Tens of thousands of budding young tennis players are picking up a racket and playing competitive tennis as part of the nationwide Sainsbury’s School Games Level 3 Festivals this month.
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.
Over 1,000 young people took part in ten sports at the Kent School Games Level 3 Festival. Pupils from 16 schools were victorious in their local borough or partnership Year 3&4 Mini Tennis Red competitions to earn their place in the School Games Finals.
Tennis was one of the highlights of the day with St Stephens Junior School from Canterbury emerging as the winners, narrowly beating Sevenoaks School 29 points to 22 points after the match was a tie.
LTA Tennis Services Assistant and Tournament Organiser Siobhan Butler, said: “The School Games Finals this year saw some fantastic tennis from schools across Kent. All the players and school staff entered into the ethos of the event and a great day was had by all”.
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 18,000 schools supported through British Tennis’ Schools 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.
The final borough standings were:
1 Canterbury
2 Sevenoaks A
3 Ashford A
4 Dover
5 Sevenoaks B
6 Tonbridge
7 Ashford B
8 Tunbridge Wells
9 Gravesham A
10 Gravesham B
11 Sheppy & Sittingbourne
12 East Kent Costal
13 Thanet
14 Gravesham C
15 Shepway
16 Dartford
For more information on the Tennis Foundation’s support for primary, special and secondary schools please visit www.schoolstennis.org