TAKING TENNIS TO THE SCHOOLS
Chiswick youngsters to benefit from professional tennis coaching
The Esporta Riverside Club in Chiswick is one of a number of clubs around Great Britain that will participate in the LTA's new Schools Outreach Programme this autumn. The club will provide the biggest school's outreach programme in Middlesex.
In a bid to help grow the game in the local community and improve club-school links, the club's top coaches will provide up to eight hours of free coaching each week to 5-8 year olds at four local primary schools. Four Esporta Riverside pro's will take time out from their club commitments and go into the schools to offer tuition and tennis tips to kids, many of whom will be new to the game.
For the first time, youngsters at Cavendish School will have the chance to enjoy regular tennis coaching throughout the autumn term as part of their sporting curriculum.
"We are really excited about welcoming tennis into our timetable this term," says one of the teachers involved. "It's a fantastic opportunity for children to take up the sport and especially to have such high quality coaching from the Esporta Riverside Club pros."
The Esporta Riverside Club is home to the Tennis First Charitable Trust, a charity fund supported by British No 1 Tim Henman and set up two years ago to educate kids through tennis and provide funding for the development of talented young tennis players on the club's junior performance programme.
The School's Outreach Programme, an initiative financed by the LTA, is just another step to help grow the sport in the area and potentially unearth fresh new tennis talent. Any promising youngsters will have the opportunity to be fed into the Riverside Esporta's own junior performance programme to train on a more regular basis.
"Tennis is such a fantastic sport for children of all ages, abilities and backgrounds," says Matthew Cattaway, Performance Coach at the Esporta Riverside Club. "Whether they want to enjoy the game with their friends or play at a more competitive level, one thing is for sure, the more youngsters we have out there playing the sport, the more likely we are to find the next Tim Henman."
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