Tennis for Kids is a fun introduction for children aged between four and 11, who may have little or no experience of playing tennis before, writes Daryl Bass.

Sidford Tennis Club has run fully subscribed sessions since it was first introduced by the LTA in 2016 and this year was no exception; with two separate sessions being run for age groups 4-7 and 8-11 for six days on the trot.

Tennis is recognised as one of the best sports to help children develop valuable life skills such as respect, teamwork, fair play and concentration.

The programme was sponsored by the LTA and for only £25, the children received six fun and interactive coaching sessions, a racket and ball set- together with their very own personalised t-shirt.

The coaching team of Sue, Katie and Jess delivered a great programme and helped to make it such a fun event for both children and parents.

This enabled the children to learn new skills, as well as practise the basics of the game, so that they can build confidence on court whilst enjoying themselves in a safe environment. The final day saw plenty of fun based competitive play involving both children and parents.

As part of the club's commitment to the LTA we will be running a follow on course in September which is also open to other mini-tennis 7-11 year olds who wish to come along and develop their tennis skills.

After each session the children also received a tennis activity card to help them continue the practise at home with family.

Many thanks go to the children for their enthusiasm with both the on-court action and the off-court homework! Adults too get a mention for supporting their children and joining in on-court sessions through the week. Finally, our special thanks go to the coaching team of Sue, Katie and Jessie for helping to make it such a fun event and to Jill Retter for her help with promoting the programme locally. To sign up for the follow on course please contact sue.wiltshire@talk21.com or for any further queries about the club then please contact daryl.bass@harmonic.co.uk or willpmboyd@hotmail.com