HUNDREDS of children visited Totally Tennis to play in the club's tennis Open Days. After the success of the Schools Tennis Roadshow that saw local schools from right across the area visit.

Totally Tennis opened its doors on a Saturday and Sunday to offer primary school age children the opportunity to play on the full size tennis courts in free fun sessions.

Phil Leighton, from the Tennis Foundation, ran the schools roadshow and visited ten schools and saw over 1,400 children.

The roadshow introduced tennis to a large audience throughout the week highlighting that it's not only a great way for kids to get fit and healthy but also develop important motor skills and learn sportsmanship all whilst having lots of fun.

Totally Tennis tennis director Nigel Long said: "I'd like to thank Phil, the Tennis Foundation, the whole Totally Tennis team and our squad players for helping us to provide so many children with the opportunity to play in our Open Days.

"There were a great success with so many of the children deciding to take up tennis in our junior squad sessions."

Over 300 children visited Totally Tennis over the course of the Open Day weekend to participate in the mixed sessions with Leighton and club coaches James McIntosh, Jordan Frederick, Shyam Vithani, Andrew Dingwall, Simon James and Steph Catlin.

The mini tennis sessions offered the groups of players ten different activities from hand-eye coordination to basic tennis skills.

They rotated around the stations to try the different skills including throwing and catching, racket skills, target throws, speed of serve and more fun activities.

In addition to the free sessions a special roadshow offer encouraged many of the young players to sign up to play in the Pirates and Indians squads which are part of the club's Junior Development Programme.

Head coach James McIntosh said, "All of the coaches and helpers over the weekend did a fantastic job in making the open days such a success. I would like to say a big thank you to all the squad players who generously gave up time over their weekend to be involved."

A large team of squad players gave up their time to be involved in the event encouraging younger children to enjoy playing tennis.

A big thanks should go to Daniel Prickett, Aaron Dawson, Oliver Alemeny, Eddie Lakatos, Dylan Hall-Jones, Isla Hignett, Jas Bromilow, Desi Bratinova, Liam Hignett, Miles Bromilow, Harry Feast, Louise Mallozi, Lucy Groves, Elinor Banks, and Danielle Beckett.

Steph Catlin added: “The roadshow was a huge success. Speaking on behalf of all the coaches, we had a lot of fun exposing the best sport in the world to hundreds of little ones."

The Tennis Foundation is Britain’s leading tennis charity that strives to make sport inclusive and accessible to everyone.

The aim is to provide opportunities to encourage people to maximise their potential through tennis by working closely with the Lawn Tennis Association and a wide range of partners from across all sectors to deliver their vision and aim. For more information visit tennisfoundation.org.uk For more information about Totally Tennis please telephone 01256 358816 or e-mail tt@totallytennis.co.uk