Over 100 kids join former British doubles No.1 Alicia Barnett for tennis festival in London
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More than 100 children from communities across London all joined together for a busy day of activities at a fun-filled tennis festival along with Billie Jean King Cup star Alicia Barnett.
The festival at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton was part of the LTA SERVES Level Up London (LUL). The project – funded by the LTA Tennis Foundation – was established to provide more opportunities for women and girls from underserved communities.
This includes mentoring programmes for LTA SERVES Activators and LTA Coach Mentors in London to develop their skills and give them the tools to encourage more women and girls from within their community to pick up a racket and get involved in tennis.
The kids, aged from eight to 14, from ten LTA SERVES venues took part in all the different activity stations and made new friends on and off the court, helped by top tennis player Alicia Barnett.
The former British doubles No.1 took part in games such as Beat the Coach as well as providing some top tips to the youngsters. She said: “There's so many girls here. The energy is incredible. Everyone looks like they're having so much fun. I think that's the main key message at the end of the day - if you can enjoy it, then you're more likely to stay in the sport. Tennis is for everyone at all levels of the sport and is a sociable, fun game.’’
I think the LTA SERVES programme is a really good vehicle to encourage more girls to play tennis and get involved– if there’s more girls playing around you then you are going to feel comfortable.
During her career Barnett has been taught by both male and female coaches. She added: “I've been very lucky with all my coaches. I think we have a lot of cultural pressure as females in society, but we're really pushing forward. We already have a lot of strong, independent women involved in our sport.
“I think the LTA SERVES programme is a really good vehicle to encourage more girls to play tennis and get involved– if there’s more girls playing around you then you are going to feel comfortable.’’
The Activators and Mentors at the festival on Thursday 15 August had received training at the National Tennis Centre in May, where they had the opportunity to get on court together and learn some practical skills on how to use tennis as a vehicle to get children, particularly girls more active within their community sessions. The training day provided an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and share mutual learnings through inspiring sessions both on and off the tennis court.
The initiative empowers these activators to deliver engaging tennis sessions in their own areas, with positive impacts seen in increased confidence and quality of delivery, fostering a more inclusive tennis community.
Isabella Crispino, from the London Sports Trust works as a children’s co-ordinator. She said: “The training day was really helpful. We don’t have a lot of room, so it was so good to see how to deliver great sessions in a small space. It will encourage me to deliver more tennis and be able to make it fun.’’
Activator Hind Mrimou, from The Dalgarno Trust also attended the launch and the festival. She said: “I really want to get more girls moving and keeping fit anyway I can! Adbul Ahmed from Rising Stars Tennis is my mentor. He came down while I ran the sessions and gave me feedback on the spot. It was really helpful.’’
“Girls at my organisation can do boxing and football, but now I’m keen to deliver more tennis. It’s different to a team sport and you can concentrate on just making yourself better and take the pressure off.’’
The Tennis Activators already do some amazing work with these kids in areas of high deprivation.
One of the main thing Activators learnt during the training was how we can keep engagement levels up, keep the kids happy and just make sure everyone has a smile on their face.
Our LTA SERVES programme is very much focused on engaging with the community. We support communities and venues to help train people up, provide equipment and help them to run really engaging sessions in the heart of their own community.
Tanya Woodward, the LTA London Delivery Manager, said: “We looked at individual, paired, and team activities, as well as team challenges that follow a similar set up to that of the festival layout - separated into different stations. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a tennis competition as that can prove to be daunting for some.”
She added: “Our LTA SERVES programme is very much focused on engaging with the community. We support communities and venues to help train people up, provide equipment and help them to run really engaging sessions in the heart of their own community.
“We are also working hard to grow free parks tennis across the city, so families of those communities can access tennis for free in the local parks as part of our vision to see ‘tennis opened up.’’’
To encourage the children to continue their tennis experience a racket and some balls were given to all children to take home at the end of the festival. This is to help further break down barriers such as lack of equipment. All Activators on the project to date have now received a free racket also for their own personal use.
The event at the NTC followed on from the inaugural LTA SERVES Tennis Festival at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, London in October last year. The LUL project came to fruition thanks to the money raised for the LTA Tennis Foundation from the 2022 Laver Cup Open Practice Day held at the O2 Arena.
Due to their work on the project the LTA scooped the ‘Enhancing the Sporting Workforce’ award at the London Sport Awards in March. Already the project has involved upskilling 20 activators, 80% of whom are female, from ten LTA SERVES venues across eight boroughs.
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