A TENNIS coaching company based in Alresford has held its first free inter-club tournament for juniors.

Players from across the area, including Ropley, Cheriton, Four Marks and Alresford, were invited to take part in the Hellards Cup which was held by Coaching4Tennis at Perins School.

Hellards Estate Agents director Gordon Thoday presented the trophies.

There were four different age categories and five cups up for grabs, as well as runners-up medals and certificates for everyone who entered.

Since re-branding and re-structuring, the coaching company has made improvements to its already successful coaching programme by introducing the 321 Awards, an initiative designed to incentivize young players by giving them clear goals, fun activities and to demonstrate to parents how well their children are performing after each term.

And the coaching company is striving to give everyone the opportunity to play in a relaxed competition against players they may not have played before.

“Retention and improving the service we already give to our clients was a priority to start with, so we came up with a two-prong attack which would give our tennis players more of a reason to stay with us and also give them opportunities many may not have had in the past,” said Russell Edmonds, director of Coaching4Tennis.

He added that a further aim was to bring together all of the company’s young coaching communities.

Talking of the Hellards Cup competition, Mr Edmonds said: “The day was such a success that we can only see the next one increasing in numbers.”

Coaching4Tennis plans to host another two cup competitions next year, with the first in January.