Smashing their way to the top!
PHOTORAGHY: MARK WEEKS
Ewell Castle Tennis Academy Ewell Castle School is a small, co-ed independent school in the village of Ewell, North Surrey, with a reputation for providing an excellent education with wonderful pastoral care. Seven years ago, joint Head of Sixth Form, Liz McManus, started an elite Tennis Academy with just two tennis players in each year. The idea was that the school would offer a minimum of five hours per week of intensive squad training, paid for entirely by the School, with the academic and tennis timetables built around the players. Initially linked with a local tennis academy, the tennis programme grew quickly, and the School moved to appoint their own full-time coach. They approached Tom Burn, himself once an ATP World Ranked player of 538 and part of the coaching team of the Wimbledon finalist, Eugenie Bouchard. Tom brought with him an excellent reputation and, within a very short time, was attracting some of Surrey’s most promising players. It took him just two seasons to pull the School from nowhere to a national ranking of 7th, with the School presently holding six County and National trophies. There are currently 20 scholars on the Tennis Academy programme with some very high-ranking players.
It is starting to build an excellent reputation, having also brought in an LTA referee, Alison Battista, to help the players with competition planning and applications to US universities. Tennis can be a very expensive sport, so Ewell Castle School also offers limited bursaries to very talented players who wish to access the Tennis Academy programme, but may struggle to meet the cost of the School fees. Liz and Alison offer personal mentoring, establishing a strong link between the School and the parents. The Principal, Silas Edmonds, has been hugely supportive of the Tennis Programme, pushing it to the next level and working hard to accommodate the growing demand of tennis provision in the school, with plans to build three state of the art artificial clay courts in the next 18 months. If players are of County standard and are interested in applying for Year 7 or Year 12 in 2022, then please contact LIZ MCMANUS at tennisacademy@ ewellcastle.co.uk. DO ALSO WATCH THE VIDEO for a further flavour of what is on offer
EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | S UM M ER 2021 | 27
