Clive Knight Lords it up for tennis exploits

The event saw Knight recognised as a Community Champion by Barclays Spaces for Sports and the Football Foundation for his services to sport in Oswestry.

As a Community Champion, he is representing the hundreds of people, over half of whom are volunteers, who make a particularly outstanding contribution to their local Barclays Spaces for Sports facility.

Knight's primary role at Oswestry Team Tennis is as a coach, a position he has held since the club's inception in 2006.

He coaches boys, girls, men and women of various ages and he has even seen a number of his younger proteges go on to have careers in professional tennis, either as players or coaches.

He has also taken on a variety of extra responsibilities during his time at the club including the role of trustee, treasurer and head of funding applications.

The club has the only junior tennis club in Shropshire, which regularly sees more than 200 children use the facility every weekend.

They and also deliver tennis session at Derwen College, a local school for children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Knight said: "On behalf of Oswestry Team Tennis, it is a great honour to have been recognised in this way.

"The club started in 2006 in Cae Glas Park with a new facility and only a handful of youngsters.

"Now we have over 200 young people, aged five upwards, using the site on a weekly basis and enjoying much success.

"The club has been able to grow in stature over the years to be self-financing thanks to its skilled and enthusiastic volunteer and coaching workforce.

"We owe so much to Barclays Spaces for Sport and the Football Foundation's financial support and guidance.

"Without them, it would not have been possible for the club to become the go to place in Oswestry for junior tennis, so our sincere thanks go to them for supporting us from the outset."

Barclays Spaces for Sports is the UK's largest ever sports-based corporate social responsibility programme.

Launched in 2004, it saw international bank Barclays partner with the Football Foundation to develop 204 multi-sports sites in disadvantaged communities right across the country.

The investment into the Barclays Spaces for Sports facilities programme in the UK was £67million.

"The sites built as a result play host to more than 30 different kinds of sport and are used by over 88,000 people every week with participation, not sporting excellence, the key ethos."

The Foundation's grant managers have worked with every site to produce a Sustainability Plan. This incorporates a business plan to ensure sufficient revenue to run the site.

This is without having to rely on local authority or any other subsidy and also a sports development plan to ensure the facility is used to its maximum.

Now, more than 75 per cent of the facilities are long-term financially sustainable.

Paulette Cohen, director, Global Programmes at Barclays, said: "Since 2004 Barclays Spaces for Sports has been engaging young people in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the country.

"It is wonderful that Clive, just one of the hundreds of people who help run our facilities, is being recognised for their hard work."

Paul Thorogood, chief executive of The Football Foundation, added: "The Football Foundation has delivered the Barclays Spaces for Sport scheme for the last 11 years.

"During this time, the scheme has developed into the blueprint for how a commercial organisation should engage with a charity to deliver corporate social responsibility programmes.

"However, the programme would not work without the volunteers who manage and run the facilities that have been funded.

"Clive is the embodiment of the many volunteers who work at Barclays Spaces for Sports sites.

"This ensures that their communities have access to quality sports facilities and is thoroughly deserving of the accolade of Community Champion."