As part of Ten Project’s ongoing work within Kingston borough primary schools, Park Tennis Kingston have partnered with Ten Project by helping to provide access to newly refurbished public tennis courts throughout the borough of Kingston upon Thames. Park Tennis Kingston have three sites at Alexandra Rec Ground, Beverley Park and Kingston Road Recreation Ground, all being utilised by the Ten Project to provide FREE parent/child tennis sessions at the weekends. Ten Project is a brand new initiative aimed at getting families to spend more time together while being active. Ten Project is aimed at providing children aged four - ten with high quality, fun, game based tennis coaching, that involves the whole family, all FREE and affordable. 10 weeks of ‘in school’ tennis coaching is supplemented with a FREE parent/child session at the weekends on public owned local community tennis courts. Ten Project’s CEO and Founder Harry Lloyd explains, ‘We want to offer the highest quality, fun, game based tennis coaching within primary school curriculum hours, but we also want the parents to be part of their child’s learning. Schools, the children that attend them, and their parents, are a huge part of the local community and we want to help them get active. In most cases the local community just need to be told that there are facilities and options/possibilities out there in order to do this. We therefore offer a FREE parent/child tennis session every week of the 10 weeks we are in schools.’
Roy Staniland, Director, Park Tennis In Kingston Ltd “Park tennis in Kingston are excited to be working in partnership with Ten Project at our new community venues. Our aim is to get as many people as possible from the local community using and enjoying the new facilities, which aligns brilliantly with the aspirations of Ten Project. Ten Project is a fantastic initiative, linking schools and community venues together to promote and encourage continued participation from families in tennis. We hope you all enjoy using the Park Tennis in Kingston facilities for your Ten Project sessions!”
Harry goes on to say, ‘We find the most accessible local community tennis courts near to that school and work in partnership with either the local council or in this case Park Tennis In Kingston, in order to free that space up. All of the equipment is provided. We provide some basic guidance on how parents can run the sessions, through tips, videos and session plans, but ultimately we just want families to have fun with tennis at their local tennis court while being active.’ ‘We explain to the TENORS (parents/guardians) at their first FREE session that this is YOUR tennis court. We carry that narrative through everything we do, in order that both the parents and children really feel and believe that this particular open space is theirs to use. Not only for the FREE parent/child session but for the rest of their lives.’
Ten Project is currently working within Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School and Coombe Hill Junior School where over 200 children and their families are taking part and getting active. More schools are set to sign up to the initiative in the coming months and Ten Project are looking to also launch a family membership very shortly.
‘The feedback and participation numbers have been amazing from both Corpus Christi and Coombe Hill. The staff, children and parents have all welcomed the initiative with open arms and fully embraced it’, said Harry. Ten Project’s ethos is LEARN. PLAY. TOGETHER. and that is demonstrated in their want for the parents to be 100% involved in their child’s further learning. At the start of each Ten Project in school, children receive a t-shirt, tennis ball and activity booklet, and for a very small cost can also purchase a tennis racket. Ten Project’s CEO and Founder explains, ‘We truly believe we are putting rackets in the hands of children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to, or wouldn’t choose to, play tennis. By having a ball and racket for the entire 10 weeks, it means the children can always practice. Their faces when they receive their T-shirt, tennis ball, activity booklet and tennis racket are a sight to behold. Once the parents see what their children have been given, they also start to realise that they are also very much part of the next 10 weeks’. Ten Project encourages parents and children to report in their Activity Booklets what they have got up to that week. If they have been learning the Forehand that week, they are told to LEARN. PLAY. TOGETHER. by practising the new skills they have been taught in school. Videos are available to watch and replicate and in big bold letters within the Activity Booklet, parents and children are told to TAKE IT TO YOUR COURT, TRY IT AT HOME, TRY IT IN THE PARK, BUT MOST OF ALL TRY IT AS A FAMILY!
To find out more information about Ten Project and to get your school involved see: www.tenproject.org.uk
To find out more about Park Tennis In Kingston www.clubspark.lta.org.uk/TennisInKingston
Offering great value tennis in your community! Play unlimited tennis at all our newly refurbished venues for just £50 a year for the whole family.
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