THE mother of Scottish tennis star Andy Murray was in town last week giving youngsters advice on how to develop their skills in the sport.

Judy Murray visited the Peebles Tennis Club on Friday as part of the Tennis on the Road programme which is taking in towns and cities across the UK.

She was accompanied by Scotland-based coach Kris Soutar who holds the highest LTA coaching qualification, the Master Performance Coach, designed to help players win matches at international level.

The pair spent two days in the Borders, puttimg on coaching sessions in both Galashiels and Peebles.

Judy and her coaching team are aiming to give parents, coaches, teachers and volunteers the tools needed to get youngsters active and to help further kick-start and develop tennis in Scotland.

The roadshow is being supported by the Royal Bank of Scotland which will also help develop more ways to grow the programme and share it with as many children and families as possible.

In a series of individual sessions, local children were able to experience some of the games that Judy played with her sons Andy and Jamie when they were younger. Cost is often seen as a barrier to children pursuing tennis, but the imaginative training drills Judy and Kris have come up with utilise low cost items such as balloons, bean bags and hoops for directional targets “When my kids were small, their first court was knocking balloons across the sofa in the livingroom. And then sticking two chairs and as piece of rope in the drive, and having a sponge ball and a little plastic bat. Or they played swingball in the garden,” explained Judy. “There are plenty of ways you can get started without necessarily having a tennis court. As you get older, you might need better equipment and facilities. But all the skills that you need to play tennis, you can pick up in small spaces or at home.” The weather was kind for the Peebles visit and the participants thoroughly enjoyed the visit.