Terrific Tennis - Tuesday 7th June

It is fair to say that Football and Rugby tend to dominate the primary school sports offer, but on Tuesday we were pleased to participate in an inaugural tennis tournament at Pembroke Leisure Centre. With Wimbledon just around the corner, we were keen to see if we had a future Emma Raducanu in our school team.

Years three and four played inside whilst Years 5 and 6 played outside. Year 6 had a slightly bigger court than Year 5’s and all of us found the games physically demanding.

The tournament involved both singles and doubles games. All of us players were given a seed (one or two) and then we played against other players who had a similar ability. This was an innovative idea as it meant that players did not meet others who had a lot more experience. It sounds slightly complicated, but our children of Johnston C.P School loved it and got the hang of it quickly.

Our main reflection, talking to pupils in school, was that even if you are nervous, you should still give something ago. Many of us were incredibly nervous about the competition, but we ended up loving it and we proved to ourselves that we are capable of anything. Sport helps us to recognise that if we are determined then we can achieve anything.

One pupil commented, “It was amazing to see all the other wonderful players enjoying the day. It was exciting to go against other children of my age group and to test my skills at tennis and to try new things that I had not done before. I thought it would be hard as I haven’t played a single game of tennis in my life, but it was just a fun day with my friends and couldn’t have been any better. I won a few games and lost a few games; but it was a cool trip, including the journey on the way. I took every single moment in.”

Another noted, “Wow, it was a fun day! One of the best sports trips I’ve ever been on! We played singles against lots of other schools including ‘Mary Immaculate’, ‘Tavenspite’, ‘St. Marks’ and lots of other schools! We then played doubles against some of the other schools with our partners. "

By Bethany Ofosu – James & Billie Peace