Press Office
Esporta Racquets Academy Wins Funding To Develop Tennis Stars
Date: 12 Oct, 2004
The Esporta Racquets Academy, which launched in September 2003, has now been awarded High Performance Status by the Lawn Tennis Association.
The Racquets Academy, which has now been rolled out in all 18 Esporta racquet clubs, awards scholarships to talented young players and provides a structured training programme to develop their game. It is supported by the Tennis First Charitable Trust, of which Tim Henman is a patron, and helps to fund players' training as well as the costs of competing in national and international tournaments.
The High Performance Status has been granted as recognition of Esporta's work and commitment to developing talented junior players and a grant of £25,000 has been awarded specifically to the Riverside club in Chiswick. The Riverside club is one of only five in facilities that have been awarded this status and the only commercial club in the UK.
Since its launch, 155 new children have joined the Esporta Racquets Academy, and at the Riverside there are 20 children who are of a national qualifying standard. The two key stars from Riverside are Oliver Golding, 11, and Joe Salisbury, 12, both ranked number one nationally in their respective age groups.
To celebrate the High Performance Status, Tim Henman played tennis with young tennis enthusiasts at the Riverside club on Tuesday 12 October. Tim comments: "It is fantastic that the Esporta Racquets Academy has been recognised as a centre of excellence in allowing young players from all backgrounds to realise their full tennis potential."
Esporta is to invest a further £100m in racquets which could result in a further ten racquets clubs being added to its existing portfolio of 61 clubs nationwide. Research is currently being carried out to identify prime locations where there is a lack of facilities.
Esporta CEO Neil Gillis comments: "With our racquets clubs currently outperforming the rest of the industry, we saw a 23% increase in these clubs in the first quarter this year, there is enormous potential in rolling out this investment programme. This, combined with our Racquets Academy, is a real indication of how we are working to make tennis a more accessible sport as well as finding the tennis stars of the future."
The Riverside club's sports development manager and tennis instructor Gary Stewart will oversee the funding and work with all Esporta racquet clubs to identify further opportunities for clubs to achieve High Performance Status.
Ends
For further information please contact:
Catherine Humphries/Pippa Trentham, Corixa Communications
Tel: 0117 949 3394 email: catherine.humphries@corixa.co.uk
Date of issue: 12 October 2004