Sara Bamford - Head Coach

Qualifications:

• PTR Pro
• LTA level 4 Senior Club Coach
• LTA Accredited + Coach
• First aid trained
• DBS Checked

Awards:

• AEGON British Tennis County coach of the year 2015 & 2017
• AEGON British Tennis East Region Disability Programme of the Year 2016

Other:

• U10 mini tennis performance
• Bedfordshire U18 Girls county coach and captain
• Bedfordshire Ladies county captain
• Bedfordshire SheRallies Ambassador (working with Judy Murray to get female players and coaches involved in tennis)
• UKRSA professional stringer
• Current playing rating LTA 4.1

Playing:
Sara started playing tennis at the age of 4 when her mum took her to short tennis at Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre. Sara joined Linslade Tennis Club when she was 10 years old and played for 8 years at the club supporting both the junior and adult teams.
From the age of 8 Sara started representing Bedfordshire and has continued playing for the county ever since. At the age of 12 Sara started playing in the senior teams. Sara is now coach and captain of the u18 county girls team and captain of the county ladies team.

When she was 18 Sara gained a tennis scholarship to America for 4 years where she attended the university of Tennessee at martin. In a team of 6-10 players Sara continuously played at no.1 and no.2 position in both singles and doubles throughout her college career. In her freshman year Sara was awarded freshman of the year and in her senior year Sara was awarded athlete of the year and had a 10-0 record within the conference.

Coaching:
Sara gained her tennis assistant qualification when she was 16 and helped out at Linslade tennis club for several years.
Whilst in America Sara worked at Malibu summer tennis camp for 3 summers. Here she worked with john McEnroe’s daughter, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son and many more! Sara returned to England in 2010 and gained her PTR qualification and went on to gain her LTA level 3 qualification and license in 2012. Sara  upgraded her qualification to an LTA level 4 Senior Club Coach in 2016.

Sara joined Eaton Bray as a coach in January 2010. After several successful years Sara became the Head Coach and continues to run a strong junior and adult coaching programme. 

Disability Tennis (Voted AEGON British Tennis East Region Disability Program of the Year 2016):

In 2014 Sara was given the opportunity to do some work in disability tennis. She went on a disability tennis awareness course and started working for the county as part of the coaching team “no barriers” based at Riverside Tennis Club. Sara took on the south of Bedfordshire focusing on Luton, Dunstable and Leighton buzzard areas. Due to such good progress, 2 years on Sara has now been able to set up a South Beds hub working at Linsalde TC, Dunstable TC, Venue 360 Luton and SEN Schools throughout the south of the county.  

In 2022 Sara stepped down as South Beds Disability Manager to focus solely on her work as part of the Yes We Can Disability Program that runs in Leighton Buzzard and surrounding areas. 

Sara is available for individual lessons on Monday and Wednesday ONLY and charges £30 per hour. Joint lessons are also available at £20 each. 

To arrange a lesson or for any other information please email sara_leavy@hotmail.com or phone 07561 571578

Jack Harvey - Coach

Qualifications:

• LTA level 2 Instructor Coach
• LTA Accredited  Coach
• First aid trained
• DBS Checked

Playing:

Jack picked up a racket for the first time at age 8 while on holiday and spent a few years playing casually before joining Linslade tennis club in 2013 and has been playing there ever since. Jack represented the club at junior level in the under 14 and under 16 categories and then moved on to playing for the men’s side soon after. Currently, Jack plays for both the men’s B and A sides and has captained the B side since 2021, where he oversaw back to back promotions from south beds division 4 up to division 2.

Coaching:

Jack began as an assistant at Linslade Tennis Club back in 2016 after doing his first coaching course. Over the years since he has worked his way up going on various other LTA run courses and working many sessions as an assistant to eventually start planning and running his own sessions as a lead coach. Jack is available to coach any group, regardless of age or ability and takes pride in making sure the players have an enjoyable experience on the court, and develop and gain confidence in playing.

Jack will be joining Eaton Bray Tennis club from January 2024 to cover Head Coach Sara Bamford's Maternity Leave. 

To get in touch with Jack please contact him on 07763 629498