Hands up who used to play tennis as a kid?
Hands up who have been thinking about getting some friends together for a knockabout?
Well think no longer and JUST DO IT.
You have no excuses, especially as Nike and the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) recently launched Tennis Tuesdays across London.
Offering exclusive women-only tennis evenings every week (it started in May), select venues will offer coaching as well as fun match play. I popped down Burgess Park Tennis Centre to test out my ball thwacking skills.
My last memory of playing tennis was at school – and it wasn’t a great one – I do believe I was getting beaten in doubles to a rival school. However, I do have fond memories of tennis – the social aspect is great fun and I loved the satisfying thumps when you hit the ball well. Even better is scoring the perfect shot.
I turned up to the launch of Tennis Tuesdays excited and raring to go. And whilst I’m not usually a fan of segregated nights I was secretly pleased that there weren’t any guys allowed; the last time I faced a guy across the net, I seemed to spend 90% of my time ducking under suspiciously-hit face-height shots.
We started with a vigorous warm up (lots of hot-stepping) followed by a series of warm-up exercises. Even though we were using squishy balls, I must have been using a dodgy tennis racket as several of my balls bounced well outside the lines… Depending on the skill level of the group, different games were played – especially ones that encouraged movement as well as technique. From across all the courts you could hear laughter, excited shouting and the slapping sound of high-fives as points were scored.
Judging by mine and everyone else’s broad smiles and rosy cheeks, the first of many Tennis Tuesdays had gone down a treat.
Come on girls, when are we heading down?
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