Top tips from Judy
Judy Murray passed on the benefits of her expertise to students at Stirling University recently with the help of pupils from Bridge of Allan Primary School.
Tennis coach and mum of world No1s Andy and Jamie took her Tennis on the Road programme to the campus.
And the school’s pupils came along so ensure students could put what they had learned into practice.
“Tennis on the Road is all about building a bigger and better workforce across Scotland,” said Judy. “We have a van full of equipment and we drive the length and breadth of the country showing teachers, parents, students, youth leaders, sports coaches and volunteers club members how to deliver starter tennis in whatever space is available.
“There’s a huge opportunity to grow tennis in Scotland right now but we are massively under resourced in terms of public facilities and coaches. It’s vital we capitalise on the buzz around tennis and we can only do that by investing in courts and people.
“We have been running TOTR for three years now and have been as far north as Stornoway and Wick and as far south as Kirkudbright.
“We operate about 50 days a year showing people how to run coaching sessions and fun competitions for kids, teens and adults.
“We went to Stirling University to teach students how to deliver tennis sessions in primary schools and we brought in 30 pupils from p4 at Bridge of Allan Primary School to show them a class in action.
“Primary school tennis is all about managing big numbers in small spaces and devising games and activities that help kids develop the skills needed to be able to play.”
In the afternoon, Judy and her team showed a second group of students how to deliver fun sessions and competitions for fellow students within the University Tennis Club from beginners to improvers to team players.
Judy added: “We have so few tennis coaches in the Stirling area that it’s vital we encourage the students to get involved in both schools and local clubs in order to try to grow the game.”