The ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow has returned to Victoria, celebrating a major milestone with the 200,000th racquet set to be gifted to one lucky first-year primary school student over the coming months.
Thanks to ANZ, the successful initiative will see 30,000 new racquets delivered to students in more than 700 primary schools across the country. This builds on the 170,000 racquets distributed across the country over the past five years.
As part of the initiative, Tennis Australia ambassadors Todd Woodbridge, John Fitzgerald and Casey Dellacqua will pop into schools virtually to inspire students to pick up their new racquets and swing into action. Some states will also enjoy live visits from local ambassadors.
The fifth edition of the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow comes as new survey data shows that 92 per cent of Australian parents surveyed believe children should learn tennis from a young age. The desire for children to partake in sport and physical activity is particularly relevant, as nearly half of parents surveyed say they are concerned their families are not as fit when compared to the start of the pandemic.
From 2020 to 2021, tennis has seen a surge in popularity due to the sport’s Covid-safe nature, with court bookings up by 209 per cent year-on-year. As a socially distanced sport enjoyed outdoors, tennis has been tipped as one of the best ways to exercise safely.
Two thirds of those surveyed said they would be more likely to try a new sport if they knew it was considered Covid-safe.
The survey responses suggest that:
Almost half of Australian families surveyed noticed a decrease in their family’s level of outdoor physical activity during the pandemic
Nearly 40 per cent of Victorians are somewhat concerned with a change of physical fitness in their children since the start of the pandemic
Almost half of Victorians (49 per cent) and NSW (46 per cent) residents believe their family is not as fit when compared to the start of 2020
Three quarters of Australians surveyed believe they would give tennis a shot if their families owned the necessary sporting equipment (specifically racquets and balls)
82 per cent of Australians surveyed are aware of the benefits associated with playing tennis as a child including physical fitness, coordination, confidence and social skills.
It is hoped the program will also encourage Aussies to pick up tennis again, with three-quarters of those surveyed expressing an interest in either returning to the sport or giving it a shot.
“The ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow has been an outstanding success and is a credit to our team involved in the Tennis in Schools’ program and our longstanding partnership with ANZ,” Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said.
“Getting more kids involved in tennis is part of what we do every single day, and to be able to put racquets in the hands of 200,000 kids across the country is a tremendous milestone to celebrate. I look forward to seeing more courts across the country full of kids playing tennis with their friends and families.”
“We hope that by supporting grassroots programs like the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow we can help inspire the next generation grow a lifelong love of tennis,” ANZ managing director of retail banking Katherine Bray said.
“ANZ and Tennis Australia’s five-year partnership that has delivered 200,000 racquets to communities right across Australia is an outstanding achievement.”
Twenty-two-time Grand Slam champion Todd Woodbridge has handed out thousands of racquets to school kids across the country over the past five years and has continued his classroom visits virtually over the past year.
“The ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow is a project I’m excited to be involved with every single year,” Woodbridge said.
“To be able to introduce so many kids, and their families, to the sport I’ve loved for my whole life is so rewarding. As is seeing the positive impact tennis can have on their lives.”
