Each of the School Sports Partnerships in Hertfordshire participated in the Year 3 and 4 Schools Competition programme this year.Each Partnership organised Cluster Tournaments in their area leading to a Partnership Final.

The competition is based around Mini Tennis Red stage using a 12 m x 6m court, played indoors using 8cm dense foam balls.   Odyssey, Knebworth has an indoor facility with 8 Mini Tennis Red courts and is an ideal venue from such a large event.   Many of the children had not experienced playing tennis matches before these events, yet the players served and rallied as if they had been playing for a long time.

The schools that qualified for the County Finals were:

Bovingdon JMI - Dacorum SSP 
 
Reed School Royston - North East Herts SSP
 
Pope Paul JMI, Potters Bar - Watford and Hertsmere SSP
 
St Meryl JMI - Three Rivers SSP 
 
Park Street JMI and St Adrians JMI - St Albans and Harpenden SSPs
 
Whitehill JMI, Hitchin - North Herts SSP
 
Bedwell JMI - Stevenage SSP
 
St Michaels JMI - Birchwood SSP

Morgans JMI - Hertford and Ware SSP

Panshanger JMI - Welwyn Hatfield SSP 

The eleven school teams, each comprising two boys and two girls from years 3 and 4, gathered at the Odyssey, Knebworth Club along with their school teachers, parents and the Competition Organisers from Hertfordshire.   Herts Tennis organised the day in such a way as to guarantee all the participants three hours of fun tennis competition.

The matches were closely contested and by the narrowest of margins Panshanger JMI from Welwyn Garden City took first place from Reeds School, Royston. St. Adrians JMI St. Albans were third and Whitehill JMI, Hitchin came fourth.

Herts Tennis in conjunction with the Lawn Tennis Association have offered Primary School teachers in Hertfordshire, the opportunity to attend training courses to assist with the delivery of tennis in curriculum time.   The teachers that took up the offer of the free courses were given a comprehensive bag of tennis equipment to take back to their schools.  Club School links are developing strongly and the children who participated in this programme are being encouraged to continue playing tennis at their local club.

Two very useful websites for further information are:

www.lta.org.uk

www.herts-schools-tennis.org.uk