Tennis ace mum serves up masterclass

Children at Cherry Orchard Primary School, Rectory Field Crescent, Charlton, SE7, found their game, set and match-made-in-heaven when HEAD UK and Judy Murray, mother of Andy and a renowned tennis coach in her own right, called in to run some coaching sessions in the school hall.

During her visit Judy and the HEAD coaches introduced fun activities that represented characteristics of top tennis players.

The idea was to get the children interested in the players as well as in tennis.

On the Andy Murray activity, children had to try and hit the ball between their legs while on the Novak Djokovic activity the children had to see how many bounces of the ball they could do in 30 seconds.  

Challenge

It was all part of the HEAD ATP Ball Challenge, coordinated by HEAD, who are the official racquet and ball sponsors for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals taking place nearby at The O2 Arena this week.

As well as sponsoring Andy Murray, HEAD also equips tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych.

Greenwich is a host borough for the London 2012 Games and this week's tennis activity is part of an ongoing programme by Greenwich Council, local schools and sports organisations to involve people of all ages in sport and physical activity.

Judy Murray said: "This is the perfect time to give the children an opportunity to try tennis when the top eight players in the world are playing on their doorstep.

Head teacher of Cherry Orchard Jan Beames said: "Our children really enjoyed taking part in an after-school tennis club last summer and after Judy Murray's visit today they are even more enthusiastic.

Olympics buzz

"It's great to have a major tournament taking place just a short bus ride away from the school and the children are very excited that next summer it will be an Olympic venue too."

Cllr John Fahy, Greenwich Council's Cabinet Member for Culture and the Olympics, who was also at the event, said: "It was great to see the level of excitement shown by the children in learning new tennis skills.

"The Council and local schools are using the forthcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire more children to take part in sport, and we were delighted at the support from HEAD UK and Judy Murray in working towards this goal."