This is a guest blog from Hayley Pollard about her son Ben’s recent achievements
Ben started playing tennis with his younger brother when he was 3 years old at David Lloyd. The coaches have been amazing with both of the boys. We soon realised that Ben was best working with his coach on a one to one lesson and he came on leaps and bounds over the years. Gaz was the coach at that time and he adapted Ben’s lessons with the most amazing activities to keep him focused and entertained. The lessons for all of us were funny and entertaining and it was so rewarding to see Ben’s tennis skills improve over time. 
Euan, Ben’s brother, started to join in the tennis tournaments organised by David Lloyd and that was really exciting for him but Ben wasn’t at that level be able to take part…so to keep improving and his interest in tennis going, our friend and Tennis manager at the time, Rick, suggested we put him in for his level 1 coaching assistant award! Ben was thrilled to be able to have the chance to take part in the course. The LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) were supportive but also, I think, a little uncertain whether Ben could achieve the award. But with lots of dedication from Ben and his new coach Matty and his work colleague Jack, he passed the course with flying colours!!
We are all so proud of him and he now helps assist Jack every week in the mini reds class and loves it! He also has his photo and a write up on the board at David Lloyd, thanks to Matty and Rob! We are so proud of Ben and hope this can inspire any more budding assistant tennis coaches!!
Thank you to Hayley for writing this for us. You can read Ben’s blog in our stories section here…
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