Schools invited to take up tennis challenge
The Tony Blair Sports Foundation has written to primary schools in the North East urging them to take up the challenge of the first annual Tony Blair Tennis Competition for schools.
A letter to hundreds of schools, written by the chief executive of the Tony Blair Sports Foundation and Jo Cunliffe, the tennis development manager at the Lawn Tennis Association, urges children to take part in the competition and hone their tennis skills.
It will use the ‘mini red’ format familiar to schools, will be easy to run and doesn’t require much space or equipment.
Volunteers from the Tony Blair Sports Foundation and the LTA’s Northumberland and Durham & Cleveland Tennis Team will be working together to organise and run the competition and will be assisting schools who take part, ensuring that it doesn’t become a burden to teachers. The Foundation will also be able to help schools who don’t have enough equipment or space to ensure that their pupils don’t miss out.
The competition is one of the main focuses of the Foundation , and is designed to encourage more youngsters to take up the sport and play regularly. Providing more opportunities for juniors to compete is key to developing British tennis and the organisers hope to encourage hundreds of children in the area to take part.
The initiative was welcomed by tennis great Greg Rusedski, also an LTA Talent Ambassador, who said: “Competition is so important for young players as they learn to adapt their game and it helps them to develop a healthy, competitive spirit. It is fantastic that through the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, the youngsters of the North East will have more opportunities to compete and hopefully we will see more young talent emerging and more juniors playing regularly.”
Schools who would like to take part in the 2008 Tony Blair tennis competition should contact the Tony Blair Sports Foundation here, putting 'Tennis competition' in the subject field.
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