Liverpool children can enjoy affordable tennis camps this summer with former national coach

Ben Saunders was coached by Judy Murray, mother of Wimbledon winner Andy, and is now offering affordable tennis lessons for children aged 4-13 at Campion Tennis Club in Blundellsands. 

Ben said:

“We kick off on the 21st July, and the cost is £25 a day. If you book nine or more days, you can still get a 10% discount on that. Our Summer fun camps have been running for sort of 15/16 years now.

“They run for pretty much a full day, nine o’clock in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon. And then again, it’s not just about tennis, it’s a whole host of sporty activities and whatever the weather we try to entertain the kids for a whole day.

“They’ll learn tennis skills along the way, but they’ll also play a bit of handball, dodgeball, rounders, table tennis, all sorts.

“We try to incorporate a little bit of mindfulness in there as well and get the young ones and older ones to be buddies to one another. We do a thing every day where we give them buddy points for different activities.”

Ben told The Guide how important it is to offer tennis lessons to children from different socio-economic backgrounds:

“I feel like one of the big parts of my job when I first moved down was breaking down barriers and reminding people that sport and tennis especially is accessible to all.

“I still think Wimbledon has that elitist sort of (mentality), you’ve got to wear white, you’ve got to speak in a certain way. You can see it in the royal box can’t you, sort of what the All England Club is about.

“Park tennis is definitely more accessible nowadays with the park facilities. Victoria Park Project was a project I was involved with about 10 years ago.

“Tennis for Free backed me and my team to deliver free sessions. Stuff like that is happening up and down the country a lot more, probably thanks to Andy Murray.

“Andy won Wimbledon and he was really from a super wealthy background. Whereas someone like Tim Henman years ago, he kind of came from leafy England and spoke a certain way. 

“Andy came around and almost behaved a bit like a footballer, going crazy on centre court.”

Ben, originally from Perth, Scotland, also has links to tennis royalty:

“I was coached by Judy (Murray) as a junior, Andy and Jamie’s mum. I worked my way through the junior rankings and then I started to coach more and more.

“When I was 16 I was still training quite a bit at Stirling University, and then Judy asked me to sort of help out with some Scottish squads. My coaching career kind of naturally evolved where I stopped playing as much and started coaching.

“I started working for Judy and became assistant national coach to her team when she was national coach. Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Jamie Baker, Colin Fleming quite a few players who went on to do some good things were all part of the programme back then.”

You can find out more about Summer fun camps at Campion Tennis Club here.

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