FORMER Totally Tennis performance player and tennis assistant Dan Webb has been helping to break down racial barriers in war-torn Israel.

The 18-year-old from Brookvale, in Basingstoke, has spent the last four months coaching tennis within a project that is using sport to try to help build links between Arab and Jewish children.

Webb was based in a small village just north of Tiberias, in northern Israel, sharing very basic accommodation with an English project worker and his family.

As part of his work, Webb ran a sports class once a week in Tiberias and also taught 20 children aged between eight and 12 at a school in the village once a week.

His diverse work in Israel ranged from working in a Hebrew nursery to teaching tennis in PE lessons at a school for delinquent youths between the ages of 16 and 20.

Another project was to set up and run a youth group for international kids in the area one evening a week.

Webb and his host also made a terrifying weekly trip across the West Bank to teach children of different nationalities at the Anglican International School in Jerusalem.

Children there included American, Japanese, German, English, Ethiopian and Palestinian as well as Israeli.

He also ventured into the Armenian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem to coach a group of 20 children aged from three to 14.

One of the highlights of the trip was an invitation to be a guest of the president of the Israeli Tennis Association at the annual Israeli appreciation tournament and dinner, where many top Israeli players competed.

Webb also visited the Institute of Top Sporting Talent, the country's only sporting academy.

Webb, who worked at Totally Tennis to raise money for his trip, received a £250 boost to his trip funding from Queen Mary's College, where he has just completed his A-levels.

He had to pay his own flights, insurance and living costs.

He said: "I feel honoured and privileged to have made the trip to Israel and worked with all the people that I met.

"The people of Israel have amazing spirit."

Back in the UK, Webb is coaching again, assisting in the Easter activity days at Totally Tennis, before flying off to America for a well-deserved holiday.

Later in the year, he takes up a degree place to study geography at Royal Holloway University, London.