Rye Lawn Tennis Club recently welcomed a new head coach Mark Edwards who, with over 20 years of coaching experience, is passionate about his plans to attract more members of all ages and abilities to the club.
Mark started playing tennis at the age of 11, and while at school did work experience at his local tennis club. He went on to train as a coach at the Stonebridge Tennis Academy and is certified by Spanish RPT, American PTR, and LTA as a performance coach.
As head coach of a school of 240 pupils in Hindhead, Surrey, Mark developed a successful coaching programme resulting in all of the pupils playing tennis in PE lessons and school clubs, and fostering a love of the game amongst both the children and teachers.
Mark is keen to use his knowledge and experience at Rye: “I’m excited to start my new role at Rye after 20 incredible years of coaching at Amesbury School in Surrey, where we ran an extensive coaching programme ranging from pre-Nursery 2-year-olds up to Year 8 performance coaching. I’m leaving Amesbury on a high, having recently won the award for Best Tennis School in Surrey from the LTA. “
Making coaching sessions and lessons for children fun is one of Mark’s priorities to build confidence, skills and foster teamwork. He plans to visit local schools and offer free taster sessions. This October half term there are multisport and junior tennis camps for 3–16 year olds offering tennis, padel and table tennis and squash. These will also take place next year in February half term and Easter holidays, and a schools festival in May.
As part of the club’s commitment to the local community, it offers an affordable opportunity, through Schools Link, for children to learn and play tennis without having to join the club. For a one-off fee, children can take part in group coaching sessions and holiday camps (which are still charged).
As well camps, coaching and clubs for children, Mark plans to visit care homes with activities to boost motor skills and well-being, and would also like to offer opportunities for people with disabilities as the club’s clay courts could be used for wheelchair tennis.
To bring more people into the club to try it out and see what it has to offer, the first lesson and group session is offered free. The club offers tennis, padel and squash coaching for adults and children, fitness training sessions, and tennis tournaments and matches.
As well as putting his energies into his role at the club, Mark is planning to run the 163 mile Saxon Shore Way in December, starting in Gravesend. As if running it is not enough, he will be doing it wearing a Santa suit. The final leg from Hastings to Rye will be completed on Christmas Day when he will run through the town to finish at the tennis club. He is doing this to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, a cause dear to his heart.
Image Credits: Rye Lawn Tennis Club .
Good luck to Mark. However, the Rye club’s bid to boost membership may be somewhat inhibited by hefty annual membership fees of £421 for tennis and £235 for padel (£516 for combined membership) for adults. What is needed in Rye is a public tennis court or courts similar to what Egerton Park is offering in Bexhill. Access to a court there costs a mere £1.75 per person and an annual £50 family membership allows five hours court use a week by a family all year. While I support the Schools Link (£23 a year) and junior membership (£70) initiatives of Rye Tennis Club, club membership is not a financially viable proposition for many adults wishing to play on a casual basis. In my view, the club should make one of its underused hard courts available for public hire at, say, £5 an hour. This would go down well with the local community and would also provide a new revenue stream for the tennis club. Failing this, I’d support construction (or adaptation of an existing hard surface) of one or two public tennis courts by the new CIC responsible for Rye Sports Centre. The cheapest, and most viable, option would simply be to install mesh fencing around the existing tennis facility at Rye Academy and make it available for public use at weekends, after school hours in summer and during school holidays. I ask that Rye Town Council/the CIC investigates this as part of the new CIC initiative for Rye Sports Centre. As a publicly owned entity, the school should allow the local community to share its facilities out of school hours.
One used to be able to play on the courts at Thomas Peacocke (Rye College) now sadly no longer available.