St Michaels Primary, Farnsfield, emerge victorious in Nottinghamshire County Schools Tennis Finals

While the focus of the tennis media has shifted away from Nottingham to Edgbaston, the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, and the forthcoming are this term taking part in schools tennis competitions.  

They join an anticipated 13,000 plus years 3 and 4 pupils from across England who will be taking part in their local School Sport Partnership (SSP) tennis competitions, with the winning schools progressing to county finals.  

The Nottinghamshire finals took place on Wednesday 9th June at the University of Nottingham Sports Centre.  

The schools taking part were competing to be crowned county champions after winning their local SSP competition. Village school St Michaels Primary, Farnsfield from the Newark and Sherwood SSP emerged victorious after fighting off competition from runners up South Wilford from Farnborough SSP.  

Andy McFeeters, Tennis Development Manager for Nottinghamshire, said: “We had a great day in Nottingham and it was fantastic to see so many children taking part and enjoying their tennis. Well done to St Michaels for their win and some strong performances, but it was also good to see kids involved who had only recently taken up tennis. 

“The LTA is committed to making tennis available to all, irrespective of age or ability, and I am sure that we can build on the success of this year’s competition for the future. I have no doubt that the new primary resources developed by the Tennis Foundation as part of AEGON Schools Tennis are already starting to make a massive difference on the ground, alongside our ongoing work to build school-club links across the county.”

The event was organised by Dave Everington from Notts LTA, supported by a team of young competition organisers from South Nottingham College.  The volunteers had all been trained by the LTA as part of its drive to increase volunteering in tennis in partnership with V, the volunteering charity. 

The other schools that reached the final were Killisick Primary School, Gedling SSP; Underwood Primary from Ashfield SSP; Lady Bay Primary from Rushcliffe SSP and Old Basford Primary from Ellis Guilford SSP.

         Nationally, 12,000 children from 2,000 schools took part in the competition last year at an estimated 1,100 events as part of the competition. This is anticipated to increase around 10% in 2010.

         The Year 3&4 Mini Tennis Red Schools Competition is an entry level event, aimed at beginners and players new to the game, rather than an opportunity for advanced players already competing regularly outside of school.

·         The Tennis Foundation and LTA work through with the Youth Sport Trust’s Partnership Development Managers right across England to deliver the competition, which has three stages; “Cluster” Events, Partnership (SSP) Finals and County Finals.

·         All children that take part are offered the chance of free British Tennis Membership.

·         More detailed information on the competition is at: http://www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/schoolsandcolleges/schoolscompetitions/