Founded in 1990 in Kew, Pensford Tennis Club is a family friendly tennis club that aims to make tennis enjoyable for players of all ages and abilities. The club puts particular emphasis on encouraging junior members through a dynamic year-round coaching program led by head coach, Michael Jones, augmented by a series of fun events.

 

Two members of the club’s committee, Lisa Fawdry and Sara Shepherd, who share the role of junior secretary, have recently set up regular American doubles tournaments with the aim of encouraging junior members to boost their tennis skills and create a community spirit within the club. This format of tournament sees players switch partners every match, while counting their individual score of total games won. This has been popular with junior members of the club who find it more fun and less daunting compared to more formal tournaments.

 

While the last tournament was being played, Lisa and Sara were kind enough to give me a few moments of their time for an interview about their roles within the club and their objectives for setting up this tournament.

 

Question: What makes Pensford Tennis Club unique?

Sara: I think there are lots of advantages to different tennis clubs but what Pensford does very well is making all juniors feel very welcome and we hope that we can provide as many social settings for them to improve their game as possible.

 

 

Question: Why did you decide to join the committee?

Lisa: Our boys…were playing a lot at the club because there were few sports they could actually do at the time. There was a gap on the committee, and we got approached and thought we’d share the role as it would be quite fun to do it together and we could help do some fun events for the children because at time there weren’t many events happening.

 

Question: Why did you decide to set up this tournament?

Sara: We’re a big fan of the American tournament as it keeps the children moving. You move up a court if you win, you split your partners and therefore it gives everyone a chance to play with everyone. Yes, it is a tournament and everyone is playing matches, but there is a great deal of fun and flow.

 

Question: What impact do you think tournaments like these have on the younger tennis community?