My Tennis Journey

Andrew Jarrett has had an amazing tennis journey from the early years in Derbyshire, to playing Davis Cup for GB, Coaching GB at The Olympics - and then going on to Wimbledon as The Championships Referee from 2006-2019.

Andy has talked all about this and a whole lot more in his book Championship Points which has gone to the top of the Amazon charts!

In this episode, we talk about a subject which is close to our hearts - County Week or LTA Summer County Cup as it is also known. An event we know is incredibly important to players and GB tennis families. 

County Week is one of the oldest competitions in the British sporting calendar having first been played in 1895. This year’s event will see Counties compete in a women’s and men’s event in seven divisions at grass court venues across the land.

Players like Emma Raducanu, Dan Evans, Harriet Dart, Joe Salisbury, Jodie Burrage, Jack Draper, Sue Barker, Tim Herman and Andy, Jamie and Judy Murray have all played County Week.

It is an event we know is incredibly important to players and GB tennis families and is my favourite tennis competition. Mr Jarrett and I would like to tell you why we believe it is such an important event…

PS If you are a tennis fan, I highly highly recommend Andy’s book Championship Points which is available at Amazon. It’s the perfect read for the coming holidays!

Ben Bartram may only be 17, but as you’ll hear he’s already had a series of amazing adventures in the wheelchair tennis world!

He’s won the Junior US Open, risen inside the top 20 men’s rankings and recently returned from being a member of the winning GB World Cup team alongside Alfie and Gordon.

Ben’s passion for the journey shines bright, but just don’t ask him to play FIFA - you’ll hear why! Enjoy…

I truly believe that listening to Sandi Procter’s tennis journey is worth an hour of your time! The LTA President has an incredibly compelling back story within our sport!

Ever wondered how the red, orange and green balls came about? Wonder no more! Been impressed with the LTA’s Tennis Leaders programme? Find out how Sandi made it happen! Having listened to Sandi’s journey, I'm confident she'll make good things happen as LTA President.

Whether you’re a tennis player, coach, parent, official or volunteer, I feel sure you’ll enjoy hearing about Sandi Procter’s inspirational tennis journey…

If you get a sec, please do hit the SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW buttons so you get notifications on forthcoming episodes - we have some exciting ones planned!

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You might not be aware but we are currently in the midst of the LTA Junior Nationals. These are singles and doubles competitions for 16U and 18U girls and boys. You might not be aware but I think you should be aware and I think your tennis playing children or pupils should be aware to!

Today’s guest is Richard Joyner, the Tournament Director of the LTA Junior Nationals and together we’d like to put forward the case on why the LTA Junior Nationals are worthy of your attention.

The events showcase the future stars of British Tennis and as you’ll hear there are some amazing rewards for the winners and runners-up…

Click the link to follow the LTA Juniors National LIVE

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I'm writing this on my 50th birthday! Having successfully navigated through to my half century, I figured that it would be a good time to tell My Tennis Journey. My good friend and LTA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Keith Reynolds kindly offered to do the honours of interviewing me. I loved chatting to Keith about my early tennis years, my time working in beer and football and meeting some of the game's biggest stars and why I left that all behind for a chapter in tennis! I hope you'll enjoy listening...

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'What affects my tennis and training the most?' Today's guest Mylène Petitpas posed this question and explained the answer is nutrition because food affects every part of our body from head to toe!

As a tennis parent, I find what foods to give the children before, during and after tennis tournaments puzzling. I try my best when it comes to providing decent nutrition options - but if truth be told I haven't found much information out there to help. So I've tried to go and find some answers!

Mylène is passionate about the area of tennis nutrition and I hope you'll enjoy our conversation - as you'll hear I learnt a lot and get the feeling the food offerings are going to more nutritious and if truth be told a whole lot tastier too...

In this episode on tennis nutrition we cover:

What to eat before a tennis tournament (I wasn’t getting this quite right!)

What to eat during a tennis tournament (I’m a changing my ways!)

What NOT to eat during a tournament (you might be surprised at this!)

Should you be using energy gels or electrolytes? (I’ve noticed them at tournaments!)

What to eat after a tennis tournament (are our trips to the Golden Arches advisable?!)

Mylène has very kindly put together a tennis nutrition ebook that talks you through her thinking - do take a look here:

And you’ll find Mylène’s Instagram here so you will.

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Abbie Lench (LTA Head of Clubs, Parks, Counties and Volunteering) and Simon Spalter (Tennis Volunteer Community Facebook Group) join me to look at the amazing contribution volunteers make to the clubs and counties of British Tennis. We cover a range of topics which will hopefully help existing volunteers and inspire new volunteers.

As a Coach and tennis parent, I am aware of just how much work volunteers do in our club and our county. And I know it is the same throughout the Country - this episode is a big thank you!

If you are a chair, treasurer, secretary, maintenance manager, social poster, fixtures and tournament and event organiser, committee member or are interested in volunteering - this one is for you…

Please do take a look at the excellent Tennis Volunteer Community Facebook Group.

And the LTA has a wealth of material for tennis volunteers on their website.

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Exciting news! A friend Hugo and I have launched a new Community Interest Company called We Say Play. A Community Interest Company is - in the words of Wikipedia - ‘designed for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good.’ And that’s exactly what we want to do!

I’d love it if you’d have a listen to this short little podcast to hear about our We Say Play mission to inspire children to get playing…

To find out more about We Say Play or to get in touch - we’d love to hear from you - please head to the We Say Play website

What if you could put on a Virtual Reality headset and be transported to a tennis court when you can train like you do on a court in the real world? Not a game, but a fully immersive, impressively real training environment. That’s what Sense Arena have made happen! 

Find out all about Sense Arena from their Tennis VP, Yannick Yoshizawa and World renowned Coach Claudio Pistolesi who has worked players like Monica Seles and Robin Soderling…

If you’d like to find out more about Sense Arena please head to the Sense Arena Virtual Reality Tennis website

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When I was researching today’s guest, I came across an article on the LTA website with a headline that said: ‘How Tennis Saved My Life.’ As I read the article, I immersed into the World of a man who has faced some incredible challenges, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2012 and who has had some dark days. Yet through the challenges and the dark days, tennis has always been a beacon shining bright.

Oli Jones is a tennis coach and Mental Health Ambassador for the LTA as well as Movember. As we’re in the midst of Movember, it seemed the perfect time to hear Oli’s story and discuss how we can keep ourselves and our friends and family mentally well. I found listening to Oli moving and inspiring, I hope you do as well…

EPISODE LINK

Movember website: Find out about the Movember movement and their work in mental health

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