TOTALLY Tennis coaches Danny Fowkes and Jamie Jordan are running a charity Tennis Cardio session as part of Hampshire Court’s fundraising day in aid of Charlie’s Day Unit (CDU) at Basingstoke Hospital, on Saturday February 23.

The Cardio Tennis session will run alongside 21 other sessions, including Tai Chi, body combat, spin, street jazz, Pilates, body pump, Zumba, Bokwa, jump FX, aqua, Yoga flow and bootcamp, throughout the day between 8.30am to 6.00pm.

The Cardio Tennis session will be a fun groups-drill-based fitness session set to up-tempo music, where players of all abilities can train together. Everyone will hit a variety of shots in cycles of high intensity workouts designed to elevate the heart rate into the aerobic training zone, followed by short rest periods.

Players can burn up to 700 calories in an hour’s session. Heart rate monitors are available from the coaches.

All money raised from the classes will go to the CDU’s fundraising campaign. Sessions will be charged at £1 per attendee with everyone encouraged to try as many classes as possible.

Additional funds will be raised by a bring-and-buy bake sale. Non-members are also welcome and places can be booked by telephoning Hampshire Court on 01256 330360.

Ellie Lucas-Smith, Studio Coordinator at Hampshire Court said: “This is the first fundraiser that we have done for CDU and we have three other charity events in the pipeline this year for other charities.”

“Cardio Tennis was launched at the club last spring and it is hugely popular with both tennis and non tennis members.

“Two sessions are run each week at the moment. We are delighted that Danny and Jamie are helping to support this event.”

Based at the Basingstoke Hospital, CDU is an easily accessible medical assessment unit for local children and young people, enabling them to be seen and treated promptly by the senior paediatric team and hospital admissions are avoided where possible.

This busy unit, which opened in 1999, has seen its patients steadily increasing year-on-year, with approximately 7,000 patients now attending every year.

Even though numbers of patients has increased, facilities have not so CDU is now looking to expand this important children’s care area to ensure that they can provide appropriate waiting and treatment areas for teenagers, a new quiet room for confidential discussions and suitable areas for children requiring regular checks during chemotherapy.

The child health team has launched a fundraising campaign to raise over £400,000 for all the new facilities and equipment.