Young disabled people from across Tees Valley took to the courts in a bid to beat the rest!
The finals of the county wide Sainsbury’s School Games competition saw a year 4 schools competition and secondary inclusive competition run in parallel with one another at Tennis World, Middlesbrough earlier this month.
The inclusive event played host to 31 secondary school pupils of varying age and experience who were coached in a Match Play and Rally Challenge station and competed as members of a team to earn points on the Tennis Factory and Skills stations.
The standard of competition was incredible and all competitors showed great sporting attitude throughout the day. Winners of the Tees Valley School Games Secondary Inclusive Competition are as follows:
1st (28 pts) Darlington represented by The Education Village
2nd (27 pts) Redcar & Cleveland represented by Gillbrook Academy & Kirkleatham Hall School
3rd (19.5 pts) Middlesbrough represented by The King’s Academy
4th (17.5 pts) Stockton represented by Bishopgarth School
Lis Greenwell – Tees Valley Sport School Games Organiser said “It was a wonderful day for all the competitors, great to see so many smiling faces showing a determination and passion for tennis”
Special thanks go to Tees Valley Sport for their support in the planning and running of the event along with young leaders and volunteers from the Tees Valley Leadership Academy (TVLA) and to the North East Visually Impaired Tennis Club’s Coaching Team for their support throughout the day.
“The success of the day was also due to the outstanding contribution of the young leaders. A number of students from Polam Hall and Laurence Jackson came along to assist in the running of the day and supported all aspects from score keeping and officiating to live updates on Social Media!” Rosie Pybus, Trainee Sports Development Officer at Tees Valley Sport.
Diane Harker, Head Coach at What a Racquet, who organised the Year 4 event was overjoyed with the standard of competition “It was wonderful to see how much they had continued to develop as tennis players from when they competed at Y3 team events.”
Overall winners of the Year 4 competition with 24 points were St Bernadettes (Middlesbrough 2). Lingfield (Middlesbrough 1) came second and Yarm (Stockton) came third of the eight areas.
Well done to all the players for making this year’s event so successful.
For more information on the Tennis Foundation’s support for primary, special and secondary schools please visit www.schoolstennis.org
For further coverage of the day please see Twitter @DsbltyTennisNE @TeesValleySport or the Tees Valley Sport website http://www.teesvalleysport.co.uk/