & Objectives

Aims 

"The International Lawn Tennis Clubs or "ICs" as they are affectionately known around the world, have these core values:

• Enhancing international understanding and goodwill through sport, specifically tennis 
• Playing matches between nations among tennis players who have played representative tennis overseas
• Maintaining, encouraging and developing the highest standards of good sportsmanship among players of all nations, in particular among young players
• Enhancing the lives of young people, many of whom may come from disadvantaged backgrounds, through teaching them the value of sport and tennis, in particular
• Welcoming and entertaining tennis players visiting their country from abroad

Objectives and Outcomes

As we reflect on the challenges which face the world today, it is encouraging to find elements in sport that embrace the better aspects of man’s ability to endure nation to nation. 96 years since the founding of the first IC, the International Clubs have aims and objectives that have evolved to meet the needs of a changing society which ensuring that the Clubs maxim ‘hands across the net, friendship across the ocean’ remains valid and is sustainable.

We are now 42 Clubs playing on all five continents of the world. There are only a few of the major tennis-playing nations that do not yet have an International Club.  We will continue to encourage new nations to join. Players aspiring to create an IC are asked to ensure they will pursue with vigour our core values.

The fun side of what we do is to play matches nation-to-nation in a series of bilateral, quadrilateral and multilateral events. The events between two nations are numerous and often have their origins going back many decades. For example, the French and the British have enjoyed biannual matches going back 90 years - and have played each other 169 times!! There are now many other bilateral matches building great traditions. 

The multi-IC events, sometimes involving golf, include the Wallenberg Trophy introduced by Sweden where four nations play a mixed match annually. The French have recently incorporated, in memory of Robert Abdessalam, the former French IC President and Davis Cupper, a trophy for countries with which he was most closely associated, involving on a permanent basis Belgium and Spain, with one invited nation. The IC of the Czech Republic invite four nations every year to Prague in June.

The Council of ICs, which has administered the family of International Clubs worldwide since 1946, oversees a series of regular IC Council events hosted by different ICs every few years, and usually to celebrate an important anniversary.  Our flagship IC Council event, in which there is an open section, is the IC Week where men’s teams play for the Windmill Trophy and women’s teams for the Mercelis Trophy.  For the veterans age-groups we run these trophies: the Columbus and Juego de Pelota (both for men) and the La Carreta (for women).   We run the Potter Cup - an annual event where the world’s best veteran players (men over 45 and women over 40) come to Barcelona for a long weekend to play the best veterans’ tennis on clay anywhere in the world.

Our third, and probably most important objective, is to maintain the standard of sportsmanship and understanding among players of all nations and young players in particular. The culture of good sportsmanship is seen throughout our events. It is rare to see a moment of uncontrolled anger or a serious line call dispute in an IC match.

The Council makes a prestigious sportsmanship award in the name of Jean Borotra, the great French tennis player and former President of the IC of France and the IC Council.  The Jean Borotra IC Sportsmanship Award is made to an international player who has shown outstanding sportsmanship throughout his or her career or perhaps even on an individual occasion of remarkable significance. Over the last 15 years the award has been won by: Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Todd Martin, Maria Bueno, Pat Rafter, Kim Clijsters, Mats Wilander, Roger Federer, Stefanie Graff, Rod Laver and Gabriela Sabbatini.  We are delighted that CQS, a major supporter of the IC Council, has agreed to add their name to the Award.

Our objective of involving young players carries a more important message. Young players who have set their sights on an international tennis career, often know little of the history of tennis and they also play relatively few team matches. Promising young players take part in our bilateral matches. In 2004 we introduced the IC Junior Challenge, where boys and girls (16 and under) represent their countries to take part in elimination team competitions on their continent, followed by world finals at different venues every.  In 2014 the world finals were held on the grass at the All England Club, Wimbledon; in 2016 at the Monte Carlo Country Club, and in 2018 in Tokyo. The boys and girls travel as a team.  They are made aware of the requirements of ‘fair play’ within the community of sport. There is a strong cultural element to their programme.  They participate in hosting a clinic for disadvantaged children.  In this way, we seek to achieve our fourth major objective mentioned above. The IC Junior Challenge received tremendous support from Compass for its 14 years of the event, and we proud that the Fundação Lemann has taken over their mantle.

As a relatively senior institution in tennis, the notion of ‘giving back’ is important to us. Recognising that, with a network of 42 ICs around the world, we could do more, we have launched a philanthropic programme: IC Philanthropy. We have benefitted over many years from private donors, but we are now incorporating IC Philanthropy as a charity. My predecessor, Barry Weatherill, will chair IC Philanthropy. We now host clinics at nearly all our events.  We are running major, sustainable programmes in Australia, Cambodia, Chile, Ethiopia, Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay; in certain disadvantaged urban areas of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the UK; and with certain groups of disadvantage children in New Zealand and Spain.  These programmes are often supported by other charities in an IC’s jurisdiction. We are affiliated to the ITF and have an MOU with them to benefit from an association with their Development Programme.

It is not possible to operate an international network without adequate income, a management structure and a professional executive. Good governance and management underpin all our activities.

We have been fortunate to have the support of some outstanding and loyal donors. Lacoste have helped us on a continuous basis since 2005 and have always had a very close association with the IC of France; Compass who contributed the lion’s share of the cost of the IC Junior Challenge for 14 years; Fundação Lemann who took over from Compass; Banque de Luxembourg whose help allows the Council to support IC Philanthropy; and CQS who are supporting the IC Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award and our efforts to promote sportsmanship throughout our events. We are extremely grateful to them all for their assistance.

I share the confidence of my predecessor, Barry Weatherill, who said that:

“in the area in which the ICs aim to operate, and with the help of our many colleagues in Clubs around the world, the ICs can bring about greater friendship and understanding between nations, provide hugely enjoyable tennis to those who participate in our activities, ensure that the objective of good sportsmanship is alive and well and provide, through tennis, a means of adding hope to the lives of disadvantaged young people”.

Peter McQuibban

Chairman
Council of International Clubs