The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Tennis Foundation announced on Friday evening that Sunderland Tennis Centre, one of the area’s leading tennis sites, has been awarded ‘Beacon’ status as part of the AEGON Parks Tennis programme in recognition of their high quality, free and affordable community tennis programmes.
The Centre has also been running tennis sessions for blind and visually impaired people in the community giving them the chance to come along and try out 'Sound Tennis'.
The announcement was made as the centre was presented with their prestigious Beacon plaque by MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, Bridget Phillipson.
She said: "This award recognises not only the excellent facilities here at Sunderland Tennis centre but also that it offers free and affordable tennis for the local community. The centre should be particularly proud of its efforts to provide coaching to blind and visually impaired people in the North East so as to ensure that disability is not a barrier to playing tennis.
“Tennis is already a thriving, popular sport and if we wish to build on the current levels of participation it is essential that we make it available to people from all ages, backgrounds and abilities.”
The club joins 94 sites across the country to achieve the national accolade which recognises the best community-focussed facilities offering free and affordable tennis as part of the AEGON Parks Tennis programme.
To achieve this status, facilities must also offer access to quality, affordable coaching as well as regular competitions for all ages and abilities. Joanna Cunliffe, Tennis Development Manager for North East and Cumbria, said: “I am delighted to recognise the excellent work the centre is doing by awarding them Beacon status. To get more people playing, we need more quality tennis facilities like this, offering the local community a fun, affordable tennis experience all year round.
“Sunderland Tennis Centre has been going from strength to strength over the last couple of years and recently won Durham & Cleveland LTA’s ‘Place to Play’ of the Year. So with the Beacon status now confirmed I’m sure the Centre is going to continue onwards and upwards from here.”
Graham Fowler, Head Coach at Sunderland added: “The addition of the indoor swimming pool and enhancement of other areas has turned Sunderland Tennis Centre into a modern first class facility where families enjoy spending time.
“It is a great achievement for our centre to be awarded Beacon status and we hope to extend the work we do with the local community and give more people the opportunity to access free and affordable tennis activity.
“We are also delighted to be involved with 'Sound Tennis'. This is a brand new initiative for us and will hopefully introduce the game of tennis to visually impaired people who previously found it difficult to get involved.”
AEGON Parks Tennis aims to increase community access to tennis in parks and communities nationwide.
Delivered by the LTA and Tennis Foundation, AEGON Parks Tennis is a key programme in British tennis’ drive to increase participation and grow tennis at all levels. The long-term aim is to have an AEGON Parks Tennis site acting as a centre of community tennis excellence in each of the local authority areas in Britain.
Find your nearest place to play tennis.
Find out more about Blind Tennis sessions in your area.
Read more about Beacon sites.
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