Seasons Greetings 2025

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Tamworth (Australia). I hope you have had a fun year and excited about the possibilities in 2026.

I finished 2024 in England, arriving on the afternoon of New Years Eve! It was my first trip back since we emigrated in 2018. Katherine and Frankie stayed in Australia and the trip was mainly focused on spending time with my mum and brother. I stayed for nearly a month and it was great to reconnect with my roots. It was an emotional moment visiting my dad's grave for the first time. He has a lovely spot outside Lawford Church. I also enjoyed a walking trip to the beautiful Lake District, a visit to Kent, playing Padel Tennis for the first time, and watching Only Fools & Horses on stage in Ipswich. 

I arrived back in Australia in late January and it was a shock to the system to be back into the heat of the summer and straight into a new term of tennis coaching. It has been an exciting time, as the Tennis Centre and Restaurant fully opened after 3 years of redevelopment work, and it is now a state of the art facility. The venue was put to full use in September when we held two weeks of the men's Pro Tour. It was a well supported event and provided lots of entertaining singles and doubles matches. The highlight for me was participating in the Pro-Am event and getting to play in front of a lively Friday night crowd. In early 2025, I was elected to a position on the North West Regional Matchplay Committee and I am enjoying using my passion and experience to help maintain and increase participation in competitive tennis in our region. 

As a family we enjoyed two lovely holidays, a visit to see family in Canberra and a camping trip to Gloucester with some friends. Frankie turned eight in 2025 and has had a great year on all fronts. She has enjoyed Year Two at school and had a fantastic time on her first school overnight trip to Lake Keepit. Tennis, swimming and ukuele have been her main activities this year. It has been fun to see Frankie take her first steps in competitive tennis, and seeing her enjoy playing matches and making new friends. A highlight of the year for me was seeing the moment when Frankie learnt to ride her bike, and the joy it gave her! Frankie and I really enjoyed watching Katherine perform These Boots are made for Walking with her ukulele group at an Eisteddfod. Another highlight for me was spending a weekend with Katherine in Sydney, where we kayaked in the harbour, enjoyed lunch at the zoo, and watched a talk by Dr Rangan Chatterjee. 

In 2025, I decided to re-engage with some sports challenges. I ran my first 10K at the Tamworth Running Festival and played in three singles tennis competitions. I think it has been really good to release the competitive animal in me and I am particularly enjoying the physical and mental challenges of playing competitive tennis again. I also took on the unsual tennis challenge at 46 years old to switch from a single handed to double handed backhand (inspired by reading Paul McNamee's book Game Changer), it has been a challenge to make the switch but a year on it is going well. 

Here are three things that have had major influences on me in 2025:

1) Reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. An amazing book that has 'closed my eyes'!

2) Reading The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk. This book has given me more understanding and empathy on the challenges around mental health. 

2) Listening to a podcast interview with Lawrence Van Lingen and then watching some of his YouTube videos. As part of my daily routine I now use a flow rope and walk backwards!