THE architect of Writtle Tennis Club’s transformation has been recognised for his contribution to the sport at the LTA Tennis Awards.
When Andrew Wilshaw, 48, joined the club as head coach five years ago it only had 40 members. Thanks to hard work overseen by Wilshaw it now has 200 and is truly thriving.
The club have expanded to provide Tennis For Free in local parks, tap into the LTA’s Advantage Essex scheme and offer disability provision alongside Mencap.
Wilshaw, originally from lewisham, has been duly named the LTA’s Development Coach of the Year for Central & East and was blown away by news of the award.
“I love helping individuals progress physically, technically and mentally,” he said.
“I consider myself so lucky that people trust me and allow me to be involved in nurturing their talent, both adults and children. I feel privileged and it is a real joy.
“I am very humbled to win this award. I'm not sure that I deserve it really, I have just done my job to the best of my ability and given people time, and hopefully helped our juniors become better players and better people.
“I’m proud to be a part of opening tennis up to people of all ages and all abilities, as well as to a different demographics.
“It’s great to be recognised to the LTA but this is an award for all of the coaches who have helped, taught, shared and advised me up to this point, as well as my team of helpers and the clubs committee.”
Successful regional winners will now progress through to the LTA’s National finals in each of their respective categories, with Wilshaw’s accomplishments to be judged alongside the best in the country.
LTA Chief Executive Scott Lloyd said: “These awards acknowledge the extraordinary contribution of the individuals and venues that help us open tennis up, bringing new fans and players to our sport. Now more than ever, it is important we celebrate their contributions and hope that tennis can rally together to get through this very challenging time.”
Launched in 2015, the LTA Tennis Awards serve to acknowledge the many thousands of individuals involved in tennis – from the 25,000 volunteers, to the 4,400 coaches and 940 officials, as well as the 20,000 schools, 2,700 clubs and over 9,700 LTA approved tournaments across the country.
Now in their fifth year, a record number of 2,100 nominations were received nationally for this year’s