Encouraging children to play tennis with Pharmaton Active Life Ready to Play campaign

The other day I was sitting in St Clements reloading my email every two minutes for 40 minutes while Baby Boy was asleep.

It was not because I was bored.

I was simply incredibly worried about missing out on an email about bookings for a sports class for three-year-old Big Girl, as I knew I had to be quick to secure one of the in-demand spots.

I’ve been keen on ensuring the weekly schedule includes enough opportunities for running around and being active, and after reading recent research it seems like many parents feel the same.

Research by One Poll on behalf of Pharmaton Active Life, the official multivitamin and minerals of British Tennis, revealed 78% of parents would like to encourage their children to try a new sport and 40% feel they could do more to encourage their children to be active.

Pharmaton Active Life has launched a Ready to Play campaign, which is aimed to encourage parents to get their children into tennis, and we were excited to receive a kit to celebrate the campaign, as tennis has been the sport Big Girl has showed the most interest in so far, inspired by regularly seeing Daddy T playing tennis.

She’s been thrilled to get to play with him–both in the garden and on a court–and after receiving the kit, also indoors. It’s not only about learning the different shots, and the Ready to Play campaign has reminded me that there are fun games we can play that will help develop sports skills wherever we are.

When it was raining yesterday we pulled out Big Girl’s new tennis racquet, which happened to match Daddy T’s racquet, and she practised both shots and throwing balls into a large basket from different distances, one of the suggestions on the Ready to Play website.

As part of the campaign, Pharmaton Active Life has teamed up with British Tennis and Aegon Davis Cup captain Leon Smith and filmed a series of 12 short videos that introduce simple games for parents to play with their children. There are several creative suggestions, showing how even objects that may be lying around the house could be used to help teach children between two and 12 basic skills needed for tennis, such as hand-eye coordination and ball control.

And in Big Girl’s view, practising tennis skills is fab.

‘I love exercising,’ she shouted yesterday.

Tags: Activities for children, Games, Leon Smith, Pharmaton, Sports, Tennis, Video