Junior Tennis
The Park Club has some of the best Tennis facilities in London. With 18 courts and 4 mini tennis courts comprising of both lawn and artificial surfaces, combined with 3 to 5 summer tennis pros depending on season, we are able to provide adults (link to adult section) and children with fantastic opportunities to get involved in the sport.
Junior Tennis
Our junior programme is affiliated to the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association). The club has a Mini tennis programme that helps to introduce juniors into a development and progressive nation wide tennis initiative programme with awards. Beyond this we have the Junior Tennis Academy to help our young up and coming 6 to 10 year olds fulfil their potential; here juniors receive expert caching guidance, with the full support from County LTA Junior initiative.
Mini Red
The first stage of Mini-tennis is very important for building skills and confidence. The emphasis is on fundamental sporting skills such as movement and co-ordination, as well as an introduction to rallying and playing the game. Red level is played on a tennis court a quarter of the normal size. It is aimed at children aged between 4-6 yrs old.
Mini Orange
The second stage of Mini-tennis introduces children to playing on a marked 3/4-length tennis court. The low bounce orange ball used slows the game down to a speed that allows players the time to play good, basic tennis shots and have maximum fun playing the game! Age group, approximately 7-9 yrs.
Mini Green
The final stage before children move on to Raw tennis. Played on a full sized tennis court, the green ball is slightly lower bouncing than a normal tennis ball and helps the children to develop good technique and rally consistently. Physical skills continue to be an important part of lessons. Age group 10+
Each coloured stage in the mini tennis programme is further broken down into one of three levels, 3, 2, and 1. Once a child has progressed through the 3 levels within each stage they are then ready for advancement into the next colour class, starting in red, working through orange and then into green. The skills learnt within each stage of mini tennis are used as building blocks for future tennis development, they increase in difficulty as children improve through the stages. The end result of this ensures that children have well programmed skills that are becoming instinctive to nature, thus ensuring a long and happy involvement in tennis.
Raw Tennis
Raw tennis is generally for children 11+, here the emphasis is placed on children playing a more active role than they would have previously in mini tennis. Raw tennis is more adaptable than the conventional idea of tennis, thus giving the children more diversity and scope for them to express themselves more easily, this is evident in all of the four elements of Raw Tennis;
- Slams
- Freestyle
- Enery
- PB's
Slams: Allows children to experience the thrill of match play, but not necessarily with the pressure that accompanies this scenario. Children can arrange Slams at their convenience or as part of a structured class.
Freestyle: Allows children to really express their imaginative side, creating variations on shots and court awareness are typical aspects to the freestlye element.
Energy: Allows children to become more aware of the fitness side to sport generally and tennis specifically, they will even get the opportunity to run their very own fitness section to structured classes, under the eye of our tennis couches.
PB's: Allows children to personally monitor their progress, they can record their scores either in their pb's score card on the rawtennis.net website. Here they register their scores and then compare them to other scores recorded around the borough and even further afield.
Individual Coaching: Individual lessons will be available to all members throughout the year along with professional hitters. Please contact the bookings desk for more information.
Online Tennis Monthly News Letter
Each month the tennis.net newsletter is available online to keep members up-to-date with tennis events. It includes information on coaching promotions, various tennis articles, and tournament information, as well as singles ladder results.
Online Member Tennis Surveys
To register for more tennis information and to be added to our growing tennis database, fill in our online member tennis survey in the TPC weekly express newsletter.
http://www.mytpc.co.uk/tpc_tennisnet/tennis.htm
Online Singles Tennis Ladder
The club also run an online singles tennis ladder designed for those players who wish to participate in more singles competitive matches. The ladder runs throughout the year. For more information on the ladder including how to get involved please contact Pat Fisher, Shane Hurst or Max Hastings.
http://www.mytpc.co.uk/tennis.php
Tennis Coaches
Max Hastings (CCA, HSE Child First Aid)
Max has been playing and coaching Tennis for over 20yrs. He has held coaching positions as The Director of Tennis in several American clubs & camps. His vast experience has allow him to develop a fun coaching style. Max has a very mature approach to teaching and believes that anybody can learn how to play tennis given the right knowledge and direction. He teaches pupils of all ages and abilities, from total beginners to advanced club and county players. In Max's junior days he competed at a national level and has trained with top players such as Tim Henman and Jamie Delgado. Last year Max gained his CCA qualification and is now also qualified to teach the LTA's Youth Leaders Award, designed to help teenagers gain their first step in coaching tennis*.
* For more detail of this service please contact Pat Fisher on 0208 743 4321 or email at patf@theparkclub.co.uk
Shane Hurst (DCA, First Aid)
Shane is an incredibly experienced Tennis player with a wide knowledge of the game, garnered from playing with the best whilst travelling through America, Germany and Portugal. Shane has played and beaten some of the best players the world has to offer including Lleyton Hewitt, Bob Bryan, James Blake & Mike Bryan, all of whom have been ranked highly in the world. Shane also has a wealth of coaching experience. He teaches a wide range of players from first timers to the very best in the game. He has played & coached with John McEnroe, Pat Rafter and John Newcombe to name but a few.
James Cox (CCA, First Aid)
James is a fully licensed LTA Club Coach and for the last 7 years has been teaching people of all ages and abilities. James has worked extensively at both county and recreational levels in Jersey which is where he is from. He is now helping The Park Club expand on our tennis programme. James has always played at a competitive level and has represented the Channel Islands at both junior and senior levels and also captained Leeds Metropolitan University.
James can be booked for either individual or group lessons and also takes several new classes added to our junior and adult programmes.
