Eastbourne College girls' tennis team celebrate South East victory

The Lawn Tennis Associations’ (LTA) Winter Schools competition saw schools across the UK competing across four regions, with Eastbourne College becoming one of four winning teams nationally.

The girls’ team beat Peter Symonds College (Winchester) in a 5-1 semi-final match before defeating Hills Road College (Cambridge) 6-0 in the final at the tournament, held at the Sutton Tennis Centre.

The Eastbourne College girls’ senior tennis team, which includes Year 13 pupils Becky Fisher, Lola Dutton, Annabel McKenna and Selena Braithwaite and Year 12 pupils Daisy Barrow and Emma Grantham, are the second team from the school to bring home the Winter LTA Schools title, following a previous win in 2020.

Simon Gent, Head of Tennis, said: “This is a fine achievement from an excellent team of dedicated and ambitious young players who are well coached at Eastbourne College and improving all the time.

“They are looking forward to the summer term school tournaments now and are aiming to qualify for the finals of the main National Schools event, hoping to better the 6th place finish they achieved last year.”

As well as training for the LTA Schools National Championships in Nottingham in June - the biggest schools tennis tournament of the year – the team at Eastbourne College have lots to look forward to in 2024.

Both Becky Fisher and Annabel McKenna are planning to head to universities in the USA later this year, where they will play tennis alongside their academic studies – following in the footsteps of 12 other former pupils who are already studying and playing tennis at US universities.

As one of the leading tennis schools in the UK, Eastbourne College’s year-round tennis programme offers the opportunity for all pupils to get involved, with a full summer training programme and fixtures against other tennis schools in the South East. The school’s elite tennis programme provides training throughout the year for those who aspire to county and national standards of play, including one-to-one sessions with top coaches, squad training sessions and player-led sessions.