The finals of the county wide Sainsbury's School Games competition saw a year 3 schools competition along with a disability event. The event took place on Friday July 4th at Durham University’s Graham Sports Centre, Maiden Castle.
This year saw 5 schools in the year 3 event and 2 in the inclusive. This included Cestria (Chester-le-Street), Durham Blue Coat Junior (Durham City), Blackhall Colliery (Easington), St John’s C of E (Sedgefield), Ingleton (Wear Valley and Teesdale) and St Patricks (Derwentside) in the Year 3 and Villa Real along with Trinity in the inclusive competition.
It was fantastic this year because both events were in the same area with the players competing in their respective competitions. The year 3's played singles matches and completed various activities on the Tennis Factory. The young players from Villa Real and Trinity took part in a skills court, which included the egg and spoon race, throwing and hitting into a bucket along with popcorn and can knockdown. They also completed the Tennis Factory activities also.
What a spectacular showcase it was of all the great things tennis can offer. The year 3's were full of enthusiasm and unrelenting energy throughout the day and the 22 young people from the two special schools were amazing. The scores in both events were very close which really highlighted the determination from all participants to do their best.
The final results are below,
Inclusive Event
1st - Durham Trinity (105.5 points)
2nd – Villa Real (101.5 points)
Year 3
1st – St Patricks (Derwentside). 94 points
2nd – Cestria (Chester-le-Street). 86 points
3rd – Ingleton (Wear Valley & Teesdale). 78 points
4th – Blackhall Colliery (Easington). 59 points
5th – Durham Blue Coat Juniors (Durham City). 52 points
6th - St John’s C of E (Sedgefield). 42 points
Special thanks to go to Durham University Community Team (James / Katie and Ben) who were fantastic along with Lucy Scott, Sarah Forrest and Pippa Hawes who led on the activities. We also say a huge thanks to County Durham Sport for heading up the event along with all the sponsors and supporters.
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.