Seasons Greetings 2020

I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also wanted to say a big thank you to the friendship and support we as a family have received through 2020. A tough year for most I imagine and I hope this message finds you healthy and spending time with the people who matter to you the most. We feel fortunate to be living in Tamworth that has largely but unaffected by the coronavirus (so far). We did have a lock down in March and I was unable to coach tennis for several weeks but I have been coaching full time again for the second half of 2020. It has made me appreciate so many things that it is easy to take for granted.

Frankie will be four in March and has been a great source of inspiration as I watch her make her way in the world. She has a great energy and enthusiasm for so many things and I love spending time with her. She is adventurous in lots of ways but sometimes takes time to try things she finds more difficult. An example being her balance bike had been left largely unused for lots of months but now she is hard to keep up with!!

Our big step as a family this year was buying our home. It is a big learning process to go through and we had some challenging moments but it is a great feeling on a number of levels. We were disappointed not to make our planned trip to South Korea in early 2020 but look forward to the day when travel is safe to do again. It has lead to us buying a tent and after a few trial runs at home we recently had our first over-night on a local campsite with friends, which was great fun. 

I have been more committed to exercise this year and found this an important focus during lock-down. My main motivation has been returning to competitive tennis for first time in 5 years and I participated in 3 events. It has been great to release my competitive animal within again and the challenges that it creates! You forget how physically and mentally demanding tennis can be and been great to have dig deep again after 6 or 7 sets of tennis in a day! Health wise I have also been trying The Wim Hof Method for last 3 months. If you have not heard of it it is worth a look. 

Work-wise I am currently working two jobs. During in the lock down I applied for lots of casual work positions and secured a position with the supermarket Coles in the services department. The work involves cleaning and trolley collection and has been a great experience to work in a different environment. Since returning to full-time coaching I have kept my position with Coles and do a 1 or 2 shifts a week for them. Big week ahead in the run up to Christmas so be interesting to see how a supermarket copes with the increased foot fall. I have been really pleased with my development as a tennis coach in 2020. I decided last Christmas to focused on developing my knowledge of the technical side of the game and invested in all the courses available by a company called Feel Tennis, they have best online learning resources I have found and are very innovative. Working in a team of great coaches is really helping my development too and my boss Jarrod has be a big influence on my tennis philosophy and also introduced me to the The Bailey Method, which is fantastic for helping players develop effective footwork. . 

So overall for us like everyone not the year we envisaged but we have tried to make the best of it and are looking forward to the opportunities and challenges that 2021 may bring…..

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