The Wey Valley Indoor tennis centre, situated on the Wey Valley campus, has achieved the Lawn Tennis Association accreditation ‘Clubmark’. The newly built £1m state of the art tennis centre, which opened in January of this year, is open to the general public, local tennis clubs and provides a base for the tennis coaching programme from Julien Lawes of Weymouth Tennis Club.
The Clubmark award was introduced by Sport England in 2002 and is currently being implemented across 34 sports. There are over 800 Clubmark accredited places to play in the UK, with a further 600 working towards the best practice accreditation.
Rob Cole, Wey Valley Finance & Business Manager confirmed that ‘Clubmark provides the tennis centre with the tools and resources to ensure a tennis facility which delivers a quality tennis development programme and operates in line with best practice. Mr Cole added that the ‘Clubmark award reflects the excellent support received from the Redlands Community Sports Hub and the professional nature of the operation, including superb tennis coaching programmes available to budding tennis stars delivered by Julien Lawes and his Weymouth Tennis Club coaches’.
Richard Edgeley, Director of Sport at the school also commented on the positive impact of the tennis centre. There have been over 6,000 visitors to the tennis centre since its opening including tennis players across the country as a result of LTA events and competitions being held indoors.
Mr Edgeley also added that the school is working in partnership with Active Dorset with primary schools in Weymouth so that primary school children experience tennis and gain racquet skills under the roof.
Martin Kimberley, Chief Executive of Active Dorset said “Active Dorset are delighted to be working with Wey Valley School & Sports College, Sport England, the Lawn Tennis Association and many other partners in what is proving to be an extremely successful community tennis project. The new tennis centre, combined with excellent coaches who are really motivated to bring tennis to the whole community, have led to a significant increase in the number of people playing and enjoying the game from Weymouth, Portland and surrounding areas.”
“New and occasional players have taken advantage of the community coaching programme, many are now regular players and are seeing the positive benefits of being regularly active.”
Julien Lawes, tennis coach also commented ‘that the coaching team is really pleased to say we now have two venues with the Clubmark award. The tennis programme and set up at the tennis centre are enabling the delivery of a superb tennis development programme, operating in line with Lawn Tennis Association best practice and ultimately, we are seeing a number of promising young tennis players’.
Kieron Morrissey, a Year 11 student at the school said ‘the tennis centre is a fantastic sports facility and has provided great opportunities for students to improve their tennis’. Kieron added ‘the coaching programmes at the centre cater for all abilities and I am now looking to develop my role through tennis coaching’.
James Deem, LTA Regional Officer for Dorset and Somerset said ‘The centre has made huge strides forward in its opening year achieving Clubmark within the first 9 months of it being open for business. The centre provides true access for all with a mix of coaching, school play, competitions and time when the public and local clubs can access affordable, indoor tennis"
"I look forward to continue to work with the centre and local clubs to increase the usage of this excellent facility"
Rob Cole, Wey Valley Finance & Business Manager also said that the tennis centre, which is a pay and play centre has seen over 2,500 tennis court hours played since January and any persons wishing to try the sport can contact the tennis office on 01305 340122 for court bookings. Further information can be found on the school’s website at www.weyvalley.dorset.sch.uk by clicking on the tennis photo.