You have to wonder if it is the same Tony Blair. Our premier of old whose government did nothing to save school playing fields from being sold off and promote their use for health and fitness, is now advocating tennis as a sport which notherners should participate in. The project is, in fact, named after him, as if to say that Blair and tennis are established partners.
The Tony Blair Sports Foundation has been set up in the North East and vowed to "invest in local people, inspiring them to make the most of themselves through sport. It is part of Tony Blair’s personal legacy to the area he represented as an MP for 24 years."
One of the main focuses of the Tony Blair Sports Foundation is to run an annual competition for school children in the North East to encourage more youngsters to take up sport and play regularly.
Tennis is a great sport which we never win at any more at Wimbledon. Why couldn’t Blair have promoted it for all school kids while he was in office when he had influence and could have made a difference?
Why are school tennis courts not used throughout the whole year, especially as our winters are milder? Isn’t that a total waste of resources and promotion of potential talent? Do we have talented trainers to nurture any future hopefuls?
I guess shame has moved him eventually; just a shame it didn’t move him at the time.
It still upsets me that we collectively allowed our childrens playing fields to be sold – how did we let them happen?
And then the same government warns us that childhood obesity is on the rise…
Oh yes; all balls but smallish ones.
I hate all sport as you know, Ellee, and it annoys me that children who can do sport get much more peer recognition than those with quieter skills – so I’m not the best person to be commenting on this!