The sun was shining on Claires Court last week when the new Multi Use Games Area was opened by Principals, Hugh and James Wilding accompanied by Steve Rider, former BBC and ITV Sports Commentator. Installed by local construction partner, Spade Oak, and approved by Sports England, the new 1,855m2 facility is marked for a single hockey pitch, three tennis courts, three netball courts, and can also be used for 5 & 7 aside football.
Claires Court is well known for its excellent sporting success which at its foundation, aims to give all children the opportunity to represent the school competitively in a variety of sports. The new astro will extend the practice of all sports throughout the winter providing an all-weather option for the school, a number of our club-based sports partners, and our outreach work with the wider Maidenhead United community.
James Wilding, Academic Principal said
“We are thrilled with the addition of this new multi-use games area, now known as our Junior Astro, as it will benefit so many children both at our school and in the local area. The growth of our sports club partnership work with Maidenhead United Juniors, Living Tennis, Eagles netball, Maidenhead Hockey and our many cricket clubs can only be strengthened by our ability to offer this facility plus it will enable more extended partnership work with other local schools and the wider community.
For the technically minded, the surface grass installed is of the highest quality and complies with the performance standards of FIH class "National Class 1" and "Multisport Class 1 and 2", "Community Gen 2 multisport", EN 153301:2013 Tennis, AENA Netball & the standards of Sport England.”
The event was opened with an official ribbon cutting ceremony by the Principals accompanied by Steve Rider. The inaugural demonstration was hockey with players from Year 2 first stepping foot on the new surface with drills and hockey practice. Netball with the juniors, and football with the senior boys, then followed, both exceptional in their ability with the netball team due to compete in the ISA National Finals on 21 March with two of the boys signed for Brentford FC Academy.
The event finished with Max, a junior, nationally ranked tennis player, demonstrating his excellent tennis prowess with Head Coach of the Delgado and Lee Tennis Academy, Tom Greenland. Claires Court is currently ranked the 6th best school in the UK for boys tennis success and the U18 boys finished 4th in the UK last year.
Steve Rider said “This is such a great facility for Claires Court and I'm delighted to be able to share the excitement of the opening with them. It will be an asset for the school and importantly for the local community to benefit from too.”
Hugh Wilding concluded “It was a wonderful opportunity for our junior and senior boys to demonstrate so well the facility we now have at Juniors. We know that this new asset will be a huge success and we thank all our contractors for completing the job ready for use in the Spring term.”
To see more photos from the event, please take a look at the photo album below!
