The competition, now in its second year, is run by the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games and the Tennis Foundation and provides opportunities for young people with mild and severe learning disabilities aged between 11 and 14 to play tennis.

As well as the Disability Tennis competition, the London Youth Games also includes two non-disabled tennis events - a mini tennis competition for primary school children and a team tennis competition for secondary school children.

The London Youth Games were launched in 1977 to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Schools from across London compete for the Jubilee Trophy in up to 30 different sports through 41 event days.

This year's competition features the biggest Para-Games competition programme ever, consisting of athletics, swimming, indoor rowing, wheelchair basketball, football, boccia, tennis and kayaking.

The Duchess, who is the Honorary President of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), was joined by the chairman of the Tennis Foundation, Jonathan Lane, and the deputy executive director of the Tennis Foundation, Joanna Farquharson, at today's tennis event which saw schools from 16 London boroughs taking part.

The competition saw boys and girls compete in 10-minute matches on mini courts with 16 volunteer Tennis Leaders from the University of East London helping to organise and umpire the matches.

In the lead-up to the event, players took part in free weekly coaching sessions funded by the Tennis Foundation in partnership with the LTA.

Defending champions Stormont School in Hackney retained the title they won last year after defeating Westminster's Quintin Kynaston Community Academy 3-1 in the final.

"It's been a stunning day regardless of the result," Stormont School teacher David Vallaler said afterwards.

"We weren't able to prepare as well as I would have liked.

"But in the end it didn't really matter because of how they performed and the result they produced.

"It's evident the standard has gone up immensely in a year."

Today's tennis competition was part of the London Youth Games which were launched to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 ©Getty Images



Garratt Park School in Wandsworth finished third after overcoming Meadow High School in Hillingdon 4-0 in the third/fourth place play-off.

"Her Royal Highness was delighted to visit Westway Sports Centre and not only meet the players taking part in the competition, but also the staff and coaches from the Tennis Foundation, Westway and the London Youth Games, who have worked so hard to put on the event," said Farquharson.

"Events like this show the legacy from London 2012 in action and the Tennis Foundation is committed to working with our various partners to provide opportunities for all disabled people to have fun playing tennis."

For more information on the latest learning disability tennis sessions, click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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