Thousands of young athletes from across the country are picking up a racket and playing competitive tennis as part of the School Games Festival this July.
SCHOOLS from across Leicestershire were victorious in their local borough or partnership Year 3&4 Mini Tennis Red competition to earn their place in the School Games. The Games took place at Leicester Grammar School on 9th July.
There are 46 county festivals taking place across the country over the summer of which tennis is a part of 43 and more than 1,000 young people took part in ten sports at COUNTY School Games Level 3 Festival.
Tennis was one of the highlights of the day with Newcroft Primary School emerging as the winners of the Y3/4 event, with Brownlow finishing in the runners up spot. In the Y7/8 event Bushloe emerged as the winners ahead of Market Bosworth.
Tennis Development Manager for Leicestershire and Derbyshire Paul Sheard said: “The Leicestershire & Rutland School Games proved to be a fantastic event. There were 10 schools in the Y3/4 event and 9 schools in the Y7/8 so it was a busy day with a great atmosphere and over 75 tennis players taking part. Fortunately the rain held off for the day so we were able to give the players a lot of tennis and there were some really hard fought matches. Congratulations to Newcroft and Bushlow on winning the events.”
Paul Williams, Schools Tennis Manager at the Tennis Foundation added: “A key priority for British Tennis is to grow the base of the game and that means more young people, playing more often. Congratulations to everyone who participated at the School Games event this year and we look forward to seeing more even schools and young people taking part in the years to come.”
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