Top tennis coach Judy Murray - mother of international stars Andy and Jamie - dropped into Abergavenny last week to lead a workshop for local women and girls at the Leisure Centre as part of the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) She Rallies initiative.

She Rallies is a commitment to growing tennis from the grassroots up by encouraging more girls to take up the sport.

The workshops are designed to help increase the number of women working in tennis and in turn raise standards of tennis provision across the country and attract and retain women and girls as active participants in the sport.

More than 45 pupils from Abergavenny’s King Henry VIII School and 30 children from local primary schools took part in the afternoon along with 20 local tennis coaches.

Two sessions took place, the first with pupils who participated in a range of fun activities and asked Judy some burning questions.

Local coaches took part in the later session and worked on key skills as well as receiving words of wisdom from Judy on how more women and girls can be encouraged to get involved in tennis.

Chairman of Monmouthshire County Council, Cllr Maureen Powell took part in the warm up session with pupils from local schools.

“It was a pleasure to be invited to the launch of She Rallies. Grass roots sport is such an important way to enable our children, young people and their families to be active,” she said.

“There are so many opportunities to play a range of sports on their doorstep. It was lovely to meet Judy Murray and I thank her for bringing the She Rallies initiative to Monmouthshire.”

The event was organised by local tennis coach Carys Howard-Rees of Abergavenny Tennis Club who is passionate about engaging girls and women in the sport.

For more information about tennis or the She Rallies programme in Monmouthshire contact Paul Sullivan, Sports Development Officer - 07825 853882 – or visit the She Rallies website: www.sherallies.com

Currently, one in five qualified tennis coaches in Wales are women - an imbalance that Judy Murray and the governing body are hoping to address by training regional ‘ambassadors’, targeting LTA-qualified coaches at level 2 and above.

"There’s still a significant gap in terms of players and coaches at all levels of the women’s game. This has to change,” she said.

"She Rallies will create opportunities in tennis for women and girls from the grassroots through to international level."

Carys Howard-Rees is now one of two Welsh ambassadors for the She Rallies initiative, and has been asked to assist Judy on her She Rallies presentation at the national coaches conference in London.