6:00am Thursday 26th November 2009
SPRING 2010 should be an exciting time for tennis fans in the local community in Eastleigh Borough as Fleming Park Leisure Centre will boast an enhanced and expanded eight-floodlit-court tennis centre.
Thanks to a combination of funding from the Lawn Tennis Association, Eastleigh Borough Council and DC Leisure, not only will four extra courts, a temporary clubhouse and viewing area be added, but also the existing four courts will be repainted.
Fleming Park Tennis Centre is managed by Serving Tennis and has gone from strength-to-strength since its inception in April 2006. It is a community facility for local people both familiar with and brand new to the sport.
It has drawn praise from the national Tennis Foundation and has already achieved Sport England’s Clubmark accreditation.
There are around 200 regular users of the tennis centre, and with 1.2 million visits to the leisure centre each year and a borough population of around 70,000, the potential for expansion is significant.
In three-and-a-half years, the centre has provided a large number of participation opportunities, including: Return to Sport; working with adults with learning disabilities; school free tennis initiative; and free coaching for community groups.
These initiatives have introduced more than 700 children and adults to tennis, all of whom have received a subsidy of some kind.
During the same period, the centre has worked with Toynbee School Sport Partnership to teach around 4,000 children to play tennis.
An Eastleigh Borough Council spokesman said: “This is another fantastic example of the council’s continuing commitment to providing the best possible community sports facilities for the Borough.”
With an enhanced facility, the centre will continue to offer subsidised coaching opportunities for all parts of the community and ensure maximum possible space is available for casual court hirers. Details of the centre are available on tennis-service.net or by calling 023 8066 7532.
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