Olympic hopeful makes a racket at Warren (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Olympic hopeful makes a racket at Warren

12:14pm Wednesday 21st July 2010 in

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THE WARREN Italian Clay Court Tennis Club played host to one of Great Britain’s Olympic hopefuls as local children were encouraged to get in to sport last week.

The club, located in Overton Drive, Wanstead, is offering free weekly tennis coaching in conjunction with The Thames Gateway Youth Football Project as part of Sport England’s ‘Sport Unlimited Programme’. And former number one ranked junior 800m runner Sam Coombes was invited to help inspire the youngsters to pick up their rackets.

Coombes, who was struck down by injury as a promising junior athlete, is back training among some of the country’s finest middle-distance runners at Loughborough University and hopes to compete at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

The athlete was also a county-standard tennis player in his youth, so he was well placed to coach the children alongside coaches from The Warren.

Pupils from Wanstead High School, pictured right, were the chief beneficiaries during the day, and sports development teacher Jamie Gibson was impressed with what he saw. “The free tennis coaching programme at the Warren Tennis Club has enabled our students to have access to high- quality specialist co-aching and has en-hanced their learning,” he said.

“Having Sam Coombes come along to support this initiative has been great. He is a brilliant role model for young athletes and has shown them that there is plenty to aspire to if they work hard.”