With the inspiring young Wimbledon champions newly crowned, and our fantastic visit to the LTA headquarters to discuss all things mental health with the Secretary of State still fresh in our minds, Tennis is still very much a talking point here at Sport in Mind, and now we are delighted to share that the LTA Tennis Foundation have awarded a significant grant for us to scale up our tennis programme over the next three years across the South East, South West and Wales!

The grant was awarded to Sport in Mind to help the LTA in their mission to 'grow tennis by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable' to people with severe mental illness as well as those struggling with mild to moderate mental health conditions, through their Open Court programme. Sport in Mind already run a fantastic number of Tennis sessions across the country, showing the tangible benefit that playing the sport has on improving the lives of people struggling with their mental health, and we are thrilled that with this wonderful grant from the LTA Tennis Foundation, we will be able to scale up our service significantly over the next three years. 

Not only will we be able to continue with our existing Tennis sessions over the next three years, but we will also be able to expand in to new counties and establish new weekly all year round adult sessions across the South East, South West and Wales. 

We will also be able to introduce a new weekly children and young people's tennis session in Reading as well as incorporate Tennis within our youth summer programme!

We are also looking forward to working with the LTA, and LTA County and Islands Associations to support the tennis workforce with best practice, tips, advice and support on providing enjoyable tennis opportunities for people with mental health issues, as well as factsheets and educational tools for coaches and volunteers who work with the LTA.

Sport in Mind Founder and CEO Neil Harris says: "It's absolutely brilliant for us as a charity to receive such a significant level of funding, and support from the LTA. Not only will this enable us to significantly scale up our Tennis offering, to support more people in more areas of the country who are struggling with their mental health, but just as importantly it enables us to provide tools and best practice to the LTA workforce, educating and advising them in better understanding how to use Tennis to support people suffering with mental health problems within their working environment- something I believe that all sporting bodies should be doing."

We will share all of the details of our new sessions as they launch, and in the meantime, for Tennis sessions in your area, please visit the timetables on our website, or search the activity map!