(techno music)
- So I think the best thing about
being part of the tennis club is
that it's literally open to anybody.
No matter if you've never picked up a racquet before.
And maybe if you are an amazing player or decent player
and you wanna join a team, there's still player out here
that are absolutely amazing.
Who will inspire you everyday to try and improve.
I'm Jason Ying, I'm a third year,
final year undergraduate student
studying economics at the LSE.
So before joining LSE, I'd actually read up online
about the LSE tennis club, and how they'd had
a triumph over Loughborough,
who are all supposed to be amazing at sport.
And that really drew me to the tennis here at LSE
cuz I'd knew it'd be an amazing standard.
This year we had a huge influx of social tennis players.
This is due to I think in large part
we had a give it a go session at the beginning of the year,
which encouraged people to take up tennis
who maybe never picked up a racquet.
Maybe inspired by Andy Murray.
The fact that the tennis courts
are right next to campus as well
really encourages people to play some tennis.
We've got a coach for beginners.
They get an opportunity to play twice a week
on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
We've got about 40 members in our competitive teams
playing matches every week.
And about 90 members in our social program.
The LSE tennis club has got five teams,
four who play in the BUCS leagues
and one who play in the LUSL league,
which is the London University league.
So, our men's first team plays
in the second highest division nationally in the UK.
Our first team get the opportunity to travel
to several different places.
Last week they went to Exeter
to play against them in the cup match.
They played against Barmouth.
In my first year they even got to go to Scotland
to play against Stirling.
Our second and third team
because there are no other divisions
largely play against teams from London.
However, our second teams manage to play against Canterbury.
And our women's first team are
in the third highest division nationally.
And they actually won their league last year.
(techno music)
- Hi my name is Celine, I'm part of the LSE tennis team.
The best thing for me is competing.
So it's playing the matches every week.
So we have these highs and these lows,
and one of the highs last year was coming top of our league.
My favorite part of the week is Wednesday
because that's when we play matches and I like competing.
And it's also a bonding experience
because we all get to travel together
to different parts of the UK.
And we're really supporting each other to win,
and even when we lose it's an experience
that we have together.
What's demanding is the matches,
because you pretty much have a whole day
where you can't work.
You sacrifice that day, and you just have to travel,
and play matches.
So sometimes, that gets demanding.
When I came to LSU I was 100% sure
I wanted to be in the tennis team.
Because I considered applying to America,
and going on scholarship to play tennis.
So one of my big goals was to play tennis
even the LSE is not really a place
where you go to do sports.
But I definitely wanted to get involved
and so that's the first thing I did
was check out the team.
So one thing I found surprising
at LSE was that the level of tennis.
We actually have some really good players.
We have a coach also.
So I didn't expect the level to be this high,
and to have this much commitment.
I think coming to LSE has made me a better tennis player.
(soft music)
- Hi my name's Tom, I study Accounting and Finance
at the London School of Economics.
I'm a first year, so I came straight from school.
For tennis next year I'm looking forward to it quite a lot.
It's always good coming in as a fresher this year
obviously I didn't get that experience.
But I can tell it's gonna be good having new
a lot of freshers coming in, new players,
which is gonna be very good for the club.
So hopefully we can try to maintain
our positions in the leagues and the cups.
But also, I think as a second year
you know a little bit more about
how the athletics union works.
You can take on slightly more leadership roles,
to running for cup positions.
Running for leadership position in any club
is always really good, because it gives you the opportunity
to get more involved in the club.
You get to know the workings of the club a little bit more.
So, for example, I'm gonna run for treasurer,
I'm quite interested in finance anyway.
So I'm looking forward to being able
to take that on in a more active role.
And a more hands on position,
and obviously because it's part of the club,
you almost care about it slightly more
cuz it can directly impact how the club runs.
If I were to describe the tennis club in three words
I'd probably go with very good fun.
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