Many thanks to freelance sports journalism student Daryl Hardy for contributing this article.
STONE Lawn Tennis Club has introduced multiple coaching and fitness sessions with the aim of attracting new members from the local community to take up the sport.
The club, which has six well-maintained floodlit hard courts, offers social, competitive and junior development tennis to suit players of all ages and abilities.
The head coach, Steve Proud, said: “As a coaching team we attract as many as we can with our sessions as they apply to everyone, but we’re not getting as many as we would like.
“A high percentage of the people that do come down don’t join the club because of the mentality that it is just a members club.
“We aspire to change this and get everyone playing regardless of age or ability and to make them feel welcome.
“If you create a good environment people are more susceptible to learn. The first thing for us to do is get everyone playing, like everyone plays football. Some people don’t even try tennis.”
Proud and his coaching team hope to provide a relaxing, friendly atmosphere to all people of the community who want to take up tennis, be it competitively or socially.
A boys match-play squad, girls social coaching, family and adult coaching nights as well as mini tennis sessions now run weekly. The club also organise fun tournaments and social events all year round, including Easter and Summer camps for kids.
They employ methods to suit the individual’s personal needs which makes it the perfect place for beginners or youngsters who dream of becoming the next Andy Murray.
Stone LTC coach, Daniel Woodmansey, said: “We focus on development work where other clubs like concentrating mainly on performance. We specialise in getting people started off.
“We don’t have many girls but we’ve started a teenage girl coaching session. We want it to be more social and fun compared to the boys which can get quite competitive.”
The club also employs LTA Mini Tennis, which is a fun and exciting way for children aged from three to ten years old to get into the world of tennis.
With smaller courts, nets, rackets and lower bouncing balls it offers them the perfect introduction to the sport.
For further information on any of the coaching sessions or classes visit the Stone LTC website at www.sltc.org.uk.
