Tennis is just the best!

[T3NN15VV]

Can you think of a better sport for life than tennis? Thanks for having me on this forum.

[Lawn Tennis]

Nope, can't. Welcome.

[mal-j]

Tennis is the greatest.
Only wish that there were more facilities and funding to make the game accessible to all sections of the community and not just those who can afford to join posh clubs.
Or is that just the case here in the UK?

[Lawn Tennis]

In both Pennsylvania and Texas, it is easy to find an available facility. Once in a while all the courts will be filled, but for the most part, there's no problem with finding free-access tennis courts.

[mal-j]

Sorry, I didn't mean access to a court in a local park (although there aren't enough of them around here and they are not maintained very well.) What I meant was there are no affordable schemes organised for grass roots level tennis. Like for kids to get some kind of coaching and training if they want to take it further than just hitting a ball with friends. Also with our weather, winter training facilities are few and far between.

[Lawn Tennis]

Oh, I see. Does it really rain more than not in your part of England?

[mal-j]

No, although it does rain more in the winter. The main thing in the winter is the early nights and the cold weather in general. When it gets dark about 4pm and you work till 5pm or are at school all day then you can't go down the park. If it has frozen overnight you can't play the next morning either. Some clubs have floodlights of course but kids from poor neighbourhoods can't afford to join them and travel to them. The tennis governing body (the LTA) should pump more money into nurturing talented kids. If you are under 16 here, you can go swimming for nothing in the local indoor pool, if you play football (soccer) there are loads of teams looking for players and all the schools do free coaching - in fact all schools have a football team but I don't know of any that has a tennis team. But if you have a kid who shows promise in tennis you can pay an arm and a leg on coaching fees, court fees, club membership fees etc. It is only kids from affluent families or families where a parent happens to be a tennis coach that end up doing it seriously.