Portsmouth Tennis Centre, which is operated by BH Live in partnership with Portsmouth City Council, has received the regional Aegon British Tennis Award in recognition of its all-inclusive disability tennis programme.
The awards are a joint initiative between The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the Tennis Foundation, partner Aegon and 40 local and national tennis associations, including Hampshire. They reward and champion the people who deliver tennis in communities across Great Britain.
A broad range of inclusive tennis sessions are delivered on a regular basis for people living with conditions including visual impairment, mental health and behavioural issues, brain injuries, Downs Syndrome and people who use a wheelchair. Coaching sessions are aimed at players of all ages and abilities.
Sessions are supported by the Portsmouth Disability Network to encourage participation in physical activity and promote greater community health and wellbeing.
The programme has seen new players coming into the sport at entry level and continuing to play all year round to improve skills and take part in mainstream sessions. In the past year, two of the players have also taken part in the National Championships at the NTC finishing third in their singles categories and one reaching the doubles final. A ‘Push2Podium’ festival to raise the profile of tennis in the local community alongside open days have also been run to introduce new players to the sport.
“The programme has already changed so many people’s lives by giving them confidence to do something which at first they didn’t believe was possible, says Jo Dallas, Centre Manager at Portsmouth Tennis Centre.
“It has also created affordable and accessible opportunities for everyone in our local community to enjoy playing tennis – getting more people more active in a very social and welcoming environment.”
David Evans, Portsmouth City Council’s leisure & sports facilities manager added “It is an honour for Hampshire to have a regional winner in the first year of the Aegon British Tennis Awards. The contribution towards local tennis in Portsmouth has been outstanding and the award is fully deserved. We wish BH Live and the team at the tennis centre every luck as they now go forward to be judged by a national panel for the title of national award winner.”
Portsmouth Tennis Centre’s entry will now go through to a national judging panel with winners to be invited to a national ceremony to be held in London on 4 July 2017.
To find out more about the Aegon British Tennis Awards, visit www.lta.org.uk/britishtennisawards
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Home page photo caption: From left to right Jo Dallas Portsmouth , Tennis Centre Manager, Dan Jolliffe, John Taylor holding the trophy, Macca Neaves & Peter Gunn BH Live’s Chief Executive.
For more information about BH Live please contact:
Elizabeth Symmons, PR & Corporate Communications Executive
E: press.office@bhlive.org.uk
T: (01202) 055562
About BH Live
BH Live manages Portsmouth Tennis Centre in partnership with Portsmouth City Council.
BH Live is the south coast’s leading operator of leisure and event venues; a social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives.
With more than three million visits a year and over £36.5 million turnover, the organisation is changing lives – placing it at the heart of the UK’s growing social economy.
In 2015/16 BH Live hosted more than 500 events, sold over half a million cultural, sporting and entertainment tickets. They had 2.6 million visits into its leisure centres and welcomed 118,000 conference and exhibition delegates into its venues. This contributed an estimated £66.3 million to the local economy through business and cultural tourism. For more visit bhlive.org.uk
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About the Awards
- The Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.
- Aegon is Lead Partner of British Tennis and is helping to transform the sport in this country. They’re supporting young talent through the Aegon Future Stars programme, as well as sponsoring the junior and senior GB Davis and Fed Cup teams and amateur and professional events. Aegon sponsor five world-class grass court tournaments; the Aegon Classic Birmingham, Aegon International Eastbourne and Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, and will also sponsor the new Aegon Open Nottingham WTA and ATP events from 2015. For further information visit aegontennis.co.uk
- The LTA’s purpose is to enrich lives through tennis. Our new values are Teamwork, Integrity, Passion and Excellence which underpin everything that we do.
About the disability award
This award is for a venue which:
- Is a valuable part of the community and actively promotes their offer
- Has grown participation of disabled people over the past year, enabling more people with disabilities to play tennis more often
- Provides an excellent, safe and inclusive service to its participants, demonstrated through high participation satisfaction levels and retention levels
- Embraces disabled people; a pan-disability approach or an impairment specific one
- Offers a quality accessible and affordable programme including coaching, camps/festivals and competition at all levels, catering for all ages, abilities and backgrounds and for the needs of disabled people
- Has demonstrated a willingness to think innovatively and progressively to grow and develop (e.g. marketing & promotion, utilising technology, coaching programme structure, engaging in LTA or Tennis Foundation initiatives)