Walking Tennis is a slower-paced version of traditional tennis aimed at older people or people with long-term health conditions.
Almost 300 adults have taken part in walking tennis, with 44% of them being completely new to the sport.
The LTA Tennis Foundation programme hasn’t only introduced people to walking tennis, but it’s also helped with general fitness.
- Over half the particpants have remained reguarly active
- Average weekly physical activity more than doubled
- 100% of participants increased physical activity levels
We caught up with Brenda, who is coaching walking tennis at Oxstalls, in Gloucester.
“I’ve been coaching at Oxstalls for 20-odd years, walking tennis came to the centre about two and a half years ago, and I thought it was very exciting because a lot of people are getting older and are not always as fit as they were when they were young, but they still love the sport.
So to have a new sport, walking tennis was just ideal given that it still has all the right framework.”
How would you sell it to other people?
“I’d sell it by the way that we’ve done it here if you’ve been a good tennis player and enjoy playing and you can’t now because youve got a bad hip or a bad knee and you can’t run around anymore, come to walking tennis.
you dont have to run, you can’t jump, you get two bounces, but you get the fun of still playing and hitting that ball with a racket.”
How do you go about coaching walking tennis?
“It’s learning new tactics, so that’s what we practice. We do a few drills to make sure that people are feeling comfortable about how they are playing.
Then we play proper games, and it’s like playing games that you get to know how best to play it.”
Does it always have to be two bounces?
“No it doesn’t have to be two bounces, but it can be. Which is great because it gives people time to get there, even if they feel like running they mustn’t.
If you’ve got two bounces, you’ve got time to get there, particularly as they are orange balls which means they are normally used for younger players.”
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