The Cumbria Sainsbury’s School Games Final saw a massive 22 schools compete in the tennis competition. The schools had qualified through from earlier rounds in their respective areas across the county. This meant 88 Year 3 & 4 pupils travelled to Carlisle to play in the prestigious County Final, which was held at Bitts Park. For the first time in 2 years there was not a poncho in sight with blazing sun shining across the mini tennis courts! Instead of the masking tape not sticking down due to rain it was melting in the heat this year…what a contrast of the elements!
The players shone as bright as the summers sun with unrelenting energy, fast feet and smiley faces from start to finish. There was well over 200 matches played during the event, which was refereed by two local coaches / organisers along with a team of local volunteers.
David Wise and Tracey Burrus were the referees and did an outstanding job once again, with meticulous planning and preparation to ensure the event was a smashing success! With so many schools it was key that David had volunteers to umpire the matches. The young volunteers were unwavering in their enthusiasm and keenness to help support the event by umpiring the mini tennis matches.
All of the above really highlights the power of sport. Whatever role you take part in from player, referee, organiser, volunteer, spectator or many other things you can reap tremendous rewards.
Following the earlier group stages the schools then played in their respective play off. The results are below,
Small Schools
1st – Holme St Cuthbert (Allerdale)
2nd – Broughton in Furness Primary School (Copeland)
3rd – Castle Carrock Primary School (Carlisle)
4th – Burlington School (Furness)
5th – Beckermet School (Copeland)
6th – Clifton Primary School (Eden)
7th – St Pauls Junior School (Furness)
8th – Dent Primary School (South Lakeland)
9th – Tebay Community School (Eden)
10th – St Matthews (Allerdale)
11th – Crosby on Eden Primary School (Carlisle)
Large Schools
1st – Beckstone Pirmary School (Allerdale)
2nd – Dane Ghyll School (Furness)
3rd – Scotby Primary School (Carlisle)
4th – Thomlinson Junior School (Allerdale)
5th – Stainton School (Eden)
6th – St James Catholic Primary School A (Copeland)
7th – Holy Family School (Furness)
8th – North Lakes School (Eden)
9th – Belle Vue Primary School (Carlisle)
10th – St Martins and St Marys (South Lakeland)
11th – St James Catholic Primary School B (Copeland)
Special mention to Beth from Carlisle City Leisure Limited who was a great help at the event. Beth manages the Kiosk at the Park, which is next door to the tennis courts. Further thanks to Active Cumbria for running the whole event, local School Games Organisers for their work locally at their schools, Carlisle City Council along with sponsors and other supporters. This truly captures the true meaning of teamwork!
There are 46 county festivals taking place across the country over the summer and more than 25,000 primary school pupils are taking part in the schools tennis competitions.
Paul Williams, Schools Tennis Manager at the Tennis Foundation added: “School Games Festivals provide a great opportunity for school pupils to pick up a racket, many for the first time, and supports British tennis’ mission of getting more people playing tennis, more often.
“With more than 16,300 schools supported through the Aegon Schools Tennis programme with free teacher training, resources and equipment and 50,000 primary and secondary school pupils playing in schools tennis competitions every year there’s never been a better time to get involved.”
The School Games was created to encourage young people to play more competitive sport in school as part of plans to leave a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympics.
Young people taking part in the School Games will have the chance to compete in a range of Olympic and Paralympic sports with competitions progressing from school up to national levels.
For more information on the Tennis Foundation’s support for primary, special and secondary schools please visit www.schoolstennis.org