Copleston High School are having great success with delivering cardio tennis to teenage girls in PE lessons. Cardio tennis is a tennis inspired workout to up tempo music. It doesn't require any tennis skills, it's all about keeping your heart rate up, burning calories and having fun.
The school heard about Cardio Tennis through their School Games Organiser, Ali Furlong. Ali organised the 3 hour Cardio Tennis Teacher Training Course, which was offered to secondary school PE teachers in Ipswich & South Suffolk . The course delivered by the Tennis Foundation, inspired the teacher to begin running Cardio Tennis in their PE lessons. One of the benefits of the course is the school receive a free equipment pack, enabling the delivery of Cardio tennis. Each pack contains: 30 mini red balls, 30 mini orange balls, 30 pedometers & 1 mini travel cart. The teachers who attend the course also receive activity cards & lesson plans to help support the delivery of Cardio Tennis.
What are the benefits of introducing Cardio Tennis to the students?
Copleston High School have found that Cardio Tennis is a fantastic way to re-engage girls in the sport, as it breaks down the barriers and preconceptions of what tennis is all about. The girls love the music, and the sessions are really good fun; as well as having a great time the girls are also having a good work out without even realising.
Miss Halesworth, their teacher said that “they haven’t worked this hard in a PE class for a long time”. A student from the school said “Cardio tennis is a great activity; we are having lots of fun and burning lots of calories”.
Miss Halesworth from the school emailed to say “Have just led my first cardio tennis session with my year 7 girls class and it was brilliant!!! They loved it, fully engaged, kept moving & dancing to the music too! I enjoyed it and I felt like I had a work out too! The girls have already asked if we can do the same again tomorrow – meant to be on Shot putt but that seems really boring now!!”
For more information about how your school can get involved with cardio tennis please click here