Well done Alice!! Great job in finishing runner up in Hamptons today, getting her first tennis trophy...👊👊👊

Congratulations to Sonny winning in Hamptons today, crappy conditions, with the rain and gusty wind, tough day but still got the job done!!!👊👊👊

Sonny just missed out in the knockout phase in his maiden Grade 3 tournament which was in Bromley, he won 3 out 4 matches and the match he loss was so close..Well done Sonny!!!👊👊👊

Great wins for Jorja at the weekend (18.10.2020), she's continued her winning streak, winning both her matches and producing some of her best tennis performances in the European Tennis Union Championship League 2020 (her dad was truly entertained) as a parent and coach this all I ever ask of my own kids the winning is a bonus 👊👊👊

Jorja was in action at the weekend playing her next round match in the European Tennis Union Champions League 2020 - National Finals. She won her match 6-2 6-4. It's just great seeing her out there competing again. Well done Jorja 👊

After the lockdown the LTA final get tournaments going something a lot of the competing players have been missing
The lockdown has also given me time to reflect and one thing I realized is that life is short one we only have one go at so being happy is something I want to be able to feel as much as possible.
So with that in mind I decided to part ways with Mountnessing Tennis Club, I will always be grateful for the support of the commitee but I think my time at the club had reached the end of a great journey, during my time their I managed to help get the club back to life, attracting new members and helped get a performance junior program running. We were champions in various LTA Team Tennis Divisions, produced good competing junior tennis players. I can only wish the continued success and the very best in the future.
When one journey ends and other one begins, Love2Play Tennis have joined forces with Aspire Tennis Academy to form a great club in Brentwood Hard Tennis Club. Together we are developing players that can play at a very high level, the club is continuing to grow and attract players of all levels, I am very excited and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and working alongside the Aspire Team in what could be a very strong and fruitful partnership.

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The current situation of the world has put my life and probably many others into prospective, the nationwide quarentine has allowed me to spend some quality time with my family, the time we spent together showed me just how little we do spend time together as a family because we are always on the go with our jobs, this pandemic just made us all STOP and realise that time flies.
The lockdown has also given me time to reflect and one thing I realized is that life is short one we only have one go at so being happy is something I want to be able to feel as much as possible.
So with that in mind I decided to part ways with Mountnessing Tennis Club, I will always be grateful for the support of the commitee but I think my time at the club had reached the end of a great journey, during my time their I managed to help get the club back to life, attracting new members and helped get a performance junior program running. We were champions in various LTA Team Tennis Divisions, produced good competing junior tennis players. I can only wish the continued success and the very best in the future.
When one journey ends and other one begins, Love2Play Tennis have joined forces with Aspire Tennis Academy to form a great club in Brentwood Hard Tennis Club. Together we are developing players that can play at a very high level, the club is continuing to grow and attract players of all levels, I am very excited and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and working alongside the Aspire Team in what could be a very strong and fruitful partnership.

First match of the season and I fill my head with music to distract myself from the nerves. The team arrives at Limestone College, which is 2 hours away from Catawba. The weather wasn’t the best conditions for tennis. It was windy and towards the end of the hour-long team practice it started to lightly snow. To add on top of all those external factors in make it a difficult day for a tennis match, I had been suffering from a two-week groin injury.
Before doubles started, I got an athletic trainer to wrap my groin, which lessens the pain when moving and when landing on the injured leg. Doubles begin and I am the first to serve, I can feel my nerves as I make contact with my first serve that lands in the net. The slowest serve I have ever hit!, I take a deep breath and lower my shoulders, hit my second serve. which I thank god goes in While battling the nerves, me and Liv (my doubles partner) are also trying to fight off the wind. The tough conditions were making it very difficult to trust the ball will go in the direction we where intending. Despite all the issues we were able to fight through and get the first win of the day.
Our second doubles pair were also able to win their match in an intense tie-break, giving us the doubles point victory, the NCAA rule here is that winning both doubles matches wins you the 1 point hence why doubles plays a key role into winning or losing a fixture. All we now needed is a minimum of 3 wins from the singles to win the tie.
Once all the doubles had finished, the coaches flipped a coin to decide what numbers in the line up will play first 1,3,5 or 2,4,6. The result was 1,3,5 seeds will play first and since I was playing at 6 due to injury I was scheduled as the last court on. By the time I got on court the overall score stood at 3-3 , Liv our no.5 was already in the middle of the first set of her singles match as I walked on court to start mine.
Before I went on court, I could feel my nerves come on. I had gotten some good advice he said ‘just breathe and ignore them, nerves will come on no matter what. just push them away and they will go once you get in the zone.’ This is the advice that got me through the first 2 games. The weather was still a big factor in the match and made it very difficult to trust that the ball will be where I want it to go everytime I struck it. During the match, my opponent’s coach came on to the court to give her advice during the change of ends. From what I could tell he had told her to drop shot me and get me moving. With my leg being heavily strapped, it made it very obvious that I wasn’t physically 100%. The first drop shot my opponent played, I held back and didn’t even attempt to chase it but when I saw how bad of a drop shot it was, I told myself I could have made it! So, after that every drop shot, she gave me I ran for, not thinking much about how it would affect my injury. I was able to pull through the match 6-1, 6-0.
Once the match had finished, my leg that was trying to pretend it was completely fine, was now limping and throbbing as I made my way to the net to shake my oppponents hand. Since I finished my match before Liv, my match was the one that clinched the overall win! It was a great way to start the season, and although I need to get my groin to 100% again, I am feeling very hopefully for the rest of the season to come.

The first Grandslam of the year has come and gone and what a great first slam it was...The women's final consisted of 2 unseeded women Kenin vs Muguruza. Through the rounds for me Muguruza looked unbeatable with her aggressive groundstroke game, enroute to the final she disposed of the former world no.1 Halep in a very good well fought tight 2 sets match.
Sofia Kenin was the big surprise for me, she's someone who posses no true weapons, beating the up and coming young Gauff enroute to the final. Sofia Kenin went on to win her first major and become the womens Aussie Open Champion 2020 in 3 sets how?? well in my opinion her greatest weapon is what's sitting between her ears, Kenin mentally is so strong, she never gives up and is court smart, she maximizes everything she has and constantly finds away to solve problems . Congrats to Kenin her team for an amazing job.

Men's final - Will the true NextGen please stand up!!! There has been so much talk about the next generation of men's players, the likes of Zverve, Auger-Aliassime, Berrettini, Shapovalov and a few others who we are all hoping to take up the mantle from the top 3. In the final I think we finally saw a young player willing to take on these top guys and goes by the name of Mr. Dominic Theim!!
For me he will be the player of my choice once Federer retires. I just love the style of his game, it's aggressive and so entertaining to watch. Something I've always said about him is, if he can find the right balance between aggressive and calm play he will win majors. His consistency level has improved massively, he posses a huge forehand weapon (arguably the best forehand in the men's game at the moment) with a backhand to die for, the man has everything needed to win the biggest prizes in tennis. Djoko as always is relentless, never misses, he just wears you down physically and mentally. After the 3rd set where he looked down and out he just started to work Theim out and this is where the champions are separated from the 'mediocre', their mental toughness are just a cut above the rest, like in many other occasions in his lustrous career he seems to just fight and find a way, he went on to become the men's Aussie Open champion for the 8th time winning in 5 great sets. Although it hurts me to say this out loud, he is more likely to be the man to surpass Roger Federer in winning the most Grandslam's in the open era. Well done Djoko and team...role on tennis 2020 we have exciting times ahead of us in both the men's and women's game.

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Rosie does it again with another finalist finish, the Gosling field was a very tough one with a few nationals players in the drawer. Rosie was down 3-0 in the first set but fought back and lost it 10-8 in the tie-break, in the second set Rosie led 0-3 but then lost in the tie-break 4-7. The final was against a national player known to win a lot it so even though Rosie lost it just shows she can definitely mix agains the best!

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Well done to Izzy who played her first 16U competition, she was up against girls who were a couple of yours older and were bigger, she did very well to finish runner up in the consolation final.

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Sonny made his first final in 2020 it was a big tournament with 40 players in the draw and a lot of the top boys made up the field so finishing runner up was a great achievement. Although he lost in the final there was so much positive stuff to take away from this tournament, he played using a lot of the technical and tactical stuff we'd been working on during training. Flo was also in the tournament she had a tough draw with mainly boys in her group, she beat all the girls in her group but the boys proved to strong this time around. As with Sonny Flo also had a lot to of positives to take away from the tournament and technically is looking better and better with each passing tournament and had a lot of positive comments from parents which is always nice!!! Well done both of you.👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
In other player news Flo and Sonny continued their county training and continue to prove their selection, Rosie started her county training this weekend so something for us all to be proud off knowing our kids are being recognised for their hard work....

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Jasmine & Poppy played well to win the home fixture 2-1, it was Poppy's first competitive match and was great to see her and Jasmine team up well to win the doubles. Jasmine went on to win her singles rubber and Poppy fought well but lost hers but it was a great start for her first competitive tennis match. Well done to both of you!!!👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

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Nolan fully geared up to train in the cold today, it was a frosty start to the morning but that wasn't going to stop me or Nolan from our 8AM start 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻. Once we got going we both agreed it is definitely better than playing in the wind and rain, the sun did eventually come out but boy was it cold!!

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Beginners Group (Tues: 18.30 - 19:30): 21.01.2020 - 11.02.2020 (4 weeks)
Beginners Group (Sat: 11.00 - 12.00): 11.01.2020 - 15.02.2020 (6 weeks)
12U Full Ball Match Play (Wed: 19:30 - 20:30): NOT RUNNING TILL FURTHER NOTICE
10U/12U Technical Clinic (Fri: 18:00 - 19:00): PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOW A 1 HR SESSION 17.01.2020 - 14.02.2020 (5 weeks)
Full Ball Group (Wed: 18:00 - 19:30): 15.01.2020 - 12.02.2020 (5 weeks)
Fitness Group (Thur: 17:30 - 18:30): 09.01.2020 - 13.02.2020 (6 weeks)

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Rosie makes her first 2020 final, she's now had 4 back to back finals, as frustrating as it is finishing runner up getting herself into finals after finals just means it will just be a matter of time before back to back championship wins!!! Congratulations Roise keep pushing kid...👊👊👊
Flo and Sonny start County Training both are in the final stages of Essex County Team selection, it's a 5 week training program and both had a positive start and enjoyed the first week of intense training. Good luck to you both, I don't care what happens as long as you can walk out of those session knowing you tried your best and had fun it doesn't matter to me whether you get chosen for the team or not.

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Strong 2019 finish for Rosie, played a fantastic tournament in Welwyn Garden tennis club, winning her box comfortably but not because the players were below her standard it was just great tennis from her. The final was a tough loss because Rosie had so many opportunities but made too many errors, although the final was lost there was so much positive tennis to take away. Well done! Coach 👊

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Sonny getting more match play experience before the final rounds of Essex 8U trials, playing some great tennis and trying to playing more aggressive during matches just like what he does during training, that will only come through experience and playing more.

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Rosie has now made back-to-back Grade 3 finals both linking tournaments, this last tournament was in Bromley, she tried everything in the match and mixed up her game. It was a fantastic final and very little difference to seperate the two finalist. I know it's only a matter of time, Rosie you will get to Nationals. Well done 👊

In other player News Jorja was also in Bromley play the Grade 4, she unfortunately lost in the first round but was up a set and only lost it in the championship tie-break. She went on to play the consolation draw and won it!
Flo was in also in action after being shortlisted for the 8U Essex County Team, Flo has been getting more matchplay experience. She has started her journey on the mini Orange Ball and already looking comforable in the bigger court, winning a couple of her matches. Keep training hard Flo and you will have a great 2020!

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Congratulations to Sonny who continues to play good tennis, after successfully making the last 12 players for Essex 8U County Team he has continued to train hard and get great results. Runner up in Chingord was a fantastic result only losing to a player who also made it to the Essex Team and has plenty more match experience. Well done Sonny! 👊

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Congratulations to Rosie who was crowned champion in Gosling, it was a well earned win as she had to fight from 0-3 down in two matches but she fought back in both matches to win in the championship tie-break. The tournament was a linkiing tournament to a Grade 3 in the National Tennis Center in Roehampton, she is guranteed a main draw entry so she at least now has a guranteed G3 tournament during December. Well done Rosie!! 👊

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Congratulations to Jasmine & Yvette winning their 2nd fixture in the Winter Team Tennis League, both players won their singles match and also won the double rubber. Well done girls!! 👊

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Tinsel Tennis Tournament 2019 Hi all, We have a fun American-style tournament planned for Saturday 14th Dec after cardio, starting at 10:30am so get it in your diary. It's open to all and I would love to see as many of you there as possible. £5 to enter with prizes including some good wine and tennis lessons. There will be drinks and nibbles on the day too.
Seb
Note the American-style tournament is open to all full ball players so please let me or Seb know if you wish to enter.
I will also consider running a junior tournament so if you are interested in entering please let me know so I can look at the numbers and work out which age groups I can run. Thanks All.

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Flo & Sonny both worked hard during each stage of the 8U Essex Trials, both had to get through 2 days of the selection process. Day 1 was a skills test, it tested their technical tennis ability, fitness, agility and coordination. Day 2 was match play, this wasn't just about trying to win matches it was seeing how they conducted themselves during a match, how they dealt with certain situations for example if they were in a losing situation will they give up or fight back and things like how they handle loses.
Both will now train with the others who made the final cut and fight for 6 places to represent Essex in the up and coming county events next year. Well done both of you, you should be proud of yourselves no matter what happens from here on. Good luck! #ProudCoach!

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Rosie had her first taste of The 12 Counties event, the event is traditionally held in Corby and it's a huge event to be selected for, one Rosie should be very proud off. Essex were drawn against Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire all very strong tennis counties.
Rosie was selected to play as the no.4 seed and she did a fantastic job in winning all her matches so she did her bit for the team, it was a great experience and also showed her selection was the right one. Well done Rosie, well done Team Essex!

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Courts 1&2 finally finished 👏 both courts are usable again and not only do they look great they play so much better now and we have the added bonus of not walking off court with dirty sandy socks and trainers. Coach Seb has kindly provided mats so please use them before walking on court so we can minimize the dirt getting on them.
AGM Meeting this Thursday (21.11.19) its your club so if you want to have a say in anything regarding the state and running of the club please come to the meeting, meeting starts at 8PM hope to see some of you there.
Membership Update I've been sent an updated list of current memberships, I'm not going to name and shame but please if you haven't already done so download the forms and renew your membership, your memberships help keep the club running and gives us a base to train.There is a winter membership available so if you need information regarding that please come and speak to me.
Finally it's been said before but I guess it needs to be said again, if you have a tea, a coffee or any beverage can you please wash your mugs, cups or anything you've used, we have no cleaner so we are responsible for anything and everything we use, it will also be a nice gesture to donate some money towards topping up supplies, one last thing if you switch the heaters or lights ON please don't forget to turn them OFF before you leave the club we simply have got to treat the club like our second home. Thank you!

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Rosie was in action again at the weekend, she's out to try and get a few G1 wins to move her closer to a G1* rating, as well getting a couple of wins she did a great job going all the way to final. Rosie is having a great winter season so far so well done Rosie 👏

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The cleaning of courts 1&2 is progressing well although very slowly. Kevin who is the doing the work on the courts has said that the courts were a lot dirtier than he expected hence the delay in completing the courts, he estimates the courts to be completed by Wed 13th Nov the latest let's cross our fingers and hope he doesn't come across anymore problems. I know it's but over 2 weeks but I think the wait will be worth it once they are completed, they are looking so much better already.... onwards and upwards 👍

***UPDATE*** Spoke to Kevin yesterday and he said the courts will be ready for use this Fri 15th Nov.

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Great seeing Federer live again against mostly likely the player I will follow once the great man decides to hang his rackets. Thiem won the match in straight sets but they were 2 closely contested sets.
Federer is probably going to find it very difficult to get out of the round robin stage especially with Djoko being in the same group. No matter it was a great night with my family minus my daughter and the Quirks. 👍

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Rosie needed to start strong in the regional tournament in Bromley because she was drawn against the No.1 seed in the first round who Rosie lost to in 3 sets in her previous tournament. Today she managed to turn the result around and beat her opponent in straight sets. Rosie ploughed through the field in the following rounds and earned her spot in the final. In the final Rosie fought well but the experience and power of her opponent was just too much for her today, she fought a good match and definitely made it difficult for her opponent. The winner received an automatic main draw entry to the national tournament in Sunderland as it was a linking tour. A runner up finishes in a G3 is still a great result.

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Better start packing those gloves, and woolly hats into your tennis bag and add a few more layers to your clothing because the temperatures are starting to fall. Guys we're familar with winter training so its nothing new to us but its knowing when to start preparing is the problem, so make sure you guys are ready. #hardcoretennisplayer 👊

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Leo produced some great tennis throughout the tournament and in the process got himself 3 straight ratings wins. The final was a good one, one that he could definitely have won but Leo (at the moment) just can't seem to see balls that are just clearly OUT!! as a supporter and his father its frustrating to watch because it robs himself of the opportunity to win games and in turn matches and tournaments his opponent on the other hand called balls out that landed very close to the lines and that could simply make the difference between winning and losing. I guess its neither players fault it would be great to maybe have these finals played with umpires which then just leaves these young players the freedom to simply play. Overall it was another fantastic tournament for Leo, as usual very entertaining.

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For those of you who play tournaments around Essex you will no doubt be familiar with Ian & Leslie, a couple who for many years do a great job in arranging tournaments for our kids, sadly yesterday Leslie told me that her husband Ian passed away last week, I'm sure you will all join me in passing on our love, prayers and deepest condolences to Leslie.
Ian was a great man he always had time for me and always had positive things to say about the kids I coach...Ian you've become a great friend and I thank you for all those kind words and advice you've given me, whether you know it or not your words helped me build self confidence as a coach, I will miss you old friend may you rest in peace. To Leslie I know the coming days will be tough and there are no words that can be said to help ease your pain but know you have friend's and family that are here for you ♥️♥️♥️.

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Leo & Layne finished strong in the Woodford Wells Regional Tournament. Both boys finished as quarter finalist in the 16U singles category. They had a great tournament so it was nice for both of them to partner up and finish as runners up, to think it was only their 2nd tpurnament together as doubles partners , the run up to the finals was tough with 16 teams in the field so this was a massive achievement.

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Other News

All Groups Sessions have now completed for this term, new term dates will be up by the end of next week. Please note the current holiday term varies from school to school this year which has caused all sorts of confusion with the tennis group dates so be sure to keep an eye on new dates when they are posted. Remember for all those who have weekday 121 sessions they will NOT run, you MUST book individual sessions during holidays, weekend sessions are normal so if you are away please let me know and cancel ASAP or you will be charged for not turning up.
Court Cleaning some of you may have noticed the water tanks on court 1&2 recently, there is a planned court clean for both those courts from the 30th Oct which will affect sessions as we will be limited for courts, the cleaning should take about a week.
Finally a reminder UK clocks go back on the 27th October so please don't forget to reset your clocks.

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To Coaches,   Can I start by thanking all of you for sending out the Essex u8s trials flyer. We have had a fantastic response this is due to all of you sending the flyer out to your mini red players.
We have just been informed by the LTA that they have changed the age bracket for the county event.
So to fall in line with the LTA age group bracket for mini red players. Please may I ask you all to resend out to ALL your mini red players including the players born on APRIL 1st 2011 or after.
Please could you say in your email out to them the flyer age cut off is wrong.
Thanks again for all your help and support and apologise for having to send this out again.
Kind regards,
Nigel Parsons
Essex Tennis
Performance Liaison Comps Officer

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Leo had a great match a match full of amazing shots and utterly entertaining. Leo was rated a lot lower than his Q4 opponent but he had full control of the match he was a setup and 4-3 up with a break in the 2nd but for some reason he lost concentration and lost the 2nd set and the championship tie-break where he was leading 8-5. The mental game is a key part to finishing matches off and it's all part of the whole learning process.

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Rosie had a great training session with fed cup player 'Lenka Wienerova', Lenka was part of the Slovakian Fed Team that consisted of Dominica Cibulkova and Magdalena Rybarikova. Always great to learn and get some insight from experienced tour pros.

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Leo was looking good today winning his first 2 matches in straight sets which included him taking out the no.3 seed. But it was in this match he sustained an injury falling after chasing down a wide ball but he came over his ankle as he tried to slide for the ball. I have to say thank you to Paul who instinctively ran quicky onto the court to attend to his wounds. At this point Leo was up 5-2 he was asked whether he wanted to retire but he soldiered on and took the set and match 64 63. We'll see how he is in the morning lets hope he'll recover as a quarter final of a grade 3 awaits.
Quickly mention Sonny and Flo who today were both in action Sonny finished in the final of the match play in Redbridge and Flo winning 1 match and losing 4 all part of gaining match experience.

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Charisma finally gets her first team win, Team Catawba have had a couple of preparation matches and Charisma has been struggling to get her first win in competition. Yesterday she finally broke that 'duck' and won her first match in 3 sets. She was cramping in the 3rd set but she was determined to win, her college coaches words... 'I'm so proud of you, you chased every ball down and never gave up!'. It could easily have been a straight set victory for Charisma but a controversial/dispute over the score in the second set caused her to lose focus and as a result lost the 2nd set.

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Proud of my wife (Irene) who continues to run to support CHIPs Charity. Today she completed a half marathon in the Royal Parks event which today was held in Hyde Park. Irene was 1 of 14,800 runners so it was a big turnout. Despite a blister in her foot that caused her discomfort from mile 3 she continued and completed the race in 2hrs 27mins . To date Irene and her team of Genting Casino runners have managed to raise over £225,000 which has aided in changing the lives of over 30 disabled children.👏👏👏 Thank you to everyone who continues to support her and her Team!!!

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Well done to Rosie today just falling short of being a champion in a Grade 4 (G4) tournament in Sutton Academy. Rosie won the first set 4-2 in the final, but lost momentum after a long break from her opponent. Unfortunately a long break is not against the rules Rosie just needed to find a way to stay warm and focused, the match was lost in the championship tie-break. Regardless of the long break both girls played at a high level both matching each other shot for shot, both possed a varity of shots, slices, drop shots, volleys and aggressive groundstrokes a fantastic recipe for a great match and both gilrs did not fail to deliver.

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Brilliant start to Green ball match play for Sai playing in a school team fixture, Sai did his bit for Team New Hall, winning both his singles match and doubles. As well as winning his singles match in straight sets him and doubles partner also won in straight sets, despite the challenging weather today a great day for Sai and the New Hall team.

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Congratulations to Tim in getting great GCSE results - I have often said that coaching goes beyond teaching a child just how to hit a ball, I truly believe it also teaches life skills and most if not all my students know what I mean when I say this....Tim I just want you to know I am very proud of you and wish you all the best in your bright future. See below Tim's mum's testimonial which I am very grateful for.

Hi Chris , Just to let you know Tim got on well with his GCSE results .He got 3 Grades 9s (A*) 2 grade 8s(A) grade 7s (A) and one grade 6(B) He was most pleased with his 9s in Mathematics and Science . He will be doing Mathematics , Economics and French for his A levels . Thanks so much for the Foundation you provided with his Tennis lessons. He enjoyed his lessons with you as you made them fun and inspiring . I strongly believe his positive experience with you has helped shaped who he has become so thanks very much . Also i believe Learning Tennis ,(Extracurricular activities in general )helped stimulate His thinking and attitude in a positive way .He did find Tennis challenging as he hated to lose 😮Too Competitive,but I believe he has Definitely learnt some life lessons from his Experience. So keep up the good work as you continue to inspire the young ones and lead them on a positive path . Fola

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This was our view during Tahlia's afternoon session today, it's been a tough week of sessions because the weather has been awful which I guess is to be expected with the winter season kicking in, so let's enjoy and be grateful when we get these winter sunny days.👊👊👊

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For the past two weeks I have been training with Barcelona Total Tennis (BTT), in Sant Cugat. To start with the tennis level is unbelievably high, with many top 300 ATP and WTA players training in our sessions. It was an unbelievable experience to work with the top Spanish coaches but was especially great to work with the Nadal’s current traveling coach (Francis Roig). Nadal’s coach was very intense, it was ball after ball after ball and non-stop feeding, similar to the way Chris coaches! Of all the things that he taught me, there was one thing that stuck out in my mind when it comes to my own tennis game and also another for my coaching! For my own game, the qoute that stuck out for me was ‘the idea of tennis is not to win points from a winner, but to try and hurt the opponent as much as possible with minimal risk.’ I think there is a lot to learn from that qoute for all young tennis players. For my coaching, the qoute that is stuck in my head is ‘if there are not 100 balls at the back of the court every ten minutes, its most likely been a wasted session!’ This again matches the way Chris has been coaching me since I started with him, and honestly my improvement has been faster since working that way than it has been with any other coach.

The training was brutal, everyday was an 8:30 start and would finish at 6:30! 4 hours of court time per day and 2 hours of fitness! Like I said earlier, 80% of these sessions were movement based hand fed drills. It was tough to get used to this sudden exercise increase but it did feel great to work that hard. The coaches had no slack on hard work and would not accept anything but professionalism. The standard of junior players was higher than I had ever seen! All juniors, from 4-11 were training with yellow balls. All players would turn up 30 minutes early for a thorough warm up. All players were professional on court and off, yet not one of them seemed to not be enjoying it. It made me realise that if a child is trained from a young age that hard work is key and that it is the only thing that will enable them to gain their full potential, they will in turn gain their enjoyment from hard work and also enjoy a more successful tennis career. This trip was done through the AASE scheme which is a government funded LTA qualification! Feel free to ask me about the scheme if you are interested in finding out more. I’ve learnt a lot from this trip and can not wait to implement it into my own tennis and my coaching.

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