Narrabri and District Tennis Association donates equipment to primary schools

In March, a major banking corporation announced that the Narrabri and District Tennis Association was one of 20 recipients of its Community Grant program, helping support and develop local tennis clubs which deliver the Tennis Hot Shots program.

In addition to receiving a $10,000 community grant, Narrabri and District Tennis Association received merchandise, equipment, signage and access to a local bank specialist to help it with its finances.

And now the local tennis association has chosen to pay it forward into the Narrabri community, donating equipment to each of the three Narrabri primary schools.

Racquets, nets, tennis balls, money boxes and fans were all donated to Narrabri West Public School, Narrabri Public School and St Francis Xavier’s Primary School.

Narrabri and District Tennis Association president Rod Kirk said that he was pleased that the association was in the position to donate the equipment to the local schools.

“We wanted to encourage kids to try the sport that may not usually get the access to it,” Kirk said.

“The schools loved it, they were very happy to receive the new equipment.

“The gear was just going to sit over in the shed so we thought rather than us using it once a year maybe we’d pass it on to the schools which could use it maybe once a week.

“Tennis is a great sport, it gives you a chance to meet new people.

“Through tennis you can make life-long friends, even from other towns.

“You can play tennis all year round, whether it’s with your mates having a social hit or tournament play.

“It’s also a sport you can play without having to worry about social distancing.”

Meanwhile tennis in Narrabri recently received a massive boost on Monday when Narrabri Tennis announced competition play for seniors would begin on Wednesday, July 22, and junior match play would restart on Friday, July 24.

Kirk said that while competition tennis was able to restart now, Narrabri Tennis made the decision to wait until after the July school holidays to begin its new campaigns.

Narrabri will also host an all ages competition event on Sunday, July 19 at the Dangar Park Tennis Centre which will be the second of four North West Return To

Tennis Series match days before the Inverell Champion of Champions (Invitational Event) on Saturday and Sunday, July 22 and 23.

The first event of that series will be played this Sunday in Inverell and several Narrabri tennis players will travel to compete.