Richard has had a long and successful career in Performance Junior Tennis working with players at all stages of the development pathway to enhance their personal skills and playing standard. His commitment to be a Tennis Coach arose from his personal experiences of playing tennis both as a junior and on the professional tennis circuit. After attending Millfield School, Somerset, Richard moved  to Abraham Baldwin College in the USA to combine a Tennis Scholarship with studying Economics. During his time at Abraham Baldwin he won a National Junior College Title and then transferred to Texas Tech University, combining tennis with a BSc Degree in Human Development. He had a successful college career at Texas Tech and was named in the All Conference Team in 2002. On completion of his degree Richard joined the professional tennis circuit,  gaining ATP points in both singles and doubles and was chosen to represent England in the Senior Four Nations Competition. 

 

At age 24, Richard decided to pursue his interest in coaching. His early coaching posts enabled him to focus on mini, junior, and adult tennis programmes before using his skills and experiences to progress to Head Coach in 2006. As well as being responsible for planning, delivering, and monitoring programmes he has also incorporated sport science findings and practices to enhance programmes and provide interdisciplinary support and education.  In 2014 Richard attained Level 5 Master Performance Coach Status. The award was based on a three-year development programme which provided Richard with diverse opportunities to learn from both sport and corporate environments, engaging with successful coaches and managers. These experiences have helped to inform and shape Richard’s coaching philosophy and practices. He places great value on effective monitoring and evaluation of performance and advocates a solution-focused approach to coaching. 

 

As Head Coach at high-performance Tennis Academies Richard has placed great importance on establishing a strong organisational culture, with a clear mission and vision of what is to be achieved. He realises that day-to-day operations are only successful if staff are committed, empowered, and engaged. He, therefore, places significant value on the development of team skills and collective goals and values. Richard recognises the importance of autonomy but also accountability; he creates environments with the support and structure necessary to deliver excellence.

 

Long-term player development, together with the enhancement of players’ key life-skills, are at the heart of Richard’s coaching programmes. In addition, Richard recognises it is the responsibility of the whole coaching team and parents to work collaboratively to lay the foundations for the development of self-determined learners. This commitment to produce successful high-performance junior tennis players has developed over a number of years. Richard has coached U12, U14, & U18 players who have represented Great Britain; he has also worked individually with players who have won National Titles, Tennis Europe Titles, and ITF Events.  His ability to coach and mentor high-performance tennis players is widely acknowledged and recognised. In the summer of 2018 Richard was invited by the LTA to be a part of the Great Britain coaching team for the U12 European Nations Cup. 

Richard’s coaching philosophy focuses on the development of people. His coaching, leadership, and management skills within a tennis context have given him an excellent foundation to transfer his skills to other sporting and corporate environments.