Thousands of young athletes from across the country are picking up a racket and playing competitive tennis as part of the School Games Festival this July.
13 teams from across Dorset were victorious in their local partnership Year 3&4 Mini Tennis Red competition to earn their place in the School Games Finals. In the year 7 / 8 competition 5 teams made I through from qualifying competitions held across the county.
There are 46 county festivals taking place across the country over the summer of which tennis is a part of 43 and more than 1,000 young people took part in a variety of sports at the Dorset School Games Level 3 Festival.
Tennis was one of the highlights of the day with Wyke School (Gillingham) ‘A’ team emerging as the winners in the year 3 / 4 event beating Burton Primary in the final and St Michaels School and Tywnham School finishing joint winners in the Year 7 / 8 event.
Tennis Development Manager, James Deem, said: “It was fantastic for tennis to be an integral part of the Dorset School Games. The children had a great day and the standard of tennis was extremely high”
He added “This is the most successful year of the schools tennis competitions to date, we have had more qualifying events then we have had before which has given children across Dorset to pick up a racket and play. We were particularly pleased, in the opening year of the school games, to add in the year 7 / 8 competition to our already established Year 3 / 4 mini red event.
The finals were made up of teams from all corners of the county. In the Year 3 / 4 event the following schools were represented in addition to the finalists. St John First, St Josephs, Wyke Gillingham B, Moordown St Johns, Baden Powell, St Mary’s West Moors, St Augustines A, Corpus Christi, St Augustines B, St Mary’s Dorchester, Christchurch.
In the year 7 / 8 competition the remaining competitors were Budmouth School, St Peters School / Bournemouth School for Girls and St Edwards School.
James, thanked Active Dorset for their event organisation, event referees Chris Penny (Year 3 / 4) and David Sanger (Year 7 / 8) and the teachers and leaders from St Aldhems Academy School who helped make the event possible.
Paul Williams, Schools Tennis Manager at the Tennis Foundation added: “A key priority for British Tennis is to grow the base of the game and that means more young people, playing more often. Congratulations to everyone who participated at
the School Games event this year and we look forward to seeing more even schools and young people taking part in the years to come.”
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