Tennis in Tower Hamlets was given a massive boost yesterday after Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester visited St Paul's Way Trust School.
The Duchess, who is the Honorary President of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), was joined by the Deputy Executive Director of the Tennis Foundation Joanna Farquharson to view the progress of tennis in the school after two charities, the Tennis Foundation and Greenhouse, began a programme in 2012, which included funding a full-time tennis coach.
Greenhouse is a London-based charity that empowers young people in London's most disadvantaged communities to realise their potential through high quality and intensive sport sessions delivered by inspirational coaches.
The Tennis Foundation and LTA have also supported the school through the provision of equipment, school tennis resources and trips to major tennis events. And since the programme began 1,014 sessions and 3,728 hours of activity have been delivered.
Her Royal Highness was also joined by Grahame Price, St Paul's Way Trust Head Teacher, Christine Dransfield, Greenhouse tennis coach at the school, and Graeme Duncan, Head of Development for Greenhouse, as well as pupils from the school.
The Duchess viewed a Cardio Tennis session in the indoor sports hall - a high-energy tennis workout to music sweeping the nation – before the pupils showed off their tennis skills on court.
"One of the best things about the tennis initiative here at St Paul's Way Trust School is that it is really helping the children to focus in and out of the classroom," said Mrs Farquharson.
"Her Royal Highness was delighted to visit the school and meet some of the people involved in this programme. The enthusiasm from the children as they picked up a racket was a delight, they all seemed to being enjoying themselves, despite many of them not having played before last year."
The Tennis Foundation's Schools Tennis Manager Paul Williams said: "Although the programme we have in place here is still in its infancy we've already had some tremendous feedback from the school about how it is positively benefitting their pupils.
"This project is just one of the ways we are getting more youngsters playing tennis through the Tennis Foundation and LTA's Aegon Schools Tennis Programme and we've now reached over 16,000 schools across the country to support them to deliver tennis."
Michael de Giorgio, Greenhouse Chief Executive, added: "Greenhouse is delighted that The Duchess of Gloucester visited one of our tennis programmes to see the positive impact that sport can have within a school.
"The programme is oversubscribed despite the fact that many of the players have never picked up a tennis racket before and don't play any other sports. Girls account for around 40% of participants and the school's coach Chris has been very successful in overcoming cultural barriers to encourage girls from diverse ethnic backgrounds to play tennis."
Find out more about Greenhouse here.
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