A FLINTSHIRE tennis coach has celebrated a recent award after inspiring thousands to pick up a racket.

Tennis coaching provider, Mike Herd, of Hawarden was a recent finalist for Tennis Wales Coach of the year. The annual Tennis Wales awards have recognised the people and organisations that have contributed most to tennis in Wales during the past year.

The awards ceremony took place at the Voco St Davids Hotel in Cardiff, which was was hosted by popular TV presenter Lewis Vaughan Jones.

Mike and his coaching team have inspired thousands of people in Flintshire to pick up a racket and have had great success in growing the amount of people playing tennis at parks, clubs and schools.

He told the Leader that one of his proudest moments was delivering school tennis tasters to over 2300 children across primary schools in Flintshire.

He said: "As a result, this led to two of the most successful open days in Wales. An amazing 210 children attended an action packed event in Hawarden and a further 190 children attended at Pen-y-ffordd Tennis Club.

"Over 175 children also enrolled with us on a fantastic Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) initiative called Tennis For Kids."