Judy Murray was in action with her coaching team at St George’s School, Edinburgh recently, at a girls’ tennis day to encourage more girls to play tennis.
Anne Everest, Head of St George’s, said: “It was a great honour to have Judy and her team of coaches with us for the day. We had a full-on programme which started with Judy meeting girls and answering their questions during our school assembly. She gave us a unique insight into her life as a tennis player and how her sons, Andy and Jamie, developed their tennis skills as young children.
“Judy and her coaching team have had a busy schedule of CPD sessions with coaches and teachers, as well as a continuous flow of girls arriving from schools across the central belt and Edinburgh for the playing sessions. In all, we had 26 schools participating, with over 200 girls and around 60 teachers and coaches in action on the courts and in the sports hall.”
The coaching sessions began with Judy introducing her ‘Miss-Hits’ programme to young girls and coaches. Devised by Judy to encourage girls aged five to eight to take up tennis, the programme was launched in partnership with the LTA in 2014. Taught by a female coach, the Miss-Hits is a 12-week indoor programme taking girls through the basics of tennis using active play.
During the afternoon it was the turn of older girls who were put through their paces on the outdoor courts with Judy’s ‘Tennis on the Road’ programme. Coaches were given a CPD session on running the programme, and girls took part in some simple, fun tennis where much of the content of the programme was based on the games that her children Jamie and Andy played when they were young.
The day rounded off with an intensive training session for the senior girls and the school tennis teams who were given some valuable training tips.
