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 Leicestershire School Games Level 3 Festival. Pupils from ten 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 Finals. Tennis was one of the highlights of the day with St Bartholomew's Primary School from North Charnwood emerging as the winners.
Tennis Development Manager for Leicestershire and Derbyshire, Paul Sheard, said: “It was fantastic to see so may local school children taking part in the tennis event at the school games. We had heavy rain for large parts of the day but all the tennis players kept going and played with a smile on their face which was great to see. Big congratulations go to St. Bartholomew's from North Charnwood who edged out Leicester Grammar in a close final”.
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 16,300 schools supported through the Aegon Schools Tennis 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.
For more information on the Tennis Foundation’s support for primary, special and secondary schools please visit www.schoolstennis.org