Calling all Sport Makers – Active Sussex has a pair of tickets up for grabs for the AEGON International Tennis Tournament in Eastbourne this June.

In partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association, Active Sussex is offering a lucky Sport Maker the opportunity to win two tickets to the AEGON International Tennis Tournament, which takes place 15-22 June.

To win the tickets we are asking you to complete 10 Sport Maker hours specifically through tennis. So dust off those racquets, don some shorts, if you dare, and enjoy the summer season of tennis!

You could head to your local park with your mates and have a game, or help out at your local tennis club. This is your opportunity to make tennis happen at any level, and you could be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize.

How to Enter

Email Gina Rogers at grogers@activesussex.org outlining what you have done to achieve your 10 Sport Maker hours through tennis. It may be that you have already completed a few hours and you need to top up the rest. This is absolutely fine – as long as you complete the full 10 hours you will be eligible to win. Please also include your contact details: full name, email address, postal address (suitable for receiving tickets) and a contact telephone number.

Pictures of you playing tennis are welcome and encouraged! Share your photos on our Sussex Sport Makers Facebook page

For further information on clubs and courts in your area please visit www.lta.org.uk/allplaytennis/ type in your postcode and away you go.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 31 May. You will need to be available on Monday 17 June to attend the tournament.

People across the country are coming together in celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay's one-year anniversary with a unique programme of events and celebrations retracing the journey of the Olympic flame.

Starting on May 19 in Land's End, the Community Games "shine a light" relay will follow the route of last year's Olympic and Paralympic torch relay route across England, ending in the Olympic Park after 70 days of touring.

Believed to be the only organisation mirroring the Olympic torch route one year on, Community Games will choose an outstanding standard brearer in each of 70 locations to represent the 36,000 volunteers who have helped to bring Community Games to life, celebrating the spirit of volunteering inspired by London 2012.

Delivered by the County Sports Partnership Network (CSPN) and the YMCA, the relay will harness the feelgood factor of the Olympics to shine a light on all the fantastic volunteers who have helped bring the legacy of London 2012 to life across the country.

As your local county sports partnership, Active Sussex is looking for an inspirational volunteer to represent the Sussex leg of the relay when it passes through our county on 16 July.

Do you know someone who has done exceptional volunteering work for sport in Sussex? An unsung hero, who gives their time to the community, organising sporting events or helping others get involved? If so, now's your chance to nominate. Please email your suggestions to Gina Rogers on grogers@activesussex.org Don't forget to include an email address for your nominee and a brief explination of why you think they should be the Community Games Relay representative for Sussex.

Closing date for nominations is Friday May 17. 

Lee Mason, Chief Executive of the County Sports Partnership Network, said:

"The County Sports Partnership Network is really looking forward to the Community Games Relay.

It is a great opportunity for people inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic Games to come together to enjoy sport and cultural activities on the day the Community Games Relay passes through their area or at any of the thousands of Community Games events taking place this year.

People involved in Community Games work tirelessly throughout the year to ensure others enjoy sporting and cultural activities in the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, through the programme."

Denise Hatton, Chief Executive of YMCA England, says:

"We are proud of the YMCA's association with Community Games. A significant part of our day-to-day work is dedicated to getting people active and in turn, creating healthy communities.

Through Community Games we have already seen thousands of people – from young children to adults - coming together across the country to engage in these events, including many who perhaps wouldn't have done something like this without the inspiration of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Last year there was more than 1,600 Community Games taking place across England – we hope this year there will be even more."

If you would like to organise a Community Games or to find out when your next event is taking place, log on to www.communitygames.org.uk.

Inmates at HM Prison Lewes will be able to take part in sports sessions and train to become qualified table tennis coaches this summer, thanks to an innovative Sportivate project run jointly by Brighton Table Tennis Club and Active Sussex.

Prisoners who complete one of the two eight-week courses will be supported to train as ETTA Level 1 coaches. On release, those who qualify will be offered the opportunity to work with and mentor young people likely to offend.

Tim Holtam, of Brighton Table Tennis Club, was inspired to set up the scheme after he came across a similar project to use rugby as a tool for rehabilitation at Portland Young Offenders Institute, Dorset.

"When I saw th[ey were using rugby], I knew that table tennis would work brilliantly in a prison setting," said Tim. "Which is how I came to work up this pilot scheme. It's now one of the projects I'm most excited about, and I can't wait to get started on it."

When Holtam and his colleague at BTTC Wen Wei Xu took the idea to Lewes Prison PE Department, it was clear there was a demand. "Getting prisoners qualified as coaches could be hugely beneficial for their life choices," said Holtam. "The knowledge and experience they can channel through sport will help young people at risk of offending on the outside, too. Although this is a small project, it could potentially be a pilot for future expansion."

Championing intervention: Brighton Table Tennis's Wen Wei Xu and Tim Holtam; Wei Xu in action

Using sport to promote health and wellbeing of inmates – as well as contributing to their rehabilitation – is not a new idea. The key, according to Holtam, is what a recent Teesside University study called "multi-modal interventions" that "draw on internal and external partnerships and promote opportunities for ongoing sporting participation" (The role of sport in promoting prisoner health, by Rosie Meek and Gwen Lewis).

The Sportivate project with Brighton Table Tennis Club offers an ideal external partnership. From its inception in 2007, BTTC has had a focus on improving their players' engagement with their communities, reaching beyond the sport to have engage with some of the societal and behavioural issues affecting their players. Through working closely with the Inclusion and Learning Support Unit at Patcham High School, for example, the club targets young people most in need of support, such as those struggling with their education or behaviour. They are set high expectations of self discipline, attitude and time keeping. 

Holtam hopes the new link with Lewes Prison will have a similarly positive impact, allowing young men the opportunity to re-engage with their communities through sport before and after release – forming a bridge of continuity at a vulnerable and testing time for former inmates.

"We are very excited to be able to support the innovative and ground-breaking scheme in Lewes Prison," said Sadie Mason, Chief Executive of Active Sussex. "Sportivate has given thousands of young people the opportunity to try new sports and stay healthy. Here in Sussex we're very pleased to extend this opportunity as a pilot scheme to inmates, helping to build the skills and confidence they need to re-enter their communities."

Brighton Table Tennis Club

Forthcoming Sportivate sessions for 14-25 year olds in Sussex

Evaluation Report of 2nd Chance Rugby Academies at HMYOI Portland

Wakeboarder Lily Mcbride, who coached last year's Sportivate Wakeboarding for Girls at Hove Lagoon Watersports, funded by Active Sussex

Sport England has allocated £24m worth of funding to extend its Sportivate programme. 

The scheme, which will run until 2017, has been designed to help 14- to 25-year-olds to get involved in sports by offering discounted and free sessions in sports ranging from judo and tennis to wakeboarding. It is delivered by the network of 49 county sports partnerships, working with local clubs and providers.

It aims to give young people - who currently aren't playing sport in their own time - the chance to find a sport they like. The young people are then helped to find a club or venue where they can keep taking part. Research shows that most of the young people are sticking with sport three months after they've completed the Sportivate course.

New figures published today show almost 190,000 teenagers and young adults have so far benefitted from free or discounted six- to eight-week sport courses through Sportivate. Of these, 156,547 have successfully completed their coaching course, missing no more than one session.

Sport England chief executive Jennie Price, said: "Sportivate's success is built on listening to what young people want from sport and then giving them great opportunities to get involved.

"With dozens of traditional and non-traditional sports on offer, lots of young people are getting active and discovering a sport they really enjoy and want to keep playing."