Tennis in the park

BBC Learning¹ EnglishLondon LifeTennis in the parkCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is LondonLife. The Wimbledon tennischampionships have begun in South London. For the firsttime in 10 yearsthere will be no British player who is seeded – or who isregarded as one of the top 32 players in the competition.
　　Britain does not have a history in recent years ofproducing top tennis players. One person who would like tosee a change in this is Robby Sudhkeo who runs a tennisclub in a park in the north London area of Haringey. Theother day I made a trip out to the park to meet Robby, Iasked him what he does.
　　ROBBYI'm a tennis manager. I've hired some tennis courts and apavilion from Haringey Council² which I'm hoping to turninto a tennis centre and my job is to facilitate³ tennis andsport in the park.
　　Callum: His job, he says is to facilitate sport in thepark. To facilitate. This means to help to make somethingpossible. His main focus is tennis. Approximately how manypeople come to his courts each week?
　　ROBBYI arrange tennis for children aging from 3 and 4 which wecall toddlers up to adults, intermediate⁴ and advanced,private coaching. We have lots of children, 250 childrencome in a week, 100 adults.
　　Callum: In total there are about 350 people come each week,250 children and 100 adults for different levels ofcoaching. I was surprised at how young some of the childrenwere, only three or fours years old – as Robbie said –toddlers. I asked him what sort of training they got.
　　ROBBYWe teach them, rather than tennis strokes⁵ we teach them torun, balance, socialise, hand eye coordination⁶ exercises,basically that's it for toddlers.
　　Callum: So the toddlers don't get training in playingtennis strokes, but they get to do different activitiesthat involve developing basic skills like running andbalancing, socialising or getting on with other children,and importantly hand- eye coordination. Hand eyecoordination is an important skill in many sports and itmeans your eyes and hand working together, being able tomove your hands in line with what you see, for example tohit a ball in tennis you have to be able to follow the ballwith your eyes then move your hand with the racquet to hitthe ball.
　　After talking to Robby, the coach I then went to talk toone of the parents who regularly brings her children to thetennis in the park.
　　PARENTWell I've got three children doing tennis here, one's fourand a half, one's seven and one's nine and a half.
　　And what do the children, what do they get out of thetennis here? Do they enjoy it or do you have to drag themalong.
　　No they all really look forward to coming every Thursday.
　　It's sort of a team effort with their friends, obviouslyall the ball skills, you know the healthy outdoor activity.
　　Callum: The tennis is a healthy outdoor activity which, shesaid, they really enjoy. And from what I saw they certainlydo. I watched a group of youngsters⁷ having a lot of fun onthe courts. I asked one of them why she liked tennis.
　　STUDENTI like playing tennis because it's good exercise for thearms and I'm very good at it and I like tennis because it'sa very good exercise.
　　And one day will you be playing tennis on the Centre Courtat Wimbledon? Never know, maybe!
　　Callum: So who knows, maybe in the future we'll see some ofRobby's students playing at the highest level.
　　Before I left the park I ask Robbie why he thought it wasthat Britain wasn't regularly producing high class tennisplayers.
　　ROBBYI feel the facilities generally around the country arepoor, particularly in the parks. I feel in this country youneed to upgrade⁸ the parks. If you get lots of peopleplaying tennis you'll improve the club structure. A lot ofmoney goes into the clubs but probably less than 20% of thepeople that play tennis play at clubs, so it's the parks isthe place to find new tennis players and also to bring onnew tennis players.
　　Callum: He feels the problems start with the quality of thefacilities and that too much money goes to private clubsrather than public parks. The parks are the best place tofind and 'bring on' new players. To bring on new players,to train them and make them better.
　　Well we wish Robby good luck with his project to develophis tennis centre. That's all from this edition of LondonLife.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

3 facilitate   

vt.使容易（便利）推进，促进

参考例句：

• Modern inventions facilitate housework.许多现代发明便利了家务劳动。
• The new airport will facilitate the development of tourism.新机场将促进旅游业的发展。

4 intermediate   

adj.中间的，居间的，中级的；n.中间体，媒介物

参考例句：

• This country is now at an intermediate stage of development.这个国家目前正处于发展的中间阶段。
• Gray is intermediate between black and white.灰色介于黑色和白色之间。

5 strokes   

中风； a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain.； （游泳或划船的）划( stroke的名词复数 )； 中风； （打、击等的）一下； （成功的）举动

参考例句：

• Apply the paint thickly in even strokes. 涂颜料要厚，笔画要匀。
• To improve your tennis strokes you try using a different grip. 为了提高你网球的击球法，你试试用另一种握拍方法。

6 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

7 youngsters   

n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人

参考例句：

• We followed the youngsters at a more sedate pace. 我们跟在年轻人后面，步子稍慢一点。
• The camp is for youngsters aged 8 to 14. 这次夏令营是为8至14岁的少年儿童安排的。

8 upgrade   

vt.提高，加强，改善；n.提高，改善

参考例句：

• We need to upgrade the status of teachers.我们需要提升老师的地位。
• To upgrade a clerk to manager.将办事员提升为经理。