Mini Red Schools Tennis Project Grows Substantially In Its Second Year

33 schools took part last year in the first ever Somerset Schools Mini Red Tennis tournament.  These schools were from the South East Somerset School Sport Partnership, which stretches from Frome, including Yeovil to Chard.  This year there will be well over 50 school taking part including schools from Taunton and the Mendip area.

Coaches from local clubs across the county will help over 1500 young 7&8 year olds learn how to play a competitive game of tennis.  Using rackets and red tennis balls appropriate to their age and ability, Primary school children will be vying for the chance to become the first county Mini Red Tennis champions.  The whole process is a huge success story for the joined up thinking associated with the aim of getting 80% of children aged 5-16 to participate in 5 hours of sport a week.

Working in close partnership, staff from the school sport partnerships, local government sport development officers, competition managers and managers from the Lawn Tennis Association have all put their combined resources together to ensure that all the available resources are aligned and get best value for money.  Integrating teacher education, time spent in the classroom, after school hour clubs, and the facilities at local tennis clubs means that potential Wimbledon champions can go seamlessly from a first positive Tennis experience at school to joining a club which has familiar faces and a welcoming approach to new young members.  In addition, support from secondary schools and further education colleges means that many new young 16-19 year old potential coaches and officials will receive training in how to assist the growth of tennis.  They will be on hand at the various festivals and competitions to ensure that they go well and are high quality events.

Graham Norris, Senior Competition Manager said “It is quite a challenge trying to integrate all the different resources and agencies, where there are potentially competing aims and objectives.  However, we used the first year to learn how to overcome these and are fortunate to have the support of keen and hard working staff, all who realise the importance for young people to have a route down which they can progress.   This project is a good example of how bringing resources together can help schools achieve the target of ensuring all children are involved in 5 hours PE and Sport per week.

Nick Arnold, Head Teacher at Illchester Primary school, last years winners said “Our team – Tom, Kyle, Audrey and Sophie were absolutely thrilled with their success – none of them thought they would win, but were very proud of themselves. Ilchester School was very proud of them too.”

Kyle, added , “I was very surprised we managed to win, I certainly didn’t expect us to win the tournament. I loved the competition and we played really well.”

As a result of their efforts last year, Tom who had played tennis before anyway and goes from strength to strength. Both Audrey and Kyle have started playing tennis and have both joined clubs – playing weekly and loving every minute.

This year’  project will start after Easter with 40 teachers going on to training courses and learning how to make the best use of an innovative teaching resource produced by the Tennis Foundation.  This will be followed up by coaches going into primary schools close to their clubs and helping teachers deliver fun and engaging lessons that develop important racket and movement skills.

A whole series of cluster competitions are planned for June, followed by Partnership Competitions and the County final during National Sports Week in July.  On-going activities are provided by the South Somerset District Council’s Mini Red series that runs through the summer.