TENNIS
Karen Maxwell talks to the Tennis Foundation’s head of education, Paul Regan, on the Lawn Tennis Association’s strategy to increase children’s access to the sport
TENNIS
of a full-court tennis facility, 80 per cent of schools across England are currently offering children an introduction to the sport, while 47 per cent have already linked with a local place to play to en- courage them to stay involved.
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Strategic thinking The Tennis Foundation (TF), supported by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), has been implementing the AEGON (sponsored) Schools Tennis Strategy by partnering with schools across the UK for the past three years. This strategy sets out the vision, direction and plans for the future of tennis in schools across the country by looking at the current situa- tion, what the governing body would like to achieve in this sector going forward and how it intends to do so. A crucial part of the tennis legacy for
the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the strategy also plays an integral role in growing the base of the sport and sup- porting talent ID and development.
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any children get their first sports experience at school and tennis is no exception. With or without the benefit
As part of this partnership, the TF pro-
vides free resources, such as a coach-led DVD, which offers teachers proven tips to help them conduct an effective ten- nis lesson, plus the equipment needed to provide a quality experience. The 8,961 packs already distributed nationwide contained the equivalent of 250,000 free tennis rackets and 500,000 tennis balls. Paul Regan, head of education at the
TF, helped to write the strategy. “I deliv- ered a national primary school initiative in my previous role at the Cliff Richard Tennis Foundation so I understood the challenges and frustrations within this sector, which is why we decided to focus on primary schools first,” he explains.
Primary targets The challenge in year one, Regan ex- plains, was how to engage primary school teachers. “Our research showed that many did not have the confidence to teach tennis to large groups of children and the lack of space and equipment was also a barrier,” he says. “In answer to these issues, our child-facing DVD has proved to be a revolutionary way of allowing the sport to be delivered
anywhere within the school environ- ment. Unless a teacher has a sporty background, tennis has been perceived to be a difficult sport to deliver, so the DVD covers the technical demonstrations and progressions – allowing the teacher to conduct the lesson, which is what they do best,” he explains. Adding that using the right sized indoor and outdoor balls within the Mini Tennis concept has prov- en to be the best vehicle for introducing the sport at primary school level.
Secondary phase Last year saw the TF turn its attention towards the secondary school sector, where tennis was used to provide lesson plans and used as a way of delivering an- other element to the curriculum. “We’ve helped to integrate tennis into English and media, French and history lessons, which has allowed a wider audience to engage with the sport – particularly those children who don’t want to play the game but show an interest in under- standing its concept,” Regan says. “Within this age-group we recognised
the need to provide the skills and lesson plans necessary for 30 young people with
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