Next week will see the second Tennis Education Event organised by Stephanie Eadon, Head Coach at Boldon Lawn Tennis Club. The event looks to give girls aged between 11 and 14 years old the opportunity to speak to local sporting organisations about career pathways in sport and opportunities within funding, be trained as a Tennis Leader, as well as engage in a number of tennis related activities and much much more.
Joanna Cunliffe, Tennis Participation Manager in the region (Lawn Tennis Association) is excited about getting more girls involved in sport, said "Stephanie approached the LTA about the Tennis Education Event, which is a unique event that is going to showcase the huge range of pathways in tennis, including coaching, leading, volunteering, refereeing and playing to name a few. I am very excited about the programme to inspire more girls to get involved in the sport!”
The first day will bring together 6 local schools and 98 girls in the North East to the Tennis Education Day held at Sunderland Tennis Centre on Tuesday 17th March 9:00 till 14:30. The morning session will showcase a number of opportunities regarding career pathways in tennis and how to access the information they need through active educational workshops delivered by the Lawn Tennis Association, The Tony Blair Sports Foundation and Disability Tennis. During this time all school teachers will be trained as Cardio Tennis Teacher Trainers by a LTA tutor, gaining a qualification and experience to help incorporate tennis into their schools curriculum. The afternoon session will give all students a taste of Cardio Tennis, compete in a organised touchtennis match play and VI competition, tennis skills as well as the opportunity of putting their ball girl skills to the test during the match between Durham University and Northumbria University. A fun and active day which I hope all participants really enjoy.
(Participant's umpiring a Mini Tennis Match)
The second day is the Tennis Leaders Day allowing all participants to qualify as a ‘Competition Organiser or ‘Tennis Leader’. The training sessions will take place at their school between Monday 2nd March and Friday 24th April 2015. The Leaders Day will see all participants gain leadership skills through fun tennis related activities, then finish with all participants organising, delivering and participating in a touchtennis competition.
All the girls will come back together on Friday 10th July 2015, 9.00 till 14.30 at Sunderland Tennis Centre to gain work based experience and put into practise the skills they acquired during the Leaders Day at their school. The Tony Blair Sports Foundation Challenge Cup is one of the most prestigious schools competitions in the whole country! During this day the girls will umpire Mini Tennis matches, lead on the Tennis Factory and participate in a touchtennis and Visually Impaired competition.
As part of the event a number of schools have opted for the TEE team to organise and deliver a school tennis starter programme.
(Girls from the Tennis Education Event 2014 Presentation)
Tennis Education Event Organiser Stephanie Eadon said “I am delighted with the fantastic response I have had from the schools in the North East, who are keen for their students to take part in this unique event. The idea for the event came from personal frustration and experience as a young person struggling to find out how to access the right information about courses, funding and support that I needed when trying to pursue a career in sport”.
Entries for the Tennis Education Event 2015 are now closed, however if you feel this is something your school would like to be involved with or a company who would like to support or sponsor the next Tennis Education Event please contact Stephanie Eadon via email: stephanie.eadon@tenniseducationevent.co.uk
For more information on what tennis has to offer you go to:
Lawn Tennis Association – www.lta.org.uk/
Tony Blair Sports Foundation – www.tonyblairsportsfoundation.org/sports/
Boldon Lawn Tennis Club – www.boldonlawntennisclub.co.uk/