The DSActive team spend a lot of time on the road travelling around the country visiting sports clubs and events on the weekends. One of the weekend visits we always look forward to is a trip down to the south coast to the town of Bournemouth. One of the DSActive team recently went to visit the DSActive sessions at Southbourne Tennis Club and Longfleet FC…and managed to fit in a quick trip to the beach as well.
Southbourne Tennis Club is set just west of Bournemouth, between Iford and Christchurch and a stone’s throw from Southbourne beachfront. The club is set amongst a large sports field and as you drive in to the car park, you’re greeted with the sounds of many cheers and shouts from the football and rugby matches going on. With its rich blue courts and quaint club house, there are not many better places to sit and watch your children play tennis on a Saturday morning.
The head coach Dave took the players through a warm up, before moving onto different drills all designed to improve serving. To start with, a series of targets were set up on one side of the net, and the players had to throw tennis balls overarm at them with the goal of knocking as many over as possible. After a quick drinks break, the players then grabbed their rackets and practised serving at the targets. The session always finishes with the well know game, ‘Bombs away’, which all of the parents get involved with, highlighting the fantastic community spirit around the session.
A quick trip along the coast takes you to the DSActive football session with Longfleet FC. For this evening event, the players got the chance to take on some of the Longfleet Youth under 13’s team and some of the players from the Parley Ability Counts team. The event started with everyone joining in with a warm up lead by the Longfleet coaches. Then the groups were split into two ready for the matches to begin. The standard of the matches was fantastic, with goals flying in from everywhere, some brilliant passing and dribbling, and plenty of team camaraderie. The event finished with a medal ceremony and a big thank you to the volunteers who had given up their time to make the evening happen.
DSActive team member Alex said “It’s been a really fantastic day. It was great to see the session at Southbourne tennis club, the community spirit around the session is infectious and it is wonderful to see the session continue to grow and succeed. The evening event, run by Longfleet FC, was a really fun event to be a part of. The players all really enjoyed it, and the parents always have nothing but great things to say about the club.”
To find out more about the session at Southbourne tennis club click here, to find out more about the Longfleet FC session click here.
Photos courtesy of Longfleet FC.