2 January 2014 | Tennis Queensland

Over the past four days of the Brisbane International, Tennis Queensland has been show casing Tennis Australia’s Cardio Tennis program daily.

On Pat Rafter Arena on day 4 of the event, the crowd was treated to a new innovative fun and flexible group fitness tennis program that is now available for all secondary schools – the Cardio Tennis in Secondary Schools (CTSS) program.

The CTSS program is dedicated to increasing the health and fitness of students and can be delivered by a coach or physical education teacher. The aim of the program is to ‘Increase the awareness and understanding of health and fitness in secondary school students’. It emphasises individual improvement, constant learning and can have a positive impact on lifestyle. Students wear a pedometer, exercise to music, use low-compression balls and a variety of other equipment, including agility ladders.

The group that took to the court to showcase this new program was led by Jay Deacon a Tennis Australia Coach, Tennis Ambassador, Learning Facilitator and Mentor Cardio Tennis coach. The group of participants were a mix of primary and secondary school students from Somerset College on the Gold Coast. Jay is based out of the College and developed their CTSS Program.

The students throughout the term had all participated in Cardio Tennis mass format within the curriculum and had really loved the fun, active way of discovering the skills through movement.  The school had a huge success story with one student who, after experiencing cardio tennis, went on to participant actively and lost 55 kilos in the space of a year and a half – what an achievement!

A huge thanks must be given to Jay Deacon for taking the time to bring the group of students up to the Brisbane International and to the kids from Somerset College – keep up the good work!!!

To find out more about having Cardio Tennis in your school, visit here or contact your local Community Tennis Officer.