Insights, tips, and stories from the team.
Raise your hand if you feel like tennis can be a never-ending puzzle where you can’t get the pieces to fit and there feels like there’s no end in sight?? Believe me, you’re not alone. The problem is, you’re just rushing to finish the puzzle, except you don’t know what the ‘finish’ looks like. You’re clinging to an end goal but you don’t know what the goal is. The frustration comes from the not knowing and the constant second guessing yourself. Here’s where the Turtle Theory comes in: Turtles swim without a clear direction or visible destination, yet they still arrive where they need to be. (Can you see where I’m going with this??) What I’m really saying is: You …
Tennis for me started at a really young age,(not that this shows in my playing ability!) I started playing at around 4 years old at a local club some of you may know, Hoddesdon. It was at a tennis camp, that was originally booked for my brother, but I tagged along for the journey. After day 1 I was completely hooked. I loved the fact that tennis was all about yourself and there was no team mates to rely on, it was purely an individual sport. The coaches at the time were absolutely amazing, they made me love the sport even more and the people I met I have stayed friends with even to this day! I stayed playing at …
Growing up I was always chasing the dream of becoming a footballer following in my brother’s footsteps; anything he did I wanted to do better! By age 10 I’d lost my passion for it and fell in love with tennis instead. I met Harry at Hertford Tennis Club where he began his coaching career. I instantly loved our sessions and we created a life long friendship as my coach and now one of my boss’! I started competing at 11 eventually training in Gosling’s performance program and playing for the county, travelling for tournaments, and competing in adult teams at the tennis club. Harry continued to be my 1-2-1 coach through this process and offered me the opportunity to assist …
“Thanks everyone for your support this year” From DOM: Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for supporting us this year and every year! I’ve enjoyed every minute on court and also off court, building the programme and creating new ideas so our players can get the most out of their tennis journey with BTA. My highlight of the year has to be the popularity of our Allstars events, seeing so many kids of all abilities ENJOYING competition has been a dream come true! It feels like we’ve stepped it up this year and the level of our adults and juniors has been exceptional! All thanks to our amazing juniors, adults and parents on our programme who have worked hard and …
Who’s up for a challenge? I want you to ask yourself 3 questions…. 1. Why do you play tennis? 2. What do you want to achieve in tennis? 3. What do you gain from playing tennis? I spend the majority of my time coaching adults and juniors of all ages and abilities. I get a buzz out of seeing improvements, big and small from everyone I teach. People don’t realise how huge even the tiniest of gains are, even if it’s something small like, the correct wrist movement on a forehand or adding that little bit more topspin to your backhand. This year I’ve spent a lot of time at external tournaments as well as watching adults in social tennis, …
Over a lunch break in Pizza Express in 2016, we (Harry and Dom) decided to partner up and set up our own coaching programme - There was one rule, to inspire people to play tennis for life! BTA (Bringing Tennis Alive) Tennis Coaching was born. We wanted to create more opportunities for children and adults of all backgrounds to play tennis, diminishing the notion that you had to be rich to be good at tennis or achieve anything in tennis. I’m (Dom) proof that this idea is nonsense but we wanted to create an environment where everyone on our programme was succeeding. Over the years we’ve tried to perfect our coaching techniques, lesson structures, and programme format (still a work …