National Bank Player Identification Program 

Overview of Little Aces Identification Program

The National Bank Little Aces is a player identification and development program for 6–8-year-olds. The program aims to improve the overall development of these young participants with the goal of retaining them in the competitive stream of tennis. This will lead to a much larger pool of young competitors, ultimately resulting in fostering a stronger U15 Canadian pipeline and increasing the number of Canadians competing internationally. The program is overseen by Tennis Canada as part of the U15 Team Canada Club Support Program with the support of National Bank. 

Detailed Description of Little Aces Player Identification Program 

This program consists of awarding clubs with Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze status within the Whole Player Development Pathway (WPDP) training environment pillar.  

Selected clubs will receive grants to enhance the training of identified players. This will be in the form of adding group, semi-private or individual training to their existing program, or reducing their overall training costs. The program will run from September to June of each year and will support the player for a two-year cycle. The tracking of the development of the Little Aces-selected players will be conducted through the monitoring tool. The overall goal is to have more young players meeting the minimum training and competitive WPDP guidelines. 

Little Aces Player Identification Program Funding 

• Funding will be available for up to 4 players per year. These will be nominated by the club with the approval of the Little Aces committee. 
• In the first year, the club will receive $500 per player and $750 per player in the second year.  
• The payment to the club will be made in December.