Over 9000 children in Portsmouth were visited by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) during and after Wimbledon and given the chance to pick up a racket and play tennis for free.
To raise awareness of the sport before and after Andy Murray’s historic win at the Championships, Wimbledon the LTA visited 31 primary schools in the city and encouraged the children to play more tennis.
Each child was given a goodie bag with material teaching them about tennis and the best places to play along with a free tennis voucher which could be redeemed across the city for a family experience of tennis, free sessions or free court hire.
Along with this, 18 schools who requested an assembly were provided with a £50 equipment voucher by the Tennis Foundation, Britain’s leading tennis charity, to improve the tennis facilities at their school.
Zoe Bambridge, the LTA Tennis Development Manager for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said: “We had a great response from schools, teachers and pupils within Portsmouth and with the buzz of Wimbledon the Schools road show helped repeat the message of picking up a racket and playing.
“With so many children and families receiving the voucher to play we hope we have inspired them to get out there and give tennis a go because it is a fantastic sport.
“To reach out to over 9000 children across Portsmouth is really pleasing and we really hope to have inspired some to play tennis more often.”
A total of 9,130 pupils were given vouchers by the LTA and Tennis Foundation over the period. For more information on tennis in the city please visit www.tennisinportsmouth.com.