I WAS delighted to read that we are to have an indoor tennis and racket sports centre on the St John's College site, Hull Road (August 11).

I was intrigued to read and Andrij Jurkiw, who spoke at the Guildhall meeting, said: "The suggestion that this will produce a master race of tennis players is simply a fallacy." Nobody has ever suggested it would, Mr Jurkiw, so where you got this Alice In Wonderland idea from is anybody's guess.

However, it may just help our young players to become a little bit better; it will provide somewhere to play for older and younger players in winter, rather than playing outdoors from November to March with the wind whistling round your nether regions: it will help the college students; and with some facilities offered free to the local community, it will also assist them.

Mr Jurkiw also asked at the meeting where the people were going to come from to play in the new indoor centre, suggesting that they wouldn't be coming from Tang Hall or nearby areas.

He conveniently forgot to say that people would obviously come from many other parts of York and outlying areas within a radius of 20 or so miles, as they do at indoor centres all over the country.

Finally the new centre should stop local parents having to take children on 60 to 80 mile round trips in order to receive indoor coaching. Is all this wrong Mr Jurkiw? Surely we owe it to the future of sport in the York area to provide such an excellent facility and providing the needs of the Woodlands Respite Care Centre are looked after, as I am confident they will be, then we can look forward to enjoying sport and recreation in comfortable surroundings for years to come.

Martin Durham,

Cherrywood Crescent,

Fulford,

York.