PUPILS BECOME THEIR OWN TENNIS CHAMPIONS AT DUKES MEADOWS

Wimbledon may be dominating headlines but the school kids of Hounslow gathered today to become their own champions as they take on a world record attempt at Dukes Meadows sports centre in Chiswick, London before battling it out for the schools title in a mini-tennis comp. 

500 children from the surrounding Hounslow area, from over 50 primary schools, attempted this morning to break the world record of the most people in one place bouncing a tennis ball on a racket for 10 seconds. With the participation of coaches, teachers and onlookers, the children showed off their tennis skills in the hope of breaking the current record held in the US of 647 people. Whilst the children will have to wait for the official results to come in from Guinness World Records there is no denying that the festival was an absolute success for British Tennis.

Sachin Gupta, Mayor of Hounslow said:

“I am so delighted to have been invited here today to see so many children get involved in tennis. It is the legacy of London 2012 to get more children involved in sport and today shows that that is happening.

“It is so important for kids to get involved in sport, any physical activity they do is important to keep them active and to keep their mind fresh and help them study more – healthy mind brings a healthy living style and good results.”

The challenge formed part of the Schools Tennis festival, a celebration of the continued investment to grass-roots tennis in the Hounslow area by the Schools Delivery Tennis Programme. The programme which is run by the FC** Tennis academy at Dukes Meadows, with the help of Hounslow Council and Sport Impact is available to every primary school in the Hounslow borough.

Dukes Meadows’ tennis coach Joe Morris who leads the programme said:

“There is no better time of year to recognise the achievements of the Schools Delivery initiative and the pupils involved. While there may be a Wimbledon star amongst our kids we are just happy to be giving them some key skills for their development and most of all a love for tennis.”

Alan Watkinson, Partnership Manager, Sport Impact:

“The most important thing is the level of participation; all these children have the opportunity to do this and the children back at schools have had this at their schools and have had a go at tennis. It just shows what can be achieved in partnership, if people work together and work hard we will achieve great results.”

Since 2008 the successful partnership with local schools has meant they have delivered free in-curriculum tennis coaching to years three and four. Dukes Meadows provides over £100,000 worth of tennis development activity in the borough every year - around 4,000 children will enjoy free tennis this year alone whilst also developing agility, balance and coordination skills.

Paul Williams, Schools Tennis Manager at the Tennis Foundation said:

“The programme and the outreach work that Dukes Meadows are doing in the community is fantastic. To be able to support young people to pick up a racket and to give them that first introduction to the sport, and develop a real enthusiasm for it, is vital. Hopefully there are lots of programmes like this going on across the country but Dukes are doing it fantastically well.

“The number one aim of British tennis at the moment is to get more people playing tennis more often and partnerships with the likes of Dukes Meadows, Sport Impact and Hounslow are essential in delivering that.”

Cllr Lily Bath, cabinet member for children’s services, said:

“It’s good to see Hounslow kids having a ball during Wimbledon fortnight.  And you never know, if they break the world record, Hounslow could serve up Britain’s next tennis ace.”

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