The Tony Blair Sports Foundation (TBSF) Year 3 Tennis Challenge Cup Regional Final took place July 9th at Sunderland Tennis Centre. It was one of the best finals due to the great spirit, fun and magical atmosphere that everyone created throughout the day. We felt it was going to be a great event when the young people used words such as ‘teamwork, fun, do your best, enjoy and sportsmanship’ to name a few when they were asked how they could shine across the day.
With the scene set, the 64 players from 8 schools were split into their respective activities. The girls played in their matches first and the boys went across to complete the tennis factory skills. They swapped over after a short lunch break which was followed by the presentation. The schools who had qualified through from earlier rounds were Northumberland’s Darras Hall First School and Broomley First School, Tyne & Wear’s Whickham Parochial and Fellside Community Primary, County Durham’s Cestria and St Patricks RCVA Primary, Tees Valley’s Lingfield and Yarm Primary.
The event is one of the most prestigious schools competitions in the country with around 5000 young people in the North East experiencing tennis in their school environment. Not only that we saw over 40 young volunteers help support the event from across the region including Conyers (Stockton), Framwellgate (Durham), Nunthorpe (Middlesbrough). The volunteers were an invaluable support, ensuring the competition was another roaring success and gave the schools an experience they would never forget.
The final also saw the 2nd North East Visually Impaired Tennis Challenge Cup that saw 3 local players compete against each other. 22 of the volunteers then competed in their own touchtennis event. These additional opportunities were created 2 years ago highlighting the huge range of opportunities that tennis offers.
Our volunteers were once again fantastic and made the event run perfectly. Their unrelenting focus saw around 20 umpiring the year 3 matches and tennis factory activities along with 2 helping run the visually impaired competition. The remaining 22 competed in a singles touchtennis event before lunch. Following lunch they played doubles against some of the visually impaired players. They all had a go at wearing SIM spec’s, which simulate various eye conditions. This was a really humbling experience and inspired them all.
Jo Cunliffe (Regional Tennis Participation Manager) who helped organise the event was ecstatic following the sensational tennis;
“We were all so proud of the young players in the year 3 competition. Sport is competitive but when an atmosphere is created like we saw at the TBSF Regional Final you feel incredible. It is the way sport should be played because no matter what happens everyone did their best and thoroughly enjoyed the day. To see so many volunteers supporting the event was amazing and the touchtennis saw the biggest entry to date. To showcase visually impaired tennis was inspirational and the whole event highlighted how inclusive how sport is!”
After 224 matches and Tennis Factory skills the year 3 final results saw two Tees Valley schools finishing first and second. Final standings are highlighted below;
1st – Yarm (Tees Valley)
2nd – Lingfield (Tees Valley)
3rd – Fellside (Tyne & Wear)
4th – Whickham Parochial (Tyne & Wear)
5th – Broomley (Northumberland)
6th – Darras Hall (Northumberland)
7th – St Patricks (County Durham)
8th – Cestria (County Durham)
The visually impaired competition results are as follows,
1st – Steve Trewick
2nd – Rosie Pybus
3rd – Wendy Glasper
In the volunteers touchtennis event the results were
1st – Robyn (Conyers)
1st – Arya (Conyers)
2nd -
2nd -
Jo continued,
“The whole event was simply magical. I cannot thank our lead organisers on the day either. Their unrelenting dedication, commitment and passion for tennis is second to none. So a huge thank you to Diane Harker, Lucy Scott, Steph Eadon, Rosie Pybus and Izzy. Days like this are what you cherish for ever and I won’t forget this one ever!”