The New Active Away Tennis Coach Onboarding Process: Building a Strong Team of Tennis Professionals
The best tennis camp location
Our team at Grand Slam Tennis Camps are renowned for their careful selection of potential venues for our tennis camps.
For 2018 we’ve selected the prestigious New Hall School in Chelmsford.
From the moment Grand Slam Camp players first travel up the mile-long, tree-lined avenue that leads to the grand façade of the former Tudor palace, they will be made to feel welcome and excited.
Chelmsford is officially the UK’s hottest spot, with its own microclimate! Summers in Chelmsford have hit the heights of 35.2 degrees celsius. The city is ideally placed; the coast is a short drive away, as are historic Colchester and Cambridge.
The outstanding facilities on offer within the stunning 85-acre campus will cater for a camper’s every need.
New Hall is set in an idyllic and convenient location, just 30 minutes by train from London and within easy reach of all major London airports.
Food:
At New Hall, there is an offer a wide choice between hot and cold food, with plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads. Proposed menus are reviewed by Nutritionist, Dr Juliet Gray RD RPH, along with the School’s medical team in the Health Centre. Weekly menus are put onto our website by our Caterers. We offer our campers a widely varied, healthy and tasty diet. We also attempt to cater for all tastes and preferences, including vegetarian.
When you’ve been running around on the tennis court you need to re-fuel regularly so there are also snack breaks to keep those energy levels up. Water is available throughout the day and coaches will always be encouraging players to maintain hydration.
We cater for students who have alternative diets or food allergies. Just advise us when booking.
Accommodation:
The modern and well equipped boarding houses have been carefully designed to be a ‘home from home’. All based on the stunning campus, each player will have their very own Single Room.
Facilities available to boarders include: common areas in each house with TV, DVD, computers (for work and play) and piano; sports hall, swimming pool, athletics track, tennis and netball courts, fitness suite and floodlit AstroTurf pitch; ICT suite; Eaton Theatre; The Library; and not forgetting the beautiful gardens and grounds.
On Site Facilities:
- 24 hour security
- Swimming Pool
- 10x All weather Hard Tennis courts
- 8x Astro Turf Tennis Courts
- Astro Turf soccer pitches
- Indoor Sports Hall
- Theatre
- Athletics Track
- Fitness Suite
As you can see this is the perfect Venue for our Grand Slam Camps.
We look forward to welcoming you on our 2018 Tennis Camp!
Why Grand Slam Tennis Camps, by Active Away?
Grand Slam Tennis Camps are no ordinary tennis camps, we use current professional tennis players to host and lead our tennis programme.
Head Coach at the tennis camps in 2018 is Marcus Willis a former top 300 ATP player, who recently played Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2016, and Jocelyn Rae who won Gold at the 2010 Commonwealth games, has competed at every Grand Slam and represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup.
Jocelyn and Marcus will be on hand throughout the week to ensure your child has a tennis camp experience like no other – learning what it takes to play at the highest level.
Alongside the professional players, we have a coaching team with a wealth of experience; Matt, who managed the U12 Great Britain teams, Steve, who has produced numerous international level players and Josh, who has worked at various academies around the world. You can be sure that your child’s tennis camp and coaching experience will be like no other.
Your son/daughter with stay at Henry V111’s former Tudor Palace – New Hall School in Chelmsford, only 30 minutes from London, and have their very own bedroom. We believe it’s important for children to have their own personal space, and this adds to the tennis camp experience.
Chelmsford is officially the UK’s hottest spot! Summers in Chelmsford have hit the heights of 35.2 degrees Celsius, so you can be sure of a fun filled summer tennis camp.
Getting to the tennis camp couldn’t be easier – Stansted Airport is just 45 minutes from New Hall, whilst Gatwick and Heathrow airports are only one hour 30 minutes away, all of which offer international transfers. There is also London Southend Airport within 30 minutes of New Hall School, which offers transfers to locations such as Geneva, Spain and Italy. By rail, New Hall School is only 30 minutes from London, from Chelmsford’s train station.
</br/>
We look forward to welcoming you on our 2018 Tennis Camp!
Jocelyn Rae – Grand Slam Camps by Active Away
Grand Slam Tennis Camps are no ordinary tennis camps, we use current professional tennis players to lead our tennis camp programme.
Heading up our 2018 Summer Tennis Camp is Jocelyn Rae;
Jocelyn started playing tennis at the age of 7 at local tennis club Woodthorpe. She had a successful junior career reaching the finals of the prestigious Orange Bowl Championships in Florida at 12 years old and later winning the under 18 UK national championships singles and doubles. Jocelyn represented Great Britain as a junior from the age of 12, and reached a career high junior ITF ranking of world no. 167 in April 2007.
One of Jocelyn’s biggest achievements came in 2010 when partnering Colin Fleming, she won the gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi for Scotland. This success saw Jocelyn receive her first Fed Cup call up in 2011, where she partnered Heather Watson to defeat Switzerland followed by Denmark’s pairing of Mai Grage and former world no.1 Caroline Wozniaki.
Jocelyn in 2017 made the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon and faced Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis!
Jocelyn Rae brings her tour experience to our Summer 2018 Grand Slam Tennis Camps.
She will be heading up the program at our Summer Tennis Camps in 2018 so will be excited to get on court with you.
We look forward to welcoming you on our 2018 Tennis Camp!
Marcus Willis – Grand Slam Camps by Active Away
Grand Slam Tennis Camps are no ordinary tennis camps, we use current professional tennis players to host and lead our tennis camp programme.
Heading up the Summer 2018 tennis camps is Wimbledon player; Marcus Willis. Marcus Willis began playing tennis at the age of 9, and reached the No. 15 in the world as Junior, making the latter rounds of the Junior Slams as well as representing Great Britain.
In 2016 – Marcus Willis faced Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
After the match Federer was quoted saying; Marcus Willis brought an unbelievable energy to the court with the fans and his personality, it was refreshing. He came up with some great shot making. I knew it would be different to any other match I have played at Wimbledon, it was a pleasure to play against him.’
In 2017 Marcus Willis became a coach at Warwick Boat Club and is working with a number of top British Junior players.
Marcus Willis brings this wealth of experience on the tour to our Summer 2018 Grand Slam Tennis Camps.
He will be on court throughout the week during our 2018 Summer Camp to advance your tennis to the next level!
We look forward to welcoming you on our 2018 Tennis Camp!
Active Away Tennis Holidays Blog: Guide to Improving Your Doubles Part 12
Did you manage to read part 11 last week? We looked at improving you impact on the game from the servers partners perspective. I had some great feedback from that blog post. If you haven’t read it yet, click here to have a read.
In this part we are going to look at the hot seat, you are in the hot seat when you are the returners partner. I have coached so many people who almost seem like they feel this is a position they can have a little rest as they don’t really get to see much of the ball. In this blog I am going to give you a few simple tips that I promise will make a huge difference to you.
Here is the scene, your tennis partner is ready to return serve. You are correctly in the hot seat, but where are you standing? Who are you facing? Boom, while you were thinking your opposition fires their volley past you down the middle of the court. I am guessing we have all felt this at one time or another. I am going to answer these questions and if you go out and put these answers in to practise you will notice an immediate improvement in your doubles:
- Where are you standing when you are the returners partner? You should be on the service line next to the T, almost in the centre of the court. The reason for this is that you are plugging the gap that the “Danger Player” (we discussed this in the previous blog) wants to hit in to, this is the easiest place for them to hit their volley. You stand here to give yourself half a chance of scraping that ball back but also to put them off a little, give them something else to think about.
- Where are you facing? You should have your hips, shoulders and eyes facing the “danger player” that player is your primary concern. Turn your body to face them, whatever you do, do not turn and look at your partner as they hit their return (this is hospital tennis).
- When you start in this position you are in a defensive position and this is where most recreational level players stay. I see very little movement from this position. As soon as the return is hit, one of two things are going to happen. Ether your partner hots a good return and fires it back to the server or its a bad return and the volleyer intercepts. As you are now standing in the correct position if the worst case happens and the “danger player” intercepts they can either volley it at you or go for the angle (good luck with the angle, that’s a 3 out of 10 shot). If your partner hits a good return back to the server this is when you need to move forward and become the “danger player”. The “danger player” position switches throughout the entire rally – so sorry there is no rest for you net players.
Time is short on the doubles court, and the person who understands it best has a huge advantage over others.
Tennis Holidays are a great way to make real progressions in your game, it is an intense week of learning new skills in the morning and putting them in to practise in the afternoons. Being able to play for 20 hours in one week means that you can really make changes in your game fast! Our Tennis Holidays our suitable for all levels whether you are a complete beginner through to county level players – everyone is welcome!
