Four members of Bexley Mencap took part in the Learning Disability tennis festival at Bromley Tennis Centre as part of the Kent County Champs.

Based at Bexleyheath Tennis club, where they play every week, the group demonstrated their all round tennis skills through a range of special juggling and balancing exercises as well as playing singles.

Afterwards they were presented with medals and t-shirts by Phil Lynch and John Ratcliffe and each received a goody bag.

Bexleyheath Tennis club hosted a special tennis challenge as part of National Learning Disability week on 20th June. Co- organised by Bexley Mencap and NHS Oxleas Adult Learning Disability Services, over 30 people with learning disabilities took part in a range of fun tennis exercises set up by the LTA coaches Clint and Marc………. READ MORE

Bexley Mencap supports people with learning disabilities and launched weekly Zoom online Tennis sessions in October 2020 to help with health and wellbeing during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 12 regular members had mostly never played tennis before, and many had never taken part in regular sports activities. But they were inspired by practising tennis shots and playing a range of games online, using soft and felt balls, happy hands, and a special balancing mat.

Despite being unable to meet face to face, the group kept together throughout lockdown supporting each other with tennis equipment from an LTA Open Court grant.
Once the Covid-19 restrictions were relaxed the group successfully made the transition to playing weekly outdoors at Bexleyheath Tennis Club from May to October 2021 taking on new members and currently play indoors at a local sports centre.

Janice White, of Kent Tennis, said: ‘It is phenomenal to start a tennis-specific session from scratch in lockdown, maintain the group's interest, and then transfer them to get on the court.’

As a next stage, Bexley Mencap’s tennis team now hope to take part in Kent LTA’s Learning Disability recreational competitions in the summer.

As part of LTA’s Open Court programme, Bexley Mencap undertook 3 special Serving challenges at Bexleyheath tennis club where we've been playing every Monday for the last 4 months.

It was great to be involved with RMS, LTA and Special Olympics GB in the Tennis Challenge.

We all had fun trying out the exercises and here’s a video of Matt in action with the challenges.


Nick Marsden