Former Australian Davis Cup captain and nine-time Grand Slam doubles champion, John Fitzgerald has delivered 237 tennis racquets to Kindergarten students from Holy Family Primary School and Harrison School as part of the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet roadshow.
Fitzy visited the two partner schools in the ACT, speaking about his experience as a player and also giving the students the chance to hold his Davis Cup trophy and Australian team jacket. The tennis legend was then joined by representatives from ANZ as they hand delivered the racquets to students. Fitzy then hit the courts with the kids, testing out the new racquets.
Holy Family Primary School Sports Coordinator, Anne Potter said it was exciting to have Fitzgerald at the school and believes it will encourage more kids to play.
“We are super excited to have someone of his calibre come to our school and give out these racquets, it’s just amazing.”
“They will get to use those racquets very soon, we have got tennis clinics lined up so they’ll get to put them to use and hopefully it might spur some parents to get them signed up for tennis.”
Potter said tennis is thriving within the school, thanks largely to a great partnership with local coach Robert Jamieson.
“Rob is a great coach and he’s done a lot of work with our kids. Kindergarten to Year 6 have had clinics in the past and we intend to keep that going. He’s also helped us get involved in the Todd Woodbridge Cup last year which we were really successful in, so we are more than happy to play again and hope we can get off to Sydney for a second year in a row.”
An additional eight partner schools across the ACT will receive ANZ Tennis Hot Shots racquets taking the total distributed in the capital to 776.
Any schools interested in becoming involved in Tennis Australia’s School Partnership Program should contact School Development Coordinator, Geoff Bartlett or [email protected] or (02) 6160 7800.
ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow fast facts
- The ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow will visit every capital city in all states and territories as well as regional towns including Ballarat, Dubbo, Townsville, Broome, Katherine and Port Lincoln
- Alongside the 30 school visits, an additional 500 schools will also receive ANZ Tennis Hot Shots racquets this year
- There are currently more than 2650 schools participating in ANZ Tennis Hot Shots through the School Partnership Program as part of their health and physical education curriculum, a 20 per cent increase on 2016-17
- A record 384,584 children played ANZ Tennis Hot Shots nationwide in 2016-17.
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