More than 3,000 people have attended the Schools Tennis Road Shows since they began in 2009. This year's Road Show, organised by the Tennis Foundation with support from the Lawn Tennis Association, will visit 16 towns and cities across Great Britain.
The Schools Tennis Road Show aims to help teachers bring tennis to life for their pupils and will provide an overview of all the support available to schools, highlight new resources and products, and demonstrate practical ideas for delivering tennis lessons in a school setting.
The Tennis Foundation's Head of Education Tom Gibbins said: "The Road Show is a great chance for us to promote the resources available to support teachers to deliver tennis activities that inspire all their pupils that tennis is for them."
Tutors Paul Williams and Phil Leighton put everyone through their paces with practical sessions looking at competitions, including timed tennis events, and also offered some top tips for developing pupils' technique.
Local MP Steve Brine said: "I grew up when a British Grand Slam winner was distant dream but that is happening and it makes us hungry for more. I am convinced the next set of British tennis stars are out there but we need to encourage them to take up the game and then help them develop. British tennis' schools programme is a great place to start and it was good to go along and support it in Hampshire."
Local Tennis Development Manager, Zoe Bambridge, added: "British tennis' Schools Programme is fantastic for teachers and pupils across Winchester. Once they have a taste for tennis in school, youngsters are often inspired to pick up a racket outside of school and that's fun for the whole family and local community to get involved with."
Everyone that attends the Road Show will receive the new Guide to Schools Tennis 2014, a Timed Tennis resource and a copy of the Tennis Satellite Club Toolkit. A £50 Schools Tennis equipment voucher will also be awarded to all attendees, as well as entry into a prize draw to win a pair of tickets to an LTA Major Event in 2014.
British tennis has recently launched 'The Road to Westminster', an exciting digital competition, aimed at young people, that gives them an opportunity to talk about, and celebrate, the tennis they play in their school. Ten winning schools will get the chance to play tennis under Big Ben with the stars of British tennis the week before Wimbledon.
Pictured; Steve addresses the event, and receives a serve from Greg Rusedski
How to enter ...
For more information on the Tennis Foundation's support for primary, special and secondary schools, as well as entering the competition, please visit www.schoolstennis.org. You can also follow the Road Show on Twitter using the #schoolstennis.
Hints and Tips:
The judging panel are looking for entries that demonstrate what tennis means to the school
Be innovative in delivering PE and school sport
Promote healthy and active lifestyles across the whole school community (including pupils, staff and parents)
Maximise pupil progress both on and off the court
Encourage the LTA's Fair Play values of Enjoy Respect
Submit your video to British tennis via the simple file sharing website www.WeTransfer.com with [email protected] as the recipient email address. All entries should include a contact name, contact number, full school name and postal address.
The competition closes at 5pm on Friday 4th April 2014.