On the 15th November, twenty-one girls from across all years of
the school went to Holyport Real Tennis Club to learn about real tennis. Clare Vigrass (the Ladies' World Champion) told us how the sport
started and a bit about how Henry VIII adapted the game which he played at
Hampton Court. It is believed that his second wife Anne Boleyn was watching a
game of real tennis when she was arrested and that Henry was playing tennis
when news was brought to him of her execution.
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| The equipment used in real tennis varies from that of normal tennis. |
After this introduction, it was
time for us to have a go ourselves. Clare began by teaching us how to hold the
racket and she demonstrated simple forehand and backhand shots. She managed to
make it look much easier than it actually was! The racket head was much smaller
than that of a normal tennis racket, and the ball was different - it never
bounced as high as you were expecting it to. She also taught us how to serve
which is very different to the serve we were all expecting. Instead of hitting
it across the court into the opposition service box, you had to hit the ball
high onto one of the terraces (which looked like a roof), and then it had to
land into a yellow box marked on the court. We got to play matches against each
other and some prizes were awarded to the winners at the end. We really enjoyed
learning about the sport and having a go ourselves, and would happily attempt
to play again!
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| Ladies' World Champion, Clare Vigrass, showing the girls how it's done. |
Written by Kate
Turnball, Liv Skinner and Greta Spitzer Year 12
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