Children and young people across the Humber area can enjoy tennis at home during the coronavirus lockdown thanks to a major donation from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body for tennis in Britain.
The LTA has arranged for almost 5,000 rackets to be distributed to young people in low socio-economic groups across the country via StreetGames, its Official Charity Partner. Hundreds of these rackets are set to make their way to families across the region, with the support of our partners across Humber, who have volunteered their services to distribute the rackets in collaboration with local community sports groups.
The move forms part of the LTA’s Tennis at Home campaign, developed in answer to a Government call to help keep the nation active during the current period of restrictions, and supports StreetGames’ #SportHelps campaign – a national effort to provide alternative ways for young people from disadvantaged communities to stay active at home in the absence of regular sports sessions.
The #SportHelps campaign - through partnerships with sporting organisations, community groups and businesses - is helping young people and their communities by providing resources, supplies, and advice to improve mental and physical wellbeing during the current pandemic.
In addition to the donated equipment, young people will receive specially developed guides on how to enjoy a range of fun, tennis-based activities from the comfort of their own home – not matter how little space they may have to exercise.
The activities and drills have been created as part of LTA Youth, a new programme developed to help grow the sport from the grassroots, providing fun, safe, inclusive and competitive activity that develops children as both players and people. The video series, which can be viewed at https://www.lta.org.uk/play-compete/lta-youth/tennis-at-home/ has already attracted hundreds of thousands of views, and has been endorsed by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
The current lockdown means that for many young people and their families especially those from disadvantaged areas, they are really struggling to be physically active on top of all the other challenges they face. That is why at Active Humber we are delighted we are working with Street Games and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to give those young people and amilies a chance to play and get involved with tennis in Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.
The LTA Tennis at Home campaign and Youth activities, along with the Street Games #SportHelps campaign is a great locally based partnership to support children and young people through these testing times. It is brilliant that the LTA and Street Games can help to support local communities across the Humber to be more active at home during this current crisis.
“We’re very pleased to be working with Street Games, as part of our vision to open tennis up to more people, by putting rackets in the hands of the young people they work with across Humber through our Tennis at Home campaign and LTA Youth activities.
This is a difficult time for us all, but potentially even more so for young people from disadvantaged communities, and so it’s more important than ever that everyone is given the opportunity to find enjoyable ways to stay active at home. It is great that we can help provide an outlet for those people who are currently not able to attend the sports sessions that are so vital to their physical and mental wellbeing.”
“The current lockdown is hugely challenging for all of us, but especially for the children and young people StreetGames supports. Many families, especially those in disadvantaged communities, are facing weeks trapped in small living spaces without access to gardens or large green spaces.
Our #SportHelps campaign is working to support children and young people through these testing times, by providing resources and support to brighten up their days and enjoy fun, physical activity no matter where they are.
We’re delighted to have the support of the LTA in this mission. These rackets, and the brilliant video series the LTA have produced, will allow us to get thousands of individual young people up and moving at home.”
