Summary report 2021 Streettennis Project Reigersbos/Amsterdam January – February: the year started with a lockdown situation resulting in the cancellation of our weekly indoor training sessions for all kids participating in the project. Whenever the weather allowed it we carried out these training sessions outside. March: the regular outdoor training sessions started for everybody. April 17: about 40 children participated in a so called fun tennis games tournament. For every child there was a prize: a mug with their name on it. June-July: 22 children participated in junior team competitions. Out of the 4 participating teams, 2 became champions. June 19: workshop for all the coaches of the project, July 12-16: participation of 4 of our most talented kids in a tennis camp led by a professional tennis school at the clay courts of our partner tennis club Strandvliet. July-August: the best players participated in local junior tournaments coached by one of the trainers. July 17 & 24: the regular Saturday training was conducted at the clay courts of Strandvliet and rounded off with prizes and ice cream. September-October: 16 children participated in the autumn version of the junior team competitions. Again 2 teams became champions. October 1: start of the regular indoor training sessions. November 6: indoor tournament with sports e.g. tennis, soccer, basketball, athletics and tug-of-war. December 20: Christmas Holiday These tennis kids started about 1.5 years ago with tennis training in our project. During the summer they participated for the first time in the junior team competition in the age group 6-10 years. They played their matches on mini courts till 7 points with red balls, softer and bigger than the normal yellow balls which makes it easier for the kids to play a rally. They won all their matches and became champions in their league. Their progress went so fast that in October they were already able to participate in the next level of the team competition. This meant playing with orange balls: one size smaller and harder than the red ones. The matches are played on ¾ court and finish when one player has won 4 games. Again, these kids performed extremely well by winning all their matches and became champions for the second time. The goal for 2022 is to reach the green level: playing on the whole court with balls just a little bit softer than the yellow ones.
