As our regular readers know, the Tennis Trail is on the road throughout the school year, taking tennis into hundreds of primary schools across the country. So what do we do in the summer holidays?

Through our work in tennis we are committed to bringing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to all children, giving them something to do, making them care about themselves and their future. This summer we have embarked on some new programmes, taking tennis into entirely new areas - working with children and youngsters who need help more than most.

Kids Company on Court

Kids Company is a registered charity who offer support to exceptionally vulnerable children who need therapeutic and practical help. They support children whose parents are unable to care for them.

Many of them have been physically and sexually abused. Some have had to become carers to younger brothers and sisters as their parents cope with addiction and mental health problems. Kids Company reaches out to these children, offering a range of services in schools and at their special London centre, The Arches.

The Tennis Foundation met with Kids Company in August to start planning a new programme to help these children. Working with young boys aged 16-17 we have devised a special coaching plan, introducing the youngsters to tennis and teaching them how to play. Our hope is that they will go on to become assistant tennis coaches, enabling them to teach others to develop an interest in the game. Tennis can make a real difference to children's lives and this new programme aims to reach out to those who need help the most. We are very pleased to be working with Kids Company and we are sure this new initiative will be a great success.

Each year nearly 2,000 children and young people under 21 are diagnosed with cancer. Sargent Cancer Care for Children supports them and their families at home and in hospital, providing practical help and financial assistance to families in need. The charity funds a network of highly skilled Care Professionals at major cancer centres throughout the UK and also offers a wide range of short breaks, workshops and vocational training for young people.

The Tennis Foundation linked up with Sargent Cancer Care this summer to create a new programme at Malcolm Sargent House, their residential centre, in Bexley, South London. Over the next five weeks we will be providing tennis coaching for youngsters that have had cancer and are now in remission, providing them with a new interest and an opportunity to succeed.

Again, this new programme widens the scope of our existing activities and will bring hope and encouragement to some very brave youngsters. Click on the logo to visit the Sargent Cancer Care website.

In addition to our new charity programmes with Kids Company and Sargent Cancer Care, we provided some tennis coaching with a difference this summer. Claygate Primary in Surrey is one of the schools visited by the Tennis Trail last year and Liz Berry, PE teacher at the School, is a real tennis enthusiast. Keen to continue the development of tennis for the children, Liz asked us to come back this summer to provide some follow-up coaching for the teachers. The training we provided will allow Liz and the other teachers to start coaching the children themselves, developing their interest in the game and continuing the work started by the Tennis Trail. We were obviously delighted to be asked back to Claygate and wish Liz all the best in developing the game at the school.

The Tennis Foundation was in the public eye again in September when one of our Trailblazers, John-Paul Llano, appeared in a BBC news programme.

John-Paul continues to climb the ladder of his tennis career and has recently been offered a place at Reeds School in Oxshot. The School has a reputation for tennis, and was once home to Britain's Number One, Tim Henman. John-Paul appeared on Newsroom Southeast to talk about his development through the Foundation and his excitement at being offered a place at Reeds.

Rover Cars have a history of supporting the Tennis Foundation and at the end of September, we were delighted to be presented with two brand-new Rover 75 Tourers. The cars will be used by the Tennis Trail teams as they travel the country and we are very grateful to Rover for their continued support. The cars were handed over to us at Trident Garages in Weybridge and the picture shows Sir Cliff with Richard Griffiths from Rover Cars

This month we were delighted to receive a message of support from friend and patron, Ainsley Harriott. "The Cliff Richard Tennis Foundation is now in its second decade because it reaches out to kids on every level and encourages them to play tennis for fun. Already we have seen that it can take them beyond the local parks and into the great tennis arenas of the world, but this can't be done without campaigns like 'Kids on Court', so please give your support. Tennis is a wonderful game and everyone should have the opportunity to play, especially our kids."

The Cliff Richard Tennis Classic - Sunday December 16th! It's not long now until the all new Cliff Richard Tennis Classic, being held at the Birmingham NIA on Sunday the 16th of December. As many of you will know, tickets went on sale at the beginning of June but were sold out on the first day. For those that were lucky enough to obtain tickets for the event, we have now posted some details about the format and line-up for the show. To find out more, click here. You can also buy merchandise from the event, including the new Tennis Classic t-shirt. To find out more, click here.

The Tennis Foundation received some excellent publicity recently when three of our Trailblazers appeared in television news programmes to talk about their love of tennis and their involvement with the Tennis Foundation. Click on the icons to play the clips. (requires Real Player)

Trailblazing twins Daniel and Martin Regan have taken tennis by storm in their home county of Yorkshire. Martin is ranked number 1 and Daniel number 2 and both have played at the under 10s International Tennis Academy. The twins were interviewed on 'Look North' and clearly have a bright future ahead in tennis.

Melanie McKenzie is one of our star Trailblazers and competes in many tournaments and events. From county level, playing for the West of Scotland, she quickly progressed to playing for the National Squad and her talents were recently highlighted in a television news programme, also featuring an appearance from Sir Cliff.

In association with the International Tennis Federation, we are pleased to lend our support to their latest pan-European campaign - 'Don't be Dope!' The new initiative is designed to inform youngsters about the dangers of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

The idea is to educate younger players about the bad effects of steroids before anyone tries to convince them of any percieved benefits. The ITF have been touring around a number of i6 and under Tennis tournaments with a stand and have also commisioned an animation showing the effects of various substances on a players body.

If you're a young tennis player, we urge you to have a look at the animation to find out more about these substances. The animation is a Flash Movie. (Requires Flash Player) To download it, click on the icon to your left. If you do not have the player installed, click here.

The message is simple - do NOT use drugs to improve your tennis and don't listen to anyone who tells you that they are harmless. The 'Dont be a Dope' campaign is featured on the ITF's new site for junior tennis players. www.itfjuniors.com. The site is packed with useful information for youngsters interested in tennis and is well worth a visit.

To keep up to date with all that we are doing, why not sign up for our mailing list? We'll send you an email whenever there is any news or we add new content to the website. To sign up for the mailing list, simply complete the form below.