Our Team

At Your Advantage Tennis Academy we have an experienced and poassionate team of coaches ready to help you improve your game, regardless of your current level. Please use the button to meet our fantastically talented team members. 

Safeguarding

At Your Advantage Tennis Academy, we strive to ensure that all children, young people and adults at risk are safeguarded from abuse and have an enjoyable tennis experience with us. Everyone who is involved in tennis including players, coaches, assistants, parents and volunteers all have a shared responsibility to support this objective by promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk.  For further information please refer to the LTA website.

Our dedicated Welfare Officer for the Academy is Sangeeta Arora, who can be contacted directly via either her email address [email protected] or telephone 07572 507821 who operates independently and in confidence should you need to discuss any issues with her.

Latest News

Ivan Deb the UK visually Impaired National Men’s Tennis Champion has the World Championships in his sights!

In October 2019 I was handed a yellow Post-It note with a telephone number and name of someone who wanted to have some tennis lessons.  On calling the number I was responded with a lady who stated that although they liked the facilities which are fantastic at The David Lloyd Club, Northwood, it was beyond their price range, but they were looking for coaching for their son Ivan who as the National Champion – what age group>?  Men’s she replied – in what event – visually impaired B4 category – amazing especially for a boy only 14 years old.

With my interest heightened I invited Ivan and his mum into the Club on a one off visit to establish and evaluate his level, to my amazement he played to an incredible level considering he suffered from the heredity Marfan’s disease which culminated in very poor vision without the use of highly effective thick glasses.

Having had a slight lull period more recently in performance players, but having previously produced a number of world class junior players, it was very exciting to see Ivan and compare his effort, energy and commitment to the game which had been developed to date by his brother’s support and by playing outside with sponge balls with the regulation bell which contains a plastic bell which enables players to establish the location and full path of the balls.

After his very first session with me I could see he had what it takes to play to a good level in terms of technical and tactical awareness, in addition to the passion, drive and movement skills, combined with a strategic head to support this highly competitive endeavour.  At the end of his first lesson I said to his mum, Anita, “what is the annual tournament schedule?” Anita explained the schedule and I then asked what does this culminate into? she stated The World Championships in Italy in June.  She hoped that Ivan may be selected for.  I suggested why don’t we try and win this and make Ivan World Champion.

The journey begins…

Careers

Tennis coaching is a highly rewarding career as you inspire people to start playing the game and empower them to fulfil their potential.  Every day is a new challenge, from young children picking up a racquet for the first time through to players chasing grand slam success.

If you are professional and passionate, there are a range of tennis coaching jobs suitable for you.

At Your Advantage Tennis Academy, we are incredibly pleased and proud of our long, strong, and consistent history over 30 years of developing our own coaches. During this time, we have mentored, nurtured, and developed young assistant coaches, through to those who have gone on to coach world-class ATP players on the tour.  We are immensely proud of all their achievements and many of which have come from our own body of former clients that we have grown and developed into becoming professional tennis coaches.

If you want to become a tennis coach you will need to investigate gaining tennis coaching qualifications which are LTA levels 1-5. Check out where you need to start on the Coaching Pathway.

Coaching Pathway

Read about the tennis coaching qualifications and find information that will help to support and develop you and your coaching skills throughout your career, we are here to assist in anyway we can.

View the Tennis Coaching Pathway

Coach Accreditation

Once you have qualified as a coaching assistant you can get Registered and all qualified tennis coaches are eligible for the LTA Coach Licence.

Find more information about Registration & Coach Licensing.

Tennis Coaching Apprenticeships

The Coaching Apprenticeship programme is designed to incorporate both the Level 2 and Coach Qualification. The tennis coaching apprenticeships will provide a structured learning pathway which will include work-based learning and mentoring at accredited LTA centres such as Your Advantage Tennis Academy.

Find out more about Tennis Coaching Apprenticeships

At Your Advantage Tennis Academy, we have a large coaching team, but we are always looking to grow and develop the experience and range of coaches.  If you or one of your children would like to find out more about coaching opportunities that exist please do not hesitate to contact us.

Official Partners

At Your Advantage Tennis Academy, we are sponsored by Wilson sporting goods and can supply a comprehensive range of racquets, grips, footwear, clothing and accessories on request at highly competitive rates.

We also offer an extensive racquet restringing service, with a fast, professional, experienced, and fully qualified approach and often utilise several the Wilson strings for this purpose or others on request.  For more information contact one of the coaching team directly for specific advice.

ITF World Tennis Number

The ITF World Tennis Number will replace the LTA Rating system in the Spring of 2021.  

At “Your Advantage Tennis Academy” we will introduce this new system into all our coaching programme, events and tournaments to make it easy for our players no matter what there age, standard or ability to integrate effectively.  

The LTA is introducing the ITF World Tennis Number – a brand new, inclusive and modern rating system for all players in Britain which will replace the LTA Rating System in Spring 2021.

The modernisation and innovation of the rating system was identified as a priority area to improve during the LTA’s Competition Review by coaches, referees, players and parents and the LTA has worked alongside the ITF and other leading tennis nations, playing a leading role in the development of the new system, which will be used by national associations around the world to help create a common language across tennis.

It is a single global tennis rating for all players, regardless of age, ability or gender - from the world’s elite to a player taking part in their first competition. The scale will see players given a rating from 40 to 1, with recreational players starting close to 40 and the professionals being close to 1.

The ITF World Tennis Number also includes doubles players – with separate Numbers for both singles and doubles.

It updates each week to provide a ‘real-time’ skill level rating that can be trusted and relied upon. Each individual’s Number will be calculated by a sophisticated algorithm that has been specifically developed for tennis using the world leading expertise. The more you compete, the more accurate your rating will be with players being able to better track their progress in a new player dashboard.

The ITF World Tennis Number will allow players to be grouped with other well-matched opponents, providing more appropriate and enjoyable competition for the players taking part.  This new approach will support our academy in establishing competitions by assisting our players to find people of the same standard to play against.   This will include our coaching programme, box leagues, tournaments and events etc. In relation to player acceptance criteria for sanctioned competitions, the LTA Rating will be replaced with the ITF World Tennis Number.   The ITF World Tennis Number is a key benefit of the new LTA membership scheme.

If you would like to find out more information please speak to one of the coaching team.

Associates

Mr Vishal Tanna is our nominated and accredited osteopath and sports injury specialist and who we have worked with and recommended over many years to treat our clients efficiently, effectively and economically. He has a very pleasant, amenable and reassuring approach and is in the business of fixing problems rather than giving you an anatomy lesson. He comes highly recommended by our team of coaches, many of which have utilised his service. To arrange an appointment please contact him directly on 07980 887330 or [email protected]

Sponsors

We have a number of sponsors that have very kindly support us with the development of some of our high-performance players.

This incredible support is made up of both product and financial gestures from both individuals and business alike.

We greatly appreciate this additional funding which allows us to allocate certain resources and activities to those that otherwise may have limited ability to reach their full potential.  So such generosity makes a huge difference to our overriding objective of providing opportunities for all to reach their goals in tennis.      

Our Story

The story of Your Advantage Tennis Academy started over 40 years ago when a young boy moved into a house backing onto his local tennis club. His Dad started having lessons but soon realised that his young son who used to come along acting ball boy, was in fact learning the game quicker by having the last 10 mins each lesson, so he kindly forgo the lessons and allocated them to me and within 2 years I was the club men's champion at 12ys old - and so the story began - onwards and upwards !!      

I have now been teaching tennis for over 35 years, having started playing the game myself when I was 10 years old.  As a junior player I was in the Middlesex County Squad for many years and played in competed in many tournaments both locally, and nationally. I started coaching when I was 16 years old having been requested by a local tennis club newly joined member to teach them as they lacked confidence and only had limited competence, this sparked my interest in helping others and since then I never looked back. 

In 1985, I established ‘R.E.N. Tennis Schools and built up a significant local client base and a business which soon become recognised by the L.T.A. at their national conference in 1988, as one of the largest and most successful community tennis programmes in the UK, with a database by then of over 1000+ adult & junior players across a number of club and park sites.

Then in 1992, I completed and was awarded the LTA Licensed Professional Tennis Coach accreditation and subsequently the Master Coach Award, which has only been received by a limited number of coaches in the UK.  This also combined with the United States Professional Tennis Registry (USPTR) & Register Professional De Tennis (RPT) accreditations. 

Qualifications, experience, and results placed me as a strong candidate for the Racquets Manager position at the newly opened Riverside Racquets Club, in Northwood.  A role I undertook for 3 years between 1995 – 1998 before I moved into the Health Club General Management between 1998 – 2004 managing several leisure & gym clubs.  In January 2004, I decided to return to full-time tennis coaching and coached mainly at the Riverside Club in Northwood. During this I was fortunate to work with several players that I developed into County, National and International level, including Josh Page, Jack MacFarlane, Zack Evenden many of whom studied and subsequently played in the US having achieved ITF world rankings. Not to be beaten in the middle of a global pandemic in 2020 brothers Pete & Steve Butcher established Your Advantage Tennis Academy with the objective of building the best tennis development centre in Northwest London. 

Our Vision

Our Vision at Your Advantage Tennis Academy

Our vision is “Tennis For ALL” and our mission is to grow and develop the game of tennis by making it accessible, welcoming, and enjoyable for players of all ages, standards, and abilities. 

Our team are here to grow and develop the game of tennis in North West London, from grassroots participation in schools through to those that aspire to play professionally.

We recognise that tennis is an incredible sport and that anyone can play, whatever their motivation or ability, from all communities & backgrounds. At any age and for a whole lifetime, tennis provides physical, social, and mental rewards both on & off the court.

Our team want to encourage, support and develop tennis to be as open and accessible to as many people as possible, across Northwest London.

Our team of coaches want to engage with hundreds of players at every level to ensure that they get the most out of tennis. We are here to help more people pick up a racquet, whether that is for the first time, or the first time in a while. We want to enable men and women of all ages and abilities to play more often, and all year round within our comprehensive program both within indoor and outdoor venues.

We realise that capturing the interest of young people is crucial and starting early is fundamental to playing and engaging in tennis for the long-term.  We need more children to start playing from an early age and will endeavour to do what it takes to make it as easy as possible for both parents and children to choose to play tennis.  Our plan is to also build and develop effective strong relationships with our local primary, secondary and independent schools in addition to local community groups so that more young people than can pick up a racquet.

We are committed to delivering and providing opportunities for all players to develop – from starter “Tennis for Kids” sessions with our brilliant and enthusiastic, LTA accredited coaches, to the high-quality support provided for our performance players. Our focused player pathway is designed to find, nurture, and develop the next generation of high-performance players.

Racquet Restringing Service

We offer a highly professional, quick, efficient and economical racquet restringing service.      

Our team of qualified & certified UKRSA & ERSA racquet stringing technicians & stringers have over 30 years of experience.  We can supply any make of string, specification, from natural gut to polyester and also a range of synthetic gut strings.  Our restrings start £10 and we also offer a regripping and grip enlargement service too.  All aspects of racquet care and advice is provided with our comprehensive service.

Our team of very experienced stringers can offer a 24hr turnaround if required.     Contact Pete on 07860 270527  or [email protected]