Playing
Taking tennis to local juniors – the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative (WJTI)
The AELTC coaching team visits around 60 state primary schools in Merton and Wandsworth every year. Since 2001 over 165,000 local children have received a free session and up to 300 children attend free tennis coaching held at the Club over 45 weekends a year. The WJTI aims to maximise the potential of its members as both tennis players and young people and show how participation in sport can develop life skills and offer exciting opportunities.
Jack Lane was 11 years old when the WJTI visited Liberty Middle School in Mitcham. An initial weekly coaching session at the All England Club quickly accelerated to four coaching sessions a week and Jack being picked for the WJTI squad. Soon, Jack began helping to coach younger WJTI players and, together with support from charity Give It Your Max, Jack achieved his Level 3 coaching qualifications. Today, the WJTI part-funds Jack to go into Mitcham schools for a six week period to offer support to teachers and give children the opportunity to play tennis.
“I didn’t know what life held for me before joining the WJTI but, once I started to play within the grounds of Wimbledon week in week out, it was so amazing that it convinced me to commit to tennis… I cannot thank the WJTI enough for what they have done for me. They have given me some unbelievable experiences which have changed the course of my life, and for which I will always be grateful.”
The Road to Wimbledon
The Road to Wimbledon is for junior tennis players, aged 14 or under.
It encourages boys and girls of all standards to play and enjoy competitive tennis. Supported by HSBC and linked to ‘the magic of Wimbledon’, the The HSBC Road to Wimbledon tournament is open to clubs, tennis centres and schools in England, Scotland and Wales and attracts more than 10,000 young people from over 800 clubs, parks and schools to take part. It gives opportunities for keen juniors, possibly Britain’s fledgling stars of the future, to progress to county finals and then onwards to the national finals on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
The Road to Wimbledon programme encourages as wide a diversity of children as possible, with a range of standards, to take part and enjoy competitive tennis.
In 2014, Road to Wimbledon in India was launched, a new initiative in partnership with HSBC and the All India Tennis Association, aimed at boosting the development of junior tennis in the country. India is the first country where Wimbledon has run an event of this kind outside the UK, with tournaments taking place in Delhi and Mumbai for junior tennis players, aged 14 & under.
Click here to find out more about the Road to Wimbledon in India
In April 2015, the Wimbledon Foundation launched its first international sport-for-development project in Delhi during the Road to Wimbledon in India. Partnering with Magic Bus, funding from the Wimbledon Foundation will support a community and school-based programme for 2,000 children from underprivileged backgrounds in Delhi.
