Menace Tennis, the children’s tennis coaching company, is delighted to announce that it will be running more of its sell-out classes for Easter and Summer 2012 inLondonand Wiltshire.

Founded by Henry Lamb (a.k.a. Horrid Henry), Menace Tennis offers tennis coaching for children aged 7 – 14 years during the school holidays. Combining fun-filled team games, technique honing drills and action-packed tournaments with one-on-one tuition, Menace Tennis aims to give every child the chance to be the next Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.

Hand-picked by Horrid Henry, the Menace Tennis coaching team comprises seven enthusiastic and inspiring young male and female players, each with a wealth of experience under their belt. Henry himself is a PTR qualified coach with almost a decade’s worth of experience coaching at club, school and adult level. He is also a sports and geography teacher atFulhamPrep School. 

Courses last up to three days and cost £35 per day, with final day prizes rewarding each young Tennis Menace for their progress. Parents are taken care of too, with Menace Tennis providing detailed written feedback and a photograph to chart their child’s development and successes.   

Easter Holiday Dates

29-31 March: Barn Elms Sports Centre,London

2-3 April:ChafynGroveSchool, Wiltshire

4-5 April:SouthPark, Fulham,London

10-11 April:SalisburyCathedralSchool, Wiltshire

12-14 April:RavenscourtPark, Hammersmith, London

12-14 April: Kensington Memorial Park, Notting Hill, London

Summer Half Term Dates

6-8 June:KensingtonMemorial Park, Notting Hill,London

6-8 June:SouthPark, Fulham,London

Summer Holiday Dates

12-14 July: Barn Elms Sports Centre,London

16-18 July:ChafynGroveSchool, Wiltshire

19-21 July:SouthPark, Fulham,London

23-25 July:SalisburyCathedralSchool, Wilshire

26-28 July:KensingtonMemorial Park, Notting Hill,London 

26-28 July:RavenscourtPark, Hammersmith,London

20-22 August:SalisburyCathedralSchool, Wiltshire

23-25 August:SouthPark, Fulham,London

29-31 August: Barn Elms Sports Centre,London

29-31 August:KensingtonMemorial Park, Notting Hill,London

THE RUNNERS UP

  JUST eased out of the winners’ enclosure were Vivien Sheriff and Henry Lamb, both of whom impressed the judges greatly.

  For milliner Vivien 2011, was an extraordinary year, with a commission from the, then, Kate Middleton (now the Duchess of Cambridge) shortly after her engagement, followed by a number of  commissions from women attending last April’s royal wedding.

  And teacher Henry’s Menace Sports business gathered pace, with school holiday tennis and football courses running at venues including the Cathedral School and Chafyn Grove School, both in  Salisbury.

  Henry said the aim of his enterprise was to make sport fun for children and he had had “fantastic feedback” from the courses he had run so far.

  The business model would also work for mums wanting to keep fit, he said.

“I can get the venues and the coaches, but it is getting the word out there that’s difficult,” he said.

“I have very little experience of marketing. And I have not got a business plan – where to grow the business and how to grow it.”

The judges praised Henry for having developed an excellent brand and said the main decision he had to make was when to give up the day job. They said that if the venture proved successful, it could  be expanded through franchising.

Local Business Accelerators launched back in October and backed, by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, is an initiative organised by the Newspaper Society in which 500 newspapers, including the Salisbury Journal, are offering a total of £15million worth of free advertising. The winning businesses will also receive mentoring from three entrepreneurs and one lucky business, picked from the hundreds chosen as regional winners, will get individual mentoring sessions from Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden.

Menace Sports is very excited about this opportunity and is looking forward to building the Menace brand!

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/business/business/9408724.Nine_make_shortlist_for_prestigious_competition/

On a slightly different note…some menace coaches (Horrid Henry and Simple Simon) enjoyed a beer with Chris Evans (see picture) last night before watching ‘one man and two guvnors’ at the Adelphi Theatre in Covent Garden. James Corden was absolutely fantastic and we would recommend it to everyone!

Menace Tennis is thrilled to announce that it will be running 2012 courses at the Kensington Memorial Park which is located in Notting Hill. It is the first park to undergo major improvements as part of the ten year parks strategy 2006-2015

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/leisureandlibraries/parksandgardens/yourlocalpark/kensingtonmemorialpark.aspx

We will keep you posted on any other 2012 venues…exciting!

Perfect Pete (see below) is making slow progress on the job front and I have a feeling he will be joining in the Menace Football action in the Christmas holidays. He is currently interviewing for a catering company in London though missed his interview because he failed to turn up at the correct office and was also wearing the incorrect uniform. He is hoping to earn some cash so he fund a trip to Columbia.

Horrid Henry has just entered Menace Sports into the Business Accelerators intiative headed by Dragon Deborah Meaden though it looks like there will be some tough competition with over a 1,000 businesses entered already. The intiative is helping small businesses (1-3 years old) advertise in local papers.

We are already looking forward to the three Christmas holiday courses that we are running, you can sign up online already…

Monday 12th, Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th of December – Chafyn Grove School, Wiltshire

Thursday 15th, Friday 16th and Saturday 17th of December – Barnes, London

Wednesday 4th, Thursday 5th and Friday 6th of January – Barnes, London

With half-term approaching Menace Football is looking busy with a course in Salisbury at Chafyn Grove School (SP1 1LR) and a course in London at Barn Elms Sports Centre (SW13 0DG). Places are still available so be sure to sign up and not miss out on the FUN!

Simple Simon (see picture) has left for the time being having recently secured a job at Benchmark Sport International. His role is talents and accounts executive and will still be making appearances on the Menace Sports courses to snap up the next super stars – so play to impress!

Perfect (Pathetic) Pete is still living on Simple Simon’s floor and is much looking forward to the half-term London course. Barney Rubble is working to fund his gap year travels in London and Dangerous Dave is enjoying his new job teaching at a Secondary School in Salisbury.

Horrid Henry is busy looking for new tennis venues to spread the FUN of Menace Tennis!

Our new blog is designed to get you involved in the world of Menace Sports. It will keep you updated with upcoming courses and offers along with interesting articles on childrens sport and current sporting events. With the Indian summer soon drawing to a close our focus has moved from Menace Tennis to Menace Football.

We will also be talking about our fantastic team of coaches so you can get to know them and find out what they get up to outside the world of Menace.

So watch this space for interesting Menace news and gossip!