Students from North Glasgow College have been using tennis to develop their sports leadership skills and putting these new skills into action through delivering a tennis festival for local primary school pupils.
The College have integrated tennis into their curriculum through the support of Tennis Scotland and the Tennis Foundation and are increasing the profile of the sport through their enrichment and sports leadership programmes.
The group of 18 Fitness, Health and Exercise students undertook the LTA Tennis Leaders Course delivered by their lecturer Grace Turnbull before attending a Primary School Teacher Training Course delivered by tutor John Wilson.
Following the training, the group were well equipped, full of enthusiasm and keen to test out their tennis leadership skills so they decided to host a tennis festival for Craigdhu primary school.
The tennis festival was held at North Glasgow College on the 4th February, with 40 primary P5 pupils from Craigdhu primary attending the session delivered by the college students. All the pupils received an Aegon Schools Tennis Certificate of attendance and the offer of a free coaching session at the Milngavie Tennis Club courtesy of John Wilson head coach.
"It was a very enjoyable and successful day for all involved, the children all seemed to really enjoy their day with lots of them keen to continue with tennis having been inspired by the college students", said Grace Turnbull, Sports Lecturer at North Glasgow College.
Christine Sprowell, Further Education Manager at the Tennis Foundation, added, "It's fantastic to see the students from North Glasgow College encouraging local primary pupils to pick up a tennis racket, this is a good example of how colleges can support community tennis development. It's encouraging to see a growing number of colleges using the Tennis Foundation resources to train their sports leaders and then linking with local tennis venues and schools to provide valuable experience for the leaders."
For the first time British tennis now has an 'offer' in place to support the delivery of college tennis. The Guide to Further Education Tennis provides an overview of all the resources and support available to the college sector, from the Tennis Foundation and LTA.
Find out more about Further Education Tennis here.
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