I am totally confused by LTA red ball ratings

[emilycl]

DS (aged 7) played his first LTA red ball mini tennis competition recently. I read the LTA faq about how they removed ratings for red ball players in 2016. This seems very sensible. But then when I look online the competitions are all given ratings. What does a rating of an U8 competition of 3 or 6 mean if none of the players have ratings?

Very confused.

Do you mean grades for the tournaments? Eg a grade 3 red event?

Yes that’s what I meant. If the players don’t have ratings then what do these grades mean ?

When my daughter played junior tennis, grades one and two were national level tournaments. Grade three tournaments were a good, regional standard . Grade four county/local level.
All tournaments count towards rankings, and there are points attached to each level. Grade one are worth the most.
it's been a while since my daughter has played, so things may have changed.
i woukd advise you to just let your child play. Ratings, rankings etc will follow.

Thanks FANTINE2.

I think things may have changed. The red ball players no longer get ratings but you still have to choose which competitions to enter them in. I could just always enter DS in grade 6 competitions but I was trying to understand how you would know if you should enter a higher grade given you don't get a rating.