Deal Parochial’s Tennis Marathon
We successfully completed our 13 hours and 25 mins Tennis Marathon on Thursday 20th October, the final day of last term.
We undertook this Tennisathon to help celebrate our National LTA Award for being ‘School of the Year 2022’, in addition to fundraising for 3 deserving charities. We took inspiration from our Kent tennis hero, Emma Raducanu, for the duration of our tennis marathon; 13 hours and 25 minutes is the total amount of time that it took Emma to win the US Open in 2021, from the start of her first qualifying match to the end of her fairy-tale Final.
A schedule was drawn up involving all pupils from years 1 to 6, in addition to former pupils, and staff members, to ensure tennis was played non-stop at Deal Parochial Primary School from 8.00am to 9.25pm.
Unfortunately, the weather was not kind on the day, so a lot of the marathon took place in the school hall. We started at 8am in parallel to our breakfast club, and school dinners were eaten in classrooms so that lunchtime did not disrupt the marathon.
We eventually went outside at 3pm for two and half hours before fading light led to us returning to the school hall.
Our last leg of the marathon was undertaken by pupils past and present and included a team challenge tournament and lots of ‘Round the World’. Fun was had by all throughout the day, and it was great to know that we were raising funds for our 3 chosen charities, which were United Families UK, the Tim Henman Foundation, and YoungMinds.
We are delighted to report that we have currently raised a total of over £650 between these charities. – Thank you so much to everyone who supported our Tennisathon, whether through participation or donation.
