Almost 3000 kids took a part in the three program editions
The big star of DIEMA XTRA Sofia Open 2018 Stan Wawrinka and Minister of Youth and Sports Krasen Kralev met kids from the “Tennis – Sport for All” program. The future tennis stars were having a practice with second seed Adrian Mannarino and the Bulgarian national team player Dimitar Kuzmanov. They had double chance to meet with one more ATP Tour star – Wawrkinka who just started his first practice in Sofia.
Almost 3000 kids took a part in the three “Tennis – Sport for All” program editions. “Tennis – Sport for All” program is a joint initiative of Bulgarian Tennis Federation and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
“This program is really precious to me, because it was one of the first projects I started as a Minister. It is great that it improves every single year. We will continue running it in 2018. Thanks to the Bulgarian Tennis Federation for the attention that pays to the young players and works so professionally within this program”, Kralev said.
In 2017, the Bulgarian Tennis Federation and the Ministry of Youth and Sports accomplished for the third consecutive year the “Tennis – Sport for All” program for children aged from 6 to 12 years, for which about 75 000 Euro are lent annually.
In the first edition of the program in 2015, 840 children were trained in 30 sports clubs across the country. In 2016, the children became 1,000 in 35 sports clubs. In 2017, 38 sports clubs joined the program, with about 1100 children. Or about 3,000 children in total in the three editions.
“This program is extremely precious to me because it was one of the first that started during my previous mandate. I am glad that it continues to expand its range. This is an extremely successful project that we are very proud of and I thank the Bulgarian Tennis Federation for its professional accomplishment. I am convinced that with programs like this we will increase the interest of the children in sports because our main task is to build the basis of the sports pyramid in order to have a healthy and viable nation”, said the minister of Youth and Sports Krasen Kralev.
The program give adolescents the opportunity to practice and participate in tennis competitions, led by professionally trained sports specialists with excellent sports facilities and specialized sports equipment and supplies. For the children with the best performance, preparatory camps are organized. There are about 35 tournaments a year, final masters and participation in international tennis formats for children.
About 30% of the children who have participated in Tennis – Sport for All program continue to be actively involved in this sport afterwards.
