The UK’s longest-running LGBTQ+ tennis group is approaching its 50th anniversary and looking to welcome even more diversity in the coming years.
The ACE Players Tennis Croydon group is already age-inclusive, with the youngest player in his 20s and several still championing the sport into their 60s.
Leigh Armstrong, member since 1984, convenes the Sunday sessions and is looking toward the future of the group.
Youngest member Luke, 29, joined the tennis group in November 2022, having previously not known any other LGBTQ+ people.
Luke said: “Hearing from other people, you realise how lucky we are nowadays to be able to come out at work and to come out in sport. The group has helped me a lot.”
Luke expressed how much the group taught him about LGBTQ+ history in Britain, something he had limited knowledge of before joining.
ACE Players Tennis Croydon, formed in 1977, was set up by the Croydon Area Gay Society.
It is the community’s need for safe spaces that inspired Armstrong to widen the net, appealing for more young people and more women to come and play tennis.
The group is for tennis, but the players support each other both on and off the courts, with this foundation of friendship and camaraderie being the most integral ingredient to sustaining the sessions for so many years.
ACE Players Croydon meet on Sundays at Shirley Park Lawn Tennis Club.
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