Wrexham Tennis Centre has that special touch with the introduction of a radical new form of tennis aimed at adult’s ......touchtennis.
touchtennis is a new sport created by Rashid Ahmad in 2003; inspired by tennis, it follows the same basic rules as mini tennis red, small rackets and sponge balls.
The game is a real leveller and players of all abilities can take part in this fun format of tennis. The ingenuous design of the interaction, between racket-ball-surface-court dimensions, allows for longer rallies and putting the ball away sometimes seems impossible! Speed of mind, understanding of the rival’s weakness and exquisite touch count far more than physical strength and power. Out manoeuvring your opponent is far more effective than trying to out hit them.
“Tennis is a difficult game to master especially for adults who get frustrated at short rallies or constant mistakes. We have introduced touchtennis to help them build confidence and rallying skills in a fun way and touch tennis offers us just that. In a few weeks it has run the numbers have improved. We are now looking to try and encourage more adults to pick up the smaller racket and have some fun” reported Steve Whelan, tennis coach at the centre.
The sport has also breathed a new lease of life into the clubs junior section with many of the teenage juniors picking up their 21’ rackets and enjoying the new version of the sport.
“It’s just a lot of fun to play, long rallies, trick shots and just seems a lot less pressure as you know you can’t put the ball away and you have to take your time much more” said Adam McGarry a touch tennis player
The sport is growing by the week and the creator and founder of Touch Tennis Rashid Ahmad is very happy the sport is now spreading into North Wales "I am really excited to see the sport introduced into North Wales. So far the game has been very London-centric and it’s a great thing to see it spreading. North Wales has some quality tennis facilities and some great players so if they turn their hand to touchtennis we should see a wider spread of players (geographically) in the top 20.
"The best part is the number of enquiries we have from the North and North West can now be directed to Wrexham."
Rashid has also donated a number of touch tennis rackets to Wrexham. All players who sign up to the new course in April will be entered into a raffle and the lucky winner will receive a brand new Babolat Touch Tennis Racket.
Sessions at Wrexham run on a Thursday evening, for more information contact reception on 01978 265260