Tennis in Surrey Magazine 2016

places
Redhill LTC – Putting Tennis
back on map!
At the start of the year Redhill Lawn Tennis Club had two courts out of use,
no club coach and dwindling numbers. Now it is almost unrecognisable! As
the year draws to a close, the ten-court club on Linkfield Lane has a totally
different atmosphere thanks to our team’s hard work and a determination to
have a strong presence in the local community.
I was delighted to be appointed
as Head Coach in March. The club
and I had a clear goal which we
wanted to achieve, namely getting
out into the community to offer
everyone a chance to play tennis.
We devised a simple plan to get
rackets into the hands of local
children - I visited local schools
and gave free tennis coaching
during PE lessons and set up a
subsidised after school club.
The committee offered
support by launching a school
membership scheme with
discounted rates and free sessions
at the club. The club soon had over
150 children each week playing
tennis at affordable prices.
We also looked to reinvent the
Junior Programme by focusing on
some core coaching principles as
well as competition.
I wanted the programme
to work the juniors hard and
give them some of the skills
needed to compete, which is why
each session has a good level
of competition and intensity.
At the end of summer we had
4 tennis in surrey 2016 facebook.com/TennisSurrey www.tennissurrey.org.uk