NATIONAL WINNERS
A HUGE congratulations to Surrey's Ben Haran and G-Tennis who were crowned national award winners at the LTA awards! Ben won 'performance coach of the year' and G-Tennis won 'community & parks award'. We are so proud of both of them!
AWARD WINNERS
Well done to our Surrey award winners who have reached the regional stays of the 2022 LTA awards!
SCHOOL OF THE YEAR
EWELL CASTLE
"There is a great team that works together to put the students needs first in providing a first class education combined with a bespoke training programme with former ATP world ranked professional player and LTA coach, Tom Burn. This team combines the strengths of individually tailored timetabling and educational planning, with tailored tournament planning and competition consultancy with the all important elite tennis training package.
In the short time they have set up an academy, they have become one of the most successful schools in the UK. They financially support gifted players who would otherwise never get a chance to mix education with tennis. They support players in their aspirations to reach positions within excellent Universities in the US and UK. Ewell Castle School is a great supporter of LTA Youth Schools Tennis and builds their competition calendar around this to specifically put Schools Tennis front and centre."
DISABILITY AWARD
MDL COACHING
"MDL COACHING are passionate about inclusive Tennis and want to keep growing the programme which they set up in 2018. More players playing, more volunteers, raise awareness of inclusive tennis, more local competitions for disability players and a sense of belonging for everyone.
We certainly provide that at Purley Bury LTC..The team is not just me (Mark Love) it is other LTA coaches who are part of my team and of course the amazing volunteers who without them we could not have achieved what we have to date as well as support from the LTA and other organisations."
COMPETITION OF THE YEAR
SURREY COUNTY CHAMPS
"The competition has 2 avenues, it really helps to reduce waiting times and managing number of players. 2. The competition was very organised, especially for 8U and 9U, all had court supervisors, and for other events, court supervisors were all visible. The competition has sent information and
guidelines very in advanced, and answering questions quickly.
Show case the finals at 1 day, so players and parents could watch finals and learn from others. County coaches were there to observe players performance, and it gave players extra motivation.
The competition has put an extra effort to organise the events under difficult restrictive situation."
OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR
CAROLE HERITAGE
"Carole loves the role of an Official and is working to progress further. She is currently an R4 referee and hopes to move to an R3 at the next grading session. As a result of her hard work this year she is also hoping to work at higher level events within the Court Supervisor role. She has been recently assessed and received a very positive report. All of this has been done this year within the very uncertain and changing of situations at short notice.
Carole is a good role model, and a person people feel they can speak to with ease. She now has other referees asking to shadow her to progress their roles."
COMMUNITY & PARKS AWARD
G TENNIS
"The pandemic really highlighted the struggles some of the people in our local community faced and Chris was determined to help in whatever way he could. He has worked tirelessly to open tennis up to a wider audience and get more of the local community playing. Consequently we have such a diverse programme and coaching staff which I think is rare to see and can only be attributed to Chris's hard work.
He takes great pride in being a tennis coach and wants to use his platform to create opportunities for children and adults to experience tennis in a welcoming way."
DEVELOPMENT COACH
OF THE YEAR
VALENTIN PUSNAVA
Valentin knows everyones name. New or old. And the parents. He learns small personal details, like football team, school attended, holiday destinations, and can then converse on those as people arrive. He always greets everyone by name, and has a word for all. The teenagers, who sometimes coach add to the personal atmosphere of some of the group sessions,. and also cement the children's view that they are all welcome. All newcomers are greeted as soon as they arrive for a look around. Test sessions, introductions to other for references, and just a general welcoming atmosphere mean that everyone is included into the structure and culture very quickly.
"Ben has always led an amazing tennis performance program at Reeds and has found a way to integrate LTA Regional Training into the Reeds Scholarship Program. Ben has recruited excellent staff to help him run the RPDC program at Reed's namely Laura Deigman and Nick Jones.
In 2020 was awarded membership of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and has helped mentor ATP/WTA coaches Craig Veal and Rob Morgan who have gone on to do some great work. Reed's school hold the National Schools record of winning 10 Glanvil Cup titles in a row and are 3 x World Schools Champions.
Ben has a relentless pursuit of tennis excellence within a holistically focused school setting - quite remarkable consistency of producing national and international competitors and champions, both male and female over many many years"
PERFORMANCE COACH
OF THE YEAR
BEN HARAN
YOUNG PERSON
OF THE YEAR
ZOE REICHHELM
"Zoe showed for her age a massive amount of initiative and also willingness to learn. Zoe's level of control with the junior players as well thinking ahead in terms of tidying equipment made her a pivotal part of the team. We always joke that Zoe has the mentality of a 30 year old in a 14 year olds body. Zoe has showed to me a whole new level off maturity from such a young age and has been a pleasure to be part of the time. Teamwork and skill development Zoe always asks the team what needs doing and is pro-active with her approach, Zoe has undertaken the tennis leaders course as well as regularly playing with her mum.
Zoe for her age defines a well rounded young person, wanting and willing to grow. Her maturity, whether that be mannerism on court, time keeping or even care in getting equipment away is an example to all others. I cannot imagine the team now without Zoe and she would be a great candidate to grow through the LTA qualifications and become a coach one day."
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
NIGEL TURNER
"An outstanding Chair and Club Ambassador this last decade, Nigel is retiring. His commitment and achievements exceeded his role, deserving recognition for sustained impact and selfless dedication. LTC is now a shining example of a well-run club. He’s retained the club’s friendly, caring identity, whilst improving the professionalism and management systems. Nigel’s designed and implemented a succession plan ensuring a smooth transition for the club to go from strength to strength. His leadership has inspired members to volunteer for key roles and continue the club’s professionalism, passion and journey. LTC would not be what it is today without his stewardship"
CLUB OF THE YEAR
ESHER LTC
The Club is open 7am to 10pm and the coaching team is always on hand to help members with any query. We opened up our new Padel courts completely free of charge to our existing tennis members for the first three months. We continue to provide free use of Padel bats and balls for all members. We communicate at least weekly with all members and offer many social events, including a Club finals day for both tennis and padel on the same day, with live Spanish music and sangria to celebrate our Padel courts and welcome our many new Padel friends to the Club. We host numerous social events including our famous Halloween party attended by over 100 juniors! Esher Tennis Club has been through a period of complete transformation, from an ailing Club three years ago with a dwindling membership base, to a thriving community Club with over 900 members and a bustling coaching and social events programme. The Club deserves to win the award due to the extraordinary effort of all involved, from our volunteers to our coaching team and many others, who have devoted countless hours of their time to breathe new life into the Club"
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
MARY LANE
"In short, I would argue no member across Surrey has given more to their tennis club as Mary has. Mary has had a unique visibility of tennis having been involved with Banstead Downs, Surrey Tennis, the LTA and All England Club throughout the years and our tennis club is so incredibly lucky to have been guided by Mary. Mary is part of the fabric of the club and I have no hesitation to say that our club would not be what it is today without Mary essentially dedicating her life to see it succeed. I cannot think of a more worthy winner of this award than Mary Lane.
SURREY AWARD WINNERS
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National League - Premiere Team of the Year: Reeds - 14U Boys
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National League - County Team of the Year: Avorian Seagulls 14U Boys
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Junior Volunteer Award: Michael & Sarah Sotillo
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County Cup Team of the Year Award: 9U Surrey Team
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Girls Progress Award: Ciara Moore
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Boys Progress Award: Max Carrier
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Jean Thirwall Award for Endeavour: Sirena Waas
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Roger Webb Award for Endeavour: Max Relic
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President's Award: Chris Marshall