Tennisathon......……………..............................................................................................................................…Page

Tennisathon

SPORT

On the 29th January 2022, all houses had the opportunity to take part in the Tennisathon, a 24hour charity sporting event that raised money for Bright Ideas for Tennis. I interviewed Mr Gent, Head of Tennis, about the event. Hi, Mr Gent. What was the event like?

We played for a charity called Bright Ideas for Tennis which supports the wider participation in tennis, especially for disabilities, in the local area. We first began relations with them last autumn when we went to play their own 24 hour tennis tournament with a number of other schools at the National Tennis Centre. The idea came from that and we thought we could run our own. The key thing was trying to get the whole school involved, which is why we divided it up into sections per house.

That’s great. Do you think there are going to be any more events like this in the future?

Well, it was very popular and I think that it might become an annual thing but we will have to see if people would like that.

Miguel Santos (Cpt of Boys’ Tennis) wrote:

The event brought people from different year groups and skills together. We had a fantastic time and many people volunteered for the night shifts when they heard it was for charity.

Maia Mountain (Cpt of Girls’ Tennis) wrote:

It was amazing to see people of all ages and abilities join together for such a great cause in such a unique way. We had a great time planning and running the event and hopefully it’s the first of many.

Why choose Bright Ideas for Tennis to support?

They are a very well known charity and their ethos was something that a lot of the tennis squad felt was very attractive and appropriate by widening participation. Their focus on disabilities and efforts to plough tennis back into the local area was also extremely important and what a lot of the squad felt very strongly about.

What was your favourite part of the day?

hours sleep after leaving the younger staff to supervise the night-shift, I went back at around quarter to six and Wargrave were buzzing with all the boys running around the sports hall. It could’ve been anytime, day or night, like an airport, 24-hours on the go.