Tennis returned to the Horsham area primary schools competition calendar this afternoon at Horsham Tennis Club as Northolmes and Southwater Academy schools came head to head in both year 3+4 and year 5+6 age categories with their teams of four players.

The younger children played on mini-courts and the older ones on full-size ones. Matches were played with adapted equipment and rules.

Initially the children played friendly matches against players from their own team. The main core of the event was occupied by the singles competition when all four players in a team played all four players of the other team in timed matches.

Southwater won both age groups, the year 3+4s by 14-2 and the year 5+6s by 14.5-1.5 however these convincing margins masked a lot of very competitive matches in both sections. It was notable that the quality and extent of the rallies improved considerably over the course of the event.

Another aspect of the learning was the requirement for all players to contribute to the umpiring of the matches, a responsibility that was fulfilled with good application.

Once the singles matches werre completed the last section of the process saw the players pair up for some friendly doubles matches to further develop their competitive tennis education.

Thanks go to Horsham Tennis Club for hosting and Head Coach, Glyn Jukes, for his experienced input to the event in tandem with Horsham Sports Services’ leadership of it.