Young Warwickshire tennis stars celebrate successful fundraising ‘team’ run for NHS

Young Warwickshire tennis stars are celebrating raising money through their ‘team’ run for the NHS.

Rising tennis star Ferran Redza 12, from Warwick and his teammates in the Warwickshire 14 and Under Boys County Cup Tennis squad are celebrating a highly-successful team effort – raising over £2500 for the NHS while covering around 170 miles with a virtual team run.

And they were given a message of support from the county’s top player, British number 1 Dan Evans, from Birmingham.

The youngsters were due to take part in the national Inter-County Cup Championship, which Warwickshire won last year, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Instead Ferran, who is nationally ranked in his age-group, came up with the idea of doing something positive - fundraising for NHS charities.

He plus teammates Connor Checketts and Ollie Roe, both from Kenilworth, Daniel Garthwaite from Rugby Yash Bhalkar and Sukhraj Malhi from Birmingham, Samuel Sitch from Solihull and their captain and coach Simon Ferguson ran as many miles as possible on the two May weekends when the event would have been staged.

They were overjoyed when Dan Evans contacted them to celebrate their gesture: "The boys are doing an amazing thing in raising money for the NHS,” he wrote. “By turning the negative of the 14U County Cup being cancelled into such a positive fund raising event is amazing.

"At such a difficult time for everyone this just shows how people can come together in such a positive way. of the season. Well done boys!!!!"

The squad members ran individually in their home areas uploading their performances to the running app Strava which linked the distances and times to the squad’s Justgiving page.

The boys covered more than 80 miles on the first weekend and quickly hit their target of £500 thanks to numerous donations from their supporters.

They then covered a further 90 miles on the second weekend, several of the squad even running the equivalent of a marathon over the five days.

“We were gutted when we heard that Inter-County Cup was cancelled,” said Ferran, who was recently named Warwickshire’s Junior Player of the Year.

“We’d all been training really hard for this – but it’s the same for everyone and lots of kids are having a much worse time than we are. It was great to get the message from Dan. He’s my idol and that made us run harder than ever.

"We’re thrilled we raised so much and it was great to have brilliant support. We did this as a team even though we were running separately, to boost our spirits and because it’s a great cause.”

“We’re absolutely delighted the boys did so well,” added Warwickshire LTA President Sally Jones.

“They refused to feel sorry for themselves when Inter-County Cup was cancelled but rallied round and did something pretty tough and gruelling to fundraise for the NHS during the biggest crisis it’s ever encountered."

To donate go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/14uwarksboyscountycupTo follow their achievement and Warwickshire LTA go to: www.facebook.com/WarksLTA/