Kids having a ball on the tennis courts
Nine-year-old Dev Ashton Nathan had always wanted to play tennis.
When he entered Sembawang Primary School in 2015, tennis was not offered as a co-curricular activity.
Last year, Dev finally got the chance to pick up a racket.
As part of SC Global's Tennis for Every Child (TFEC) initiative, which involves 26 schools, Dev now attends free weekly training sessions at his school's indoor sports hall.
He said: "I was very interested in tennis. I asked my mum about it before, but she told me 'later' and it never happened.
"It makes me happy that I can learn a new sport and I hope to continue playing tennis in secondary school."
Under the programme, tennis equipment are provided during lessons as certified coaches guide the children to pick up tennis skills.
Sarah Lim, also 9, is another one of the 13 pupils participating in the programme at Sembawang Primary.
She said: "The coaches here are very encouraging and whenever we have any trouble, they will come and help us.
"When we started, they taught us some simple strokes, but as we get better, they'll teach us harder tricks.
"I want to continue playing tennis so that I can stay healthy, and also teach some of my family members how to play tennis. Then they can stay healthy too."
Simon Tan, the head coach at Sembawang Primary, feels that TFEC is a great way to extend the reach of tennis.
He said: "At the secondary level, I noticed that most boys who came from a neighbourhood primary school didn't have a tennis background, so this is something that I hope can change in the future."
Sarah Smith, senior manager at SC Global, hopes that the initiative will encourage more kids to pick up the sport.
Smith said: "We're looking to build the tennis community and the more sports these children are exposed to, the earlier they will recognise that an active lifestyle is important."
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