Junior tennis festival hailed a great success
THE first ever junior festival for visually impaired tennis has been hailed as a great success.
Held at Loughborough University on September 23 by the Tennis Foundation a total of 18 blind or partially sighted juniors from all over the UK attended with each of them presented with a free racket and ball to encourage them to continue playing the sport.
At the festival, experienced VI Tennis Coaches delivered a variety of tennis drills and games to improve participants’ ball tracking, movement, serves and strokes. The festival then ended on a high, with the juniors’ competitive spirit tested in a game of ‘beat the parents’.
Sam Perks, Disability Development Co-ordinator at the Tennis Foundation and Lead Organiser of the VI Festival said: “This is the first time we have ever hosted a VI tennis event specifically for junior blind and partially sighted participants and it was a huge success. We had a real mix of ages, abilities and sight impairments but all of the juniors loved the event.
“They all received a free tennis racket and VI tennis ball at the end of the event which will help them to continue playing in the coming months. The future of VI tennis is looking very bright.”
To find out more about VI tennis, visit http://www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/VITennis or get in touch via info@tennisfoundation.org. uk