Swansea Tennis Centre and Ffynone House School are partnering to offer an exciting new coaching opportunity for aspiring tennis players.
A joint tennis and education scholarship will enable young players aged between 11 and 18 to successfully combine the demands of tennis coaching and academic studies in one package, without the need for extra private tuition.
Swansea Tennis Centre is seen as a prime example of how volunteer-run services can succeed. The Centre is a community-led facility with indoor and outdoor courts that are open to all. It has a growing local following and is popular with younger players from across the area.
An enthusiastic management team with innovative ideas has enabled it to appeal to a new audience and stay flexible. The Centre now has programmes all across the city and is now used as “Best Practice” by the Lawn Tennis Association. The Centre is now the best performing four-indoor-court venue in the UK.
The Centre’s Tennis Academy is run by experienced head coaches, Mark Thomas and Craig Ingham, who will head up the new Ffynone Tennis Scholarship programme.
Manager Barry Cawte, who has turned the Centre in to a successful enterprise said: “The challenge for our talented young players is how to balance the demands of coaching and competitions with their academic studies. Our players are as ambitious to succeed in their education as they are to become winners. We needed a way to give them access to top coaching support, without jeopardising their studies, and the partnership with Ffynone was an obvious solution.”
Ffynone House School’s community-led background makes it an ideal collaborator. The school is a not-for-profit educational trust run as a parent-staff partnership for the benefit of pupils. It provides a high standard of education in the heart of the city, and thanks to its highly experienced and dedicated teachers, the school’s results are consistently well above local and national averages.
Head teacher, Nicola Walker explained: “Ffynone offers a supportive family environment with traditional values. Being a small school with class sizes that ensure each pupil receives the individual attention they deserve, we can help all students to achieve their full potential, whatever their additional interests and talents.”
Swansea Tennis Centre and Ffynone House School are prime examples of successful social enterprise, but the similarities don’t end there:
both have been taken over as community-led developments,
both are keen to ensure the widest possible access locally,
both have received support and backing from Swansea area businesses, and
both are committed to enabling local youngsters fulfill their potential.
To find out more about Tennis Academy Scholarships, contact Ffynone House School on 01792 464967. For details of tennis coaching and court bookings, contact Swansea Tennis Centre on 01792 650484. www.ffynonehouseschool.co.uk /
www.swanseatenniscentre.co.uk