Tennis Coaching

Our Sheffield tennis coaching team of Dave Marray, Mark Thornton & Jason Torpey have worked extensively in creating a tennis programme for everyone.  Whether you are young or old, beginner or advanced we hope you will have an enjoyable time and get the most out of your membership.  There are separate Notice Boards for men, ladies & juniors so it is easy to find the activities that you wish to join.

Assessment Lesson

Whether you're an adult or a junior member, the first thing you require is an assessment lesson.  Every new member is entitled to a FREE 15 minute assessment.  This gives you the opportunity to meet one of the coaches, obtain a Hallamshire club rating and receive information on all the club has to offer.  Every tennis member has a rating. Some may use it some may not, but every event, activity and club tournament will be organised around the club rating system.  This enables us to match players of a similar standard and avoid embarrassment when players are mismatched.  Adults are given a grade A-F (A for beginners), while juniors are colour coded: red, orange, green (mini- tennis for 4 to 8 year olds), and for development tennis (9 year olds and above) we use the snooker ball scale, white (Beginner), red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black.

Performance Tennis

Performance players at the club are under the supervision of head performance coach, Dave Marray, and his team.  Players are given their own personalised programme to incorporate tournament scheduling, personalised fitness programmes, advanced hitting programmes, nutrition and dietary advice, sports psychology, video analysis sessions and individual coaching from one of the performance coaches.  Every performance player is unique and therefore requires their own personalised programme, which will maximise their potential.

The decision as to whether a player is of a performance standard or not is made by Dave Marray.  He is committed to creating a more professional culture amongst the players. The new structure will improve player development and allow them to maximise their potential.

Adults

Hallamshire is committed to providing opportunities to play tennis for players of all ages and abilities.  Every new member should take advantage of the free assessment by one of the Club's qualified coaches.  The coach will give them a rating, give them details of upcoming events and help them feel a part of the Club.  Players can choose to be informed of activities and special offers by e-mail by advising Steve Ball, Beverley Davis or Helen Parkin in the Management Office.

Junior Tennis Coaching

At Hallamshire, our team of coaches are dedicated to offer the highest quality in junior coaching.  Our junior tennis coaching programme starts at age 4 all the way up to 18 and works to our colour rating system.  4-9yrs are started in mini tennis with the use of modified tennis balls (see LTA mini tennis leaflet), while 9+yrs will be involved in tennis using a traditional tennis ball.

Our junior programme leaflet (download) outlines everything you need to know about junior coaching.  All events and internal tournaments are colour coded so that players can compete at their own level within the club.

Tennis Coaches

Dave Marray, CCA - Head Tennis Coach

Head of Performance Tennis, Dave is an accomplished player, winning Yorkshire County titles as a junior.  Dave has coached a player to World Top 500 standard and worked for the LTA as a travelling Performance Coach working with Britain's top junior talent.

Jason Torpey, CCA - Head Tennis Coach

Head of Development Tennis, Jason played professional tennis for four years, representing England in the Four Nations Championships.  A regular player for Yorkshire, Jason has coached players to county titles and international standard play.

Mark Thornton, CCA - Head Tennis Coach

Head of Mini Tennis, and with over 10 years experience as a coach, Mark has coached juniors to county standard.  He was part of the LTA Junior Development Project for two years.

Mark Eade, DCA - Assistant Tennis Coach

Mark represented the NE Region as a junior and reached the final of the Yorkshire U18 Doubles. Mark is a Sports Management graduate.

Hannah Lewis, DCA - Assistant Tennis Coach

Hannah represented Yorkshire as a junior and won a host of Sheffield & District junior singles and doubles titles.  Hannah coached for two years in Spain at La Manga.

Mark Swinburn, TA - Professional Hitter and Tennis Assistant

Having represented Nottinghamshire at county level Mark works with all standards of players up to nationally ranked standard.

Hallamshire Academy of Tennis

The Hallamshire Academy of Tennis runs right here at the club - click the logo to check it out.

Players

Hallamshire welcomes players of all standards but it is always nice to see top quality players.  Here are some of the players that play or train at Hallamshire...

Jonny Marray - British No.7, ATP Ranking 380.  Jonny has been beset by injury problems during 2007 but hopes to make an impact on the Challenger Tour in 2008.

Anna Fitzpatrick - British No.9, WTA Ranking 400.  Anna has left the junior rankings and has stormed into the British Top Ten.  She has represented Hallamshire in the National League for several years and now splits her training between Sheffield and Monte Carlo.
Check Anna's progress here www.mctacademy.com.

Jennifer Ren - British U16 No.7, British U14 No.3.  Jennifer has won several junior events and competes on the Tropicana Tour.  She represented Hallamshire in the National League in 2007.

Jessica Ren - British U16 No.4, British U14 No.1.  Despite only just leaving the U12 age category, Jessica already tops the British U14 listings.  She claimed the U12 Florida Bowl title last year and was recently tipped by Roger Draper as "one to watch".