Burnham-On-Sea’s Avenue Tennis Club says the return of its Friday night fun tennis sessions for children are proving to be a smash hit.
The club says the junior fun sessions, which are called Vinny’s Minis, and are held under the guidance of coach Vinny Duddy, have this month returned to the club for the first time since lockdown and have been very well received.
Vinny says: “Vinny’s Minis launched in 2013 when then-coach James Tucket was looking to encourage parents down to the Friday night adults coaching sessions by providing them with somewhere to safely leave their kids aged between 4 and 9 years old; this actually kick-started my tennis coaching interest and career.”
He adds: “It has been really great to be back on court doing this. It’s a session that is free to the junior members and with junior membership being £30 per year it works out at less than a £1 a session.”
Vinny adds that the night went really well thanks to the assistance he received from promising juniors, Isla Jones, Thomas Greenwood and Will Harris, all students at King Alfred School Academy.
The session runs from 6-7pm on Friday nights, weather permitting, and is open to all juniors from 4 to under-9 years old.
If parents would like to join in there is a coaching session or you can hire a court and equipment to have a game on Friday evenings; contact Barry at the club for more details on Friday night, hiring or coaching.
The club also has a month’s free membership offer available for anyone who wants to give tennis a go and wants to get an insight into the club before joining – contact Barry at the club on 01278 782758 or 07749 878581.
The club are also participating in the LTA initiative to get more people back into or just get them onto a tennis court and have allocated some court times for non-members to come and have a go – more details can be obtained from the LTA website at https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/rally.
The club also runs a free 6-week coaching course sponsored by Performance Plus Sports and run various “LTA Youth Start” junior coaching programmes.
Adult courses are run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings with Saturday Pay and Play junior coaching sessions running throughout the morning and early afternoon for all age groups and abilities. Individual coaching is also available. Details can be found on their website www.avenuetennis.com or by contacting the club on 01278 782758.
