Judy Murray visited David Lloyd Edinburgh today to pass on some coaching, passion and knowledge to the club’s tennis coaching team and junior players.
David Lloyd Clubs is delighted to announce that Judy Murray, mother to current World No.1 singles player Sir Andy, and former World No.1 doubles players Jamie, has a new role as coach consultant to the UK’s leading health and fitness operator.
In her new role Judy is visiting six David Lloyd Clubs across the UK this month to deliver a Judy Murray Coach Training Workshop, exclusive for David Lloyd Club’s tennis coaches.
The Edinburgh Reporter met Judy during her one hour junior coaching masterclass for the health and fitness clubs’ junior members. She explained that the principal aim is to increase participation in tennis and sport and encourage children to get more active.
She told The Edinburgh Reporter: “We are trying to share a whole lot of ideas with the coaches here, showing them more drills, more exercises, more games, sharing with them our philosophy of teaching tennis which is all about letting the game do the teaching for you.
The former Fed Cup captain coached parents and children this afternoon. She explained why: “I believe that parents are a hidden workforce. When a little kid starts to play tennis, they need someone to play with and the parent is the first port of call. Tennis is a very difficult sport. It’s a really complex coordination sport.
“The more we can help inform and support the parents to encourage them to play with their kids, whether that’s at home in the garden, whether it’s out at the club, the quicker the kids can develop the skills and the better they will be able to play tennis.”
With regard to girls getting into tennis, she was emphatic that coaches work hard to attract girls to the sport over other activities. She said: “We have to make our sport simple, fun, stimulating, brightly coloured, lively. A lot of today was actually about showing coaches ways where they can create activities for big numbers in small spaces, so that people can be close to their friends or parents. They can learn to control the ball, the bat and their body in a small space.
Judy continued: “My aim is to get children engaged and active through sport and enjoying tennis in particular. The same motor skills underpin every sport and these can be developed in a fun and natural way through family play. Sport has so many wide-ranging benefits in terms of life skills so I’m looking forward to sharing my knowledge and passion with the whole family!”
Such a pleasure to meet @JudyMurray today who was teaching coaches and children (along with their parents!) in Edinburgh. @DavidLloydUK pic.twitter.com/Zuoywc5jkE
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) March 14, 2017
David Bulgin, David Lloyd Clubs Group Racquets Manager commented: “We are very excited to be working with Judy Murray in her new role as coach consultant. David Lloyd Clubs is committed to encouraging all children to start playing and enjoying tennis, whatever their level or age through fun and engaging tennis coaching. Judy buys into the our mission to get the entire family active in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere, be that through tennis or another sport or leisure activity that we offer. The fact that both Andy and Jamie have been junior members with us and that we’ve previously supported them, is testament to our strong and successful working relationship with the Murray family.”
David Bulgin from David Lloyd Clubs continued : “Judy’s interactive workshops are full of innovative drills, fun games and skill building exercises and will cover the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of each activity as well as the ‘how to do’ and ‘how to be’ while delivering. It will be a great experience and opportunity for our coaching team to learn from Judy, and the workshops will focus as much on communication and organisation as content. Tennis is not only great for general fitness and agility, it’s also good for self-confidence and social skills. It’s fantastic to see so many youngsters moving away from their laptops and technology and taking up this fun and social sport.”
David Lloyd Clubs offer the whole family unrivalled facilities, services and programmes to achieve their health and fitness goals. Inspired by Sir Andy Murray and the British Tennis recent Davis Cup success in November 2015, David Lloyd Clubs reported a 12% increase in the numbers of children aged 5 to 13 years signing up as racquets members, with a 10% increase in the number of children in the Tennis All Stars Coaching Programme during 2016. Each week 13,000 children learn to play in the Tennis All Stars Coaching Programme.
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