A Nottingham coaching company has started a campaign to get 2,015 new players to start tennis in 2015 across the county.
The company, On The Ball Coaching, was formed by Matt Wildt and Chris McGill to provide clubs, parks, schools and universities with tennis coaching.
The Tennis Challenge 2015 has been set up by the founders to get more people involved with the sport whilst the tennis season is in full swing.
Over the last five years the number of people playing the sport weekly and monthly in England has dropped by five per cent.
The general trend in the UK is decreasing in participation.
Tennis coach, Chris McGill.
Dozens of kids turn up for regular training at the tennis club in Woodthorpe. But across England, statistics from Sport England show that the number of people playing the game is falling.
In 2009 around one million people were taking to the courts on a regular basis. However that’s dropped to just below seven hundred thousand.
On The Ball Coaching is hoping to get more children and adults involved as part of their campaign.
Video: Chris McGill, Co-founder of On The Ball Coaching talks about starting the campaign.
Chris McGill said: “We do a lot of work with the schools and discounted sessions to get them interested and just try to make it as fun as possible for the children.”
Some of the activities planned at the tennis club over 2015 include half price starter sessions for under 11-year-olds, tennis express classes for adults and tots tennis with their parents amongst other things.
