A novel structural member, such as a tennis racket frame, having an unusually high strength to weight ratio is provided comprising an expanded foamed plastic core integrally bonded to a shell comprising at least one layer of resin-coated unidirectionally oriented graphite fibers, the shell completely encasing the core at any transverse cross section of the structural member with a veiling strip wrapped around said core beneath the innermost or beyond the outermost of the graphite fiber layers, or both.The structural member is prepared by wrapping a veiling strip around a core strip comprising a foamable resin composition at least once around, wrapping at least one layer of resin-coated unidirectionally oriented graphite fibers about said veiling wrapped core with a starting edge of said graphite fiber layer below the outermost edge of said veiling strip, wrapping a second veiling strip about the outermost of said graphite layers with a starting edge of said last-named strip below the outermost edge of said last-named graphite layer, placing said wrapped core strip within a mold cavity, sealing the mold cavity and activating the foamable resin composition to cause expansion and generate pressure within the mold cavity and thereby provide intimate bonding of the core to the shell.