Tennis in Surrey 2014

programmes
Girls tennis thrives at Prior’s
Field School Tennis Academy
Prior’s Field is a boarding and day
school for girls aged 11-18 and is
working to change the downward
trend of girls playing tennis in
Britain and help to produce our
next top players. The school runs
a Tennis Academy with Orbit
Tennis, providing an on-site, daily
programme of tailored coaching,
fitness and sports physiology,
integrated with each player’s
academic timetable. The Academy
is showing great signs of success.
During the summer of 2014 Prior’s
Field pupils, including Isabella
Tarrant, Jazzy Williams, Alice O
Hagan, Rebecca Haynes, Eliza Austin
and Emma White, were Surrey
U13 league winners and runners
up in the Aegon Schools’ county
tournament.
The school has recently started
working Premier Tennis to aid in
the development of the Academy.
James Auckland is the Director of
Tennis for Premier, where he designs
and oversees a variety of coaching
programmes and takes responsibility
for coach development and training.
A former professional tennis player,
James was British No. 1 doubles
player (2005-07), reaching the last 16
of the Wimbledon men’s doubles
championships.
Recent successes of the academy
include Daisy Phillips winning the
St George’s Hill 14U this summer.
Daisy is currently a 4.2 rating and
ranked 71 in the country. As well as
the St Georges win, she was runner
up at Esher and Winchester. Daisy, is
one of many girls that is benefiting
from the programme delivered at
Priors Field. In their programme
each member of the Academy has
a proportion of school fees ringfenced
for their individual tennis
requirements, creating a flexible
approach to each girl’s tennis and
fitness programme.
Over 120 pupils outside the
Academy also take tennis lessons,
benefiting from the school’s six
courts and well-provisioned gym.
It also hosts regular mini tennis
lessons and competition and has an
active community programme.
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