1. What drew you to coaching tennis?
Tennis is a passion of mine and something I find fun rather than work. I have always enjoyed sharing this joy with my students and helping them develop as a player and person. Also, seeing the excitement on players' faces when you coach and interact with them is huge! Whether they're laughing or keen on the new thing they have just learned, it happens every day and makes both of us happy.
2. What will your role include as a TENCO Touring Tennis Professional for Cliff Drysdale Tennis?
As a Touring Professional, I will be traveling around the USA teaching special events, experiences and camps, such as Doubles Boot Camps, Tennis & Wine Weekends, Ladies Retreats plus many more. TENCO runs these all around the country at many wonderful venues. What is really unique about our camps is that we always try to have a 4:1 player-to-coach ratio which gives even more opportunities for personalized coaching and feedback on court.
3. Favorite class or event to teach?
I haven’t fully been able to go to all the events yet but I’m really looking forward to the Tennis with the Stars at Indian Wells. We will have a celebrity pro exhibition, a week of on-court instruction and several trips with the campers to the tournament. It’ll be such a unique experience.
4. What unique coaching perspectives do you think you will bring to the US?
In the UK we are trained by the LTA, Lawn Tennis Association, which is one of the most respected coaching providers in the world. Why? Because our courses are thorough in what we teach, from how to feed correctly to the content to interactions with players. Personally, I have an LTA Level 3 certificate in coaching tennis. This is a 15-day course across 5 months and with only a few successful candidates passing. This course is brilliant because it even goes into depth on the business side of tennis too, not just on court coaching techniques, tactics, and human psychology.
On a more personal note, I also believe I am very enthusiastic and open-minded when it comes to teaching, which I believe will create an excellent experience for players and campers!
5. What experience do you have that you can bring to the USA?
At 15-16 I had great experience of being an assistant coach to a really successful program. This consisted of individual and group coaching.
After that point I moved on to become a Head Coach of a small three-court club that was local to me as I finished my studies. I grew this program from the start up to a database of over 500 kids. Every year, of the 3 years, our program grew. We ran multiple programs across my time there with some special events along the way, such as a Halloween event or Bonfire Night event.
In late 2020 I joined one of the largest coaching providers in the UK that was growing exponentially - currently they have 70+ clubs that they teach at. I was the Head/Lead Coach at 5 venues across Merseyside and had many players attend weekly lessons at our clubs. We worked with the LFC Foundation to deliver tennis in schools which was pretty cool as it always great to see kids enjoying tennis. On average I personally taught over 400 kids per week across all our schemes.
6. Which tennis star were you often related to when you were younger?
Gael Monfils. I was always a bit of a showboater when I was playing…I’d always go for the fancy shot and loved being up at the net. I liked to perform in front of a crowd so was always a bit of a character. This has already paid off well during our events' Pro Exhibitions that are always fun to play in.
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