Tennis in Surrey 2015
Annual magazine highlighting the achievements of Surrey tennis. Published by the Tennis Surrey Team.
Annual magazine highlighting the achievements of Surrey tennis.
Published by the Tennis Surrey Team.
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<strong>Tennis</strong> Focus Academy based<br />
<strong>in</strong> Fordbridge Park, Ashford <strong>in</strong><br />
Spelthorne Borough competed<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st over 250 other venues<br />
nationwide to achieve the highest<br />
participation numbers <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>i<br />
tennis. They were runners up <strong>in</strong><br />
the UK and No.1 <strong>in</strong> England for<br />
participation numbers with over<br />
170 children new to the game<br />
attend<strong>in</strong>g at Fordbridge Park. As a<br />
prize they got to select ten children<br />
from their Academy to play at<br />
Queens on the 1st day of the Aegon<br />
Championships tournament<br />
with top player Mikhail Youzhny<br />
(Former No.8 <strong>in</strong> the world, Grand<br />
Slam semi f<strong>in</strong>alist, with w<strong>in</strong>s over<br />
most of the top players <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic).<br />
They also received expert advice<br />
from doubles Grand Slam w<strong>in</strong>ner,<br />
Leander Paes.<br />
The Academy has also had<br />
success <strong>in</strong> Aegon Team <strong>Tennis</strong><br />
with five of the teams w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their league. Spelthorne resident<br />
Oscar Weightman who plays <strong>in</strong> the<br />
men’s team reached 95 <strong>in</strong> Europe,<br />
No 6 <strong>in</strong> the UK <strong>in</strong> his first year <strong>in</strong><br />
the 14 & Unders. Last year Oscar<br />
was part of the Great Brita<strong>in</strong> 12 &<br />
team that won the European Team<br />
Championships.<br />
Team Spelthorne, which is<br />
coached by the Academy at<br />
Fordbridge Park, also ga<strong>in</strong>ed two<br />
gold’s w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g all the tennis events<br />
at the PG <strong>Surrey</strong> Youth Games. The<br />
second team also ga<strong>in</strong>ed silver <strong>in</strong><br />
the M<strong>in</strong>i <strong>Tennis</strong> event.<br />
Fordbridge Park has just<br />
been given the green light for<br />
an excit<strong>in</strong>g project to <strong>in</strong>stall<br />
floodlights, a pavilion with a café<br />
and spectator area. The aim is<br />
promotion<br />
<strong>Tennis</strong> Focus Academy <strong>in</strong><br />
Ashford helps drive m<strong>in</strong>i tennis<br />
participation<br />
for the lights to be <strong>in</strong>stalled <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>2015</strong> and the pavilion the end of<br />
January 2016. The project will also<br />
provide a programme of free and<br />
low cost tennis. Community <strong>Tennis</strong><br />
Ltd will manage the site, and<br />
the coach<strong>in</strong>g will be provided by<br />
<strong>Tennis</strong> Focus Academy.<br />
“Its great to see so many kids,<br />
adults and families attend our<br />
events this year. Be<strong>in</strong>g based<br />
at Fordbridge Park we aim to<br />
remove the barriers some people<br />
sometimes f<strong>in</strong>d and we hope to get<br />
as many kids and adults play<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
regardless of age, disability and<br />
standard. It’s a great sport and<br />
we want to encourage as many <strong>in</strong><br />
Spelthorne to give it a go if it’s just<br />
for fun or performance”.<br />
Steve Savage,<br />
<strong>Tennis</strong> Focus Academy Director<br />
www.LTA.org.uk/<strong>in</strong>-your-area/<strong>Surrey</strong> Follow us on twitter @<strong>Surrey</strong>LTA tennis <strong>in</strong> surrey <strong>2015</strong> 27
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