Tom’s Tennis Lessons a Big Hit With Kids This Half Term

Tom Scott, Head Coach at Henley Tennis Club encouraged children in half term to join his 30 minute tennis lesson which was aired live on Facebook every morning at 10.00am.

Tom said, “With tennis courts being closed during lockdown, I joined together with several other coaches around the country to put together an online structured 30 minute daily tennis lesson during half term.  I contacted 75 schools in South Oxfordshire and was delighted to hear that Gillotts and Sacred Heart School in Henley got behind it along with lots of members of the tennis club.  Nationally I think we reached 1400 schools.”

It didn’t matter whether children had a tennis racquet or balls, Tom got the children to use household objects instead like a frying pan or a book for a racquet and rolled up pair of socks for a ball.

The lessons included improving your balance, movement, building your serving strength, throwing and catching plus improving hand to eye co-ordination with simple exercises that could all be done in a small space inside a house.

Tom added, “The lessons covered all the basics and should be enough to make sure children develop the skills needed for tennis and a good level of general fitness. Anything which gets kids off their games consoles for a bit has to be a good thing.  Hopefully it will encourage some to take up tennis afterwards.”

Jack (below) and Felix Perry enjoyed Tom’s lessons, their Mum Charlotte said, “They enjoyed doing something different during lockdown. They were able to use skills they had learnt in tennis lessons previously. They enjoyed the competitiveness of the activities. Each activity had 3 levels, so it could be aimed at differing age groups.”