Forty young tennis players, representing their Northumberland partnership areas, battled it out for Gold, June 28th.
With an indoor venue at Wentworth Leisure Centre Hexham, the Yr4 Sainsbury’s School Games tennis final went ahead despite the rain.
Five teams from, Tynedale, Blyth/Bedlington, North Northumberland, Ashington/Amble and Cramlington competed for the winner’s accolade. The matches, played on a Badminton sized court with felt balls, the pace of play was lightning.
After over two hours of play, there was hardly anything in it with Ashington/ Amble and Cramlington coming joint place with 43 points, Bronze, with 48 points, North Northumberland. Silver was won by Tynedale with 49 points, and the winners were a jubilant Blyth Bedlington with 56 points.
The Blyth/Bedlington winners were presented with their Gold medals and joined the other winning teams from the games, on stage and then paraded around the grounds of Wentworth Leisure centre.
A big thank you went to the young leaders from St Benet Biscop, led by Mr Alan Mole, a PE teacher of nearly 40 years. They did a fantastic job of scoring, umpiring the matches and making the excited young tennis players feel relaxed and happy.
The event was such a success it is planned to run again next year.
Special thanks to go to Northumberland Sport and the local School Partnerships for heading up the event along with all the sponsors and supporters. Well done to Pippa Hawes who ran a seamless event once again!
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.
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