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Do you want to live longer? – Take up Tennis

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:00

Did you know that people practicing Tennis have been found to increase their life expectancy by as much as nearly 10 years?

Over a period of 25 years, from the early 1990s to 2017, researchers from the Copenhagen City Heart Study looked into the link between practicing different sports and overall life expectancy. And tennis came out well ahead of other sports with 9.7 years’ increased life expectancy. 3.5 years behind comes badminton in second place with 6.2 years and football with 4.7 years.

Different sports come in at the following places. And interestingly, the more social sports rank higher in the study, and the more individual sports lower (such as health centres coming in at 1.5 years), suggesting that it is not only the physical activity but possibly also the social aspects of the sport. It is mightily difficult to play tennis with yourself.

We already know that practicing sport and physical activity, whether it is playing tennis or football, practicing triathlon or marathon, or walking the dog or doing gardening is healthy for us and will improve our quality of life as well as our physical health. We now know that it can also help is live better, for longer. And Tennis is taking the lead.

Should you like to take a stab at tennis, then there are plenty of opportunities to take it up in and around Oxford. Check Tennis Oxfordshire’s webpage for options. But also, you don’t need to go very far. We have our local tennis club, Horton-Cum-Studley Tennis Club. The next season starts on 1 April 2024, offering 1-year memberships for children, adults, and families with some of the lowest membership fees in the county.

Over the past year, including during winter, the club as kept active with lots of coaching happening thanks to Christina Russell’s support and diligent organisation and to our head coach, one of Oxfordshire’s best accredited coaches, Bart Wisniewski and his team. Anyone from 6 to 106 years old have been able to find a coaching offer. And going forward, we will continue to strive to have coaching opportunities to address most needs.

Also, in the next season, we will start doing “pop-up club hours” where members can come over to the courts and meet others for a fun game of tennis. Since these are driven by volunteers and subject to availability, they will be published through email to members, in WhatsApp groups and through our facebook page.

To learn more about Horton-cum-Studley Tennis Club: