Richard is the stand-in Coach for Saxmundham Tennis Club, and plays in our Men’s 2nd Team.
Tell us a bit about your involvement with the club
I joined the week before the third (or was it the fourth?) lockdown in October 2020, soon after I moved to Snape. Having coached for 20 years at my previous club Theydon Bois in Essex, but not wanting to coach every week, I contacted Matt and offered my services for times when he wasn’t around.
I now help with the coaching on a Friday evening, and covered for Matt when he was on holiday recently. My knees don’t take kindly to hard courts, so I tend to just play on Monday evenings.
What first attracted you to playing tennis?
I’d played a little as a kid as my Dad enjoyed playing and I spent a lot of time at his club, although I preferred cricket as a youngster. I took tennis up again in my thirties, as much as a social activity as a sport. I enjoy the technical and tactical side of it, there’s always new things to learn and improvement to be made.
Tell us about a few of your tennis successes…
Years of enjoyment. A far greater pleasure is seeing a number of players, young and older, who have learnt to love the game having passed through coaching sessions at or near the start of their journey.
What would you say to anyone who wants to improve their game?
Get some coaching, but I guess I would say that! Enjoy playing, otherwise why do it? Keep learning, it’s definitely worth it. Keep it simple, the basics are the same no matter what level you play at.
And finally, name three things you love about playing
Great for the mind, good exercise, extremely sociable.
