Stoke City secured a hat-trick of Premier League 4 Sport National Tennis Competition titles at the National Tennis Centre on Thursday.
The team of Harrison Lee, Ethan Walker, Rachel Crawshaw and Amy Lees, from Year 9 at Trentham High School, triumphed in Roehampton by beating Newcastle United 3-0 in the final, emulating their Stoke peers in 2014 and 2015.
It was a dominant performance from the Potters team, who were unbeaten in the group stages before beating Portsmouth in the last eight and Swansea City in the semi-finals.
"We knew we could make it three in a row," said Crawshaw. "It did put a bit more pressure on us but we just had to go for it and do our best.
"It's been a great experience to play everyone from all different cities around the country. We don't really get many opportunities like this.
"I have been a Stoke fan since I was little and my dad supports them as well so it feels great to represent them and to win. I am really proud to be a part of it."
Ryan Hallam, the coach who delivers PL4Sport Tennis sessions for Stoke City Community Trust, believes the victory will promote the sport in the local area.
"They will definitely want to join a tennis club now, just to get the thrill of competing again," he said. "It will give them confidence and they will want to tell their friends what they have done, which is fantastic.
"It's brilliant. All these cities and football teams that have come together have showed that people from all over the country love playing tennis."
The event, with teams from 19 Premier League and Football League clubs competing in timed touchtennis matches, gave youngsters from around the country the chance to show what they have learnt in PL4Sport Tennis sessions across the year.
After the event, the teams were invited to the All England Tennis Club, in Wimbledon, to watch the stars in action.
Before then, at Roehampton, the teams met Marcus Willis, the British tennis player who provided one of the stories of this year's Wimbledon when he played Roger Federer in the second round, as well as Graeme Le Saux, a Premier League champion with Blackburn Rovers.
"You speak to so many of the young people here and they talk about never having played before until this initiative came along," Le Saux said. "And suddenly they find themselves with three of their friends and they are here at Roehampton playing in the finals.
"It's important that young people play lots of different sport and it's brilliant that they get access to something like tennis, which has been quite hard to reach in particular areas."
The scheme, run in partnership between the Premier League and British Tennis, was introduced as one of the 12 sports that make up the PL4Sport programme in 2013.
More than 5,600 young people have been engaged since then. Twenty-one Premier League and Football League clubs are involved in the programme, with more than 3,750 sessions delivered.
"We are grateful to the Premier League for our continued partnership, which combines the numerous benefits of playing tennis with an association to the Premier League and the kids’ football club heroes to get thousands of young people engaged in our sport," Rob Dearing, the LTA's Head of Participation, said.
