Happy Birthday Mum

Happy Birthday Mum

I am a coach. My world revolves around helping people to become better. It is a job that I feel very privileged to be in and in the last 20 years that I have been doing it I have experienced all sorts of pupils and improvement rates. Over the last year I have met someone who has made the most progress I have ever seen.  This is a story about a growth mindset and how you can always get better. It’s a story about inspiration and hard work and blowing old dog and new tricks out of the water.

My mum and I started taking swimming lessons together last year. She had turned 60 and she told me she wanted to learn to swim. As a runner, occasional tennis player and fitness enthusiast I decided selfishly it would suit me too as something I could do to help me tick over in the times of injury that have become ever more frequent.

There was another dimension to this as well. When I was growing up my parents allowed me to have swimming lessons. My mum would never had access to this luxury growing up as one of ten children. I felt like I had to make sure we would do everything to help her learn to swim.

We started about August or September a few weeks after her birthday. We had found a coach through John from Fusion Triathlon Club in Glasgow called Jenny who has been absolutely amazing. On the first couple of lessons my mum literally could do nothing. She travelled back and forth 5 m between the side of the pool and the lane divider. 

We carried on till about November time before postponing lessons for a while due to our transaltlantic commitments with grandchildren and nephews abroad.

Fast forward to April 2015. My mum is asking to go back to swimming lessons. She says she has hit a wall, she has been practising 3 times per week and she feels like she is not getting any better. I email Jenny who is busy sitting finals. We resume lessons eventually in June.

We jumped into the pool for the first time in seven or so months. My Mum had been practising 3 times per week and although I had absorbed this information on some sub conscious level, I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to behold. Neither was Jenny. The three of us all started swimming up the pool and Jenny and I both stood up in shock or surprise or maybe celebration as we watched my mum swim confidently ahead. I think we broke out into spontaneous applause. We were witnessing at first hand the 10,000 hour rule, the “if at first you don’t succeed”, practice makes perfect philosophy embodied in one moment in a swimming pool in Maryhill.

I’m going to stop going on in a minute but before I do I need to tell you one more thing. At the end of the lesson I joked with my mum about having a race up the pool. The 25 m pool that she couldn’t even do a fraction of a year ago. Not only did she make the full length, she also thrashed me. I need to get practising!

Mum, you’ve just turned 61 today and in my world you have achieved more than I think I have ever seen before. I am so proud of you and you are living proof that with the right kind of practice, quality coaching and perhaps most importantly the belief that you can always get better, you can achieve whatever you dream of. Happy Birthday!!

Where will you watch the Australian Open 2015 final?

Andy Murray will take on Novak Djokovic on Sunday 1st February at 0830 am GMT.

We are hugely excited about it and invite you to join us at one of two venues to amass as many positive vibes to send across the world.

Murray muffins will be served in the bar at Western tennis club, 30 Hyndland Road, Glasgow and the match will be on from 8 am!!

Meanwhile round the corner, our friends from Hotel du Vin are serving breakfast rolls and tea/ coffee for £5.95 from 8 am and showing the match on two 50" screens.

Join us in one of our venues tomorrow to cheer on Andy Murray!!! Members and non members welcome at both venues. There's a rumour going around that the BBC might be there too so let's get a crowd together!!!

The Other Women

On Sunday, Andy Murray will play in his fourth final in Australia since 2010 and once again a nation will live through every serve and return, every smile and every grimace as the best tennis player to have picked up a racket in Britain over the last 100 years battles to win his third Grand Slam title. The media focus over the next few days will be on Andy and his fiancé Kim who have reached the heady heights of celebrity couple status along with all the unwanted attention that accompanies such fame.

But what about the other women in Andy's life? Let's start with his mum and first tennis coach, Judy Murray. I was lucky enough to have breakfast with Judy while attending the Australian Open Coaches Conference in Melbourne a fortnight ago. We chatted about her new initiative, Miss Hits, which is designed to attract girls into the game. It is currently about to roll out across the UK and the package includes full training, a website, app and lesson plans involving colourful characters like Valentina Volley and Bella Backhand. It's exciting not only because it will increase the number of girls playing tennis but also because it will enable more women to become female role models for young girls.

Attracting and retaining females into tennis is a difficulty faced by the tennis community worldwide which was evidenced at the conference. A trio of respected Australian coaches (Andrea Buckeridge, Emma Doyle and Rufus Keown) presented research showing that girls respond to female role models and we need to nurture and recruit more into the sport. This sentiment was echoed later in the panel discussion that featured former players Nicole Pratt and Alicia Molik, Sven Groenveld, coach of Maria Sharapova, together with a former Australian 800m runner Lyn Foreman and our very own Judy Murray.

Judy Murray is one such role model. Not only is she spearheading Miss Hits, she is also the Fed Cup Captain and, in her spare time, is passionate about developing grass roots tennis. I wonder if the general public know how much time she devotes to travelling round the country visiting schools, educating parents, coaches and teachers as well as inspiring thousands of kids to try tennis. 

She is not just a role model for females however. Her most famous protégées are now professional tennis players on the ATP tour and so she knows that females can coach male players just as well as male coaches. Even so, it was heartening at the end of his semi final to hear Andy openly praise Amelie Mauresmo by acknowledging that their partnership had "shown women can be great coaches too". He also said that she was "brave" in making the decision to join his team in the knowledge that their partnership would come under scrutiny in a male dominated industry.

So what has she brought to Team Murray? She will be judged on one level by the result on Sunday. But subjectively, it is clear that Andy is happier, more confident on and off the court than he has ever been. There is an ease about his manner in post match interviews that are a far cry from the awkwardness he has displayed in the past. He is less guarded than before as if he has been allowed to speak more freely and be himself. On the court he looks faster, leaner and seems to be accentuating his strengths and more accepting of his weaknesses. He has gone on the record saying that Amelie really listens to him and is willing to learn. It sounds like there is a growth mindset permeating their team with Andy as a person at the centre. And maybe a person centred approach to coaching is what she has brought to the team. Is that a trait of female coaches? Who knows but at any rate, it appears to be working. 

More articles on this topic:

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/murrays-mojo-is-back-thanks-to-mauresmo-20150129-131jnb.html

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/mauresmo-and-murray-breaking-new-overdue-ground-20150131-132rdn.html

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/tennis/postcard-from-melbourne-how-to-follow-mauresmo.117320849

Murray's first match at Aus Open 2015...

It's always interesting getting the view of another country's media on a Grand Slam. Here all the pressure is on local boy Nick Kyrgios who at 55-1 with the Australian bookmakers is an unlikely winner although the national press would have you believe otherwise.

All the better for our national hero who can more or less fly under the radar here although he is writing a column for The Age, Melbourne's answer to the Glasgow Herald.

His first column of the championship entitled, "New year, new season, new coach - new beginning?" is infused with a positivity about changes to this team and developing relationship with coach Amelie Mauresmo. He also says he feels good physically and the images that have circulated social media and the press in Australia have showcased his six pack and athleticism.

So what else is new? First of all he is playing his opening match on the newly upgraded Margaret Court Arena. I am lucky enough to get my ground pass upgraded to watch the match and I take my seat with the usual measure of excitement and intrepidation that Andy Murray seems to evoke.

Watching tennis in Australia is not quite the same reverent experience as in SW19 and today the crowd do not disappoint. The stadium commentator introduces the players and then draws our attention to the "royal" guests who have turned out to support Andy and indeed there is a Queen impersonator as well as a Pope in attendance. Only the best for Andy.

He is looking slick in green under armour gear, a new clothing sponsor. He wears same coloured sweatbands. Did he not used to wear a different colour on each arm? He looks relaxed and assured in the warm up and the match gets under way.

I won't pretend that I was relaxed throughout this straight sets win especially when Andy seemed to be moaning at himself and signalling in a negative fashion towards his team. However there was something about his manner as he went about his business that meant his fans need not be worried for long. He only looks disgruntled because he himself has set the bar so high. His expectations of himself are such that he can't bear to be broken on serve or miss shots that fellow professionals would never dream possible to make.

In his column he hinted that a few changes had been made and it was up to us to see what we thought. Did I just imagine it or was there more topspin on his forehand, more conviction on his first serve, more points won on his second? Is it because I'm a such a big fan that I thought he was moving faster than ever, that he has some of the best hands in the game exemplified in a death defying forehand topspin winner round the net post and a short back hand angle winner both at crucial points of respective sets?

I think not. This was no trick of the imagination. There is an air of resurgence about Andy Murray. Like every great champion, he is not without flaws but who doesn't love a flawed hero? For what it's worth, I'm going to put myself on the line and pick Andy to win this year. There's a long way to go but I have a feeling that I haven't had since I backed Amelie Mauresmo to win Wimbledon at 10-1 back in 2006. They're the pair to watch: Andy and Amelie, the new He-man and She-Ra of tennis.

Kevin Forster - Olympian and world class marathon runner

Presentation at Helensburgh AC, Tuesday 29th October 2014

Thank you to Helensburgh AC for arranging this evening. It was inspirational and also a great learning experience to listen to someone who has achieved as much as Kevin Forster. I hadn't heard of him before the talk so, if you're like me, more information about him can be found here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Forster

Kevin is an accomplished speaker who delivered a polished performance that contained within it lessons learned from his own experiences underpinned by a wisdom enhanced with the perspective of time.

The Importance of Environment (Private sphere, Athletic sphere, Performance sphere)

1. He emphasised the importance of stability in the sphere of personal life. He was grateful for the understanding of his family and friends who were supportive of the demands of running up to 130 miles per week in training. He also said that having a secure job and a sport friendly employer had contributed to creating the right environment.

2. He extolled the benefits of belonging to a good running club (Gateshead Harriers). More about this below.

3. On a performance level, he described how he perhaps got the environment wrong in training for an overseas marathon. He moved his family to Boston for 6 weeks to train in warmer weather and afterwards he questioned if there had been any benefit to this over training in his familiar environment at home as he hadn't felt that it had enhanced his performance on race day.

Competition with other athletes

He was running in the 80s where even to win local races he would often have to beat a world class athlete. He was in no doubt that if it hadn't been for the core of quality athletes he had around him at his club and in the surrounding areas, he wouldn't have reached the heights that he did. Healthy competition was necessary for improvement.

Cross county underpins everything

For everyone out there starting to get fatigued with the mud and hills, take heart, it will give you the strength and endurance for great spring performances on the track and road. A fabulous grounding for everything else, according to Kevin.

Junior to Senior transition

From a coaching point of view he said this transition should be managed sensitively, particularly for juniors who had been performing at the top of their age groups. It is inevitable but manageable to work with their expectations that this will not happen straight away when they first run at senior level.

Fuelling and hydration 

Kevin never took on anything other than water in marathons. He also didn't have any special diet and in particular hadn't tried out carbohydrate loading which was in vogue at the time. If there was an underlying message from his presentation overall, it was don't over complicate things and this was reflected very well in his thoughts on food and drink. He said he tried to eat the right things but didn't over think it. His wife piped up at this point to say that the main thing to note re diet was that her grocery bills doubled when he was running!

Jo Pavey Analogy

He was asked by an audience member if he thought that if he hadn't had to work full time, did he think he would have been a better athlete. He answered with a very definite no and said that he would go as far as to say he would have done worse. It was good to have a job to focus on during the day and he thinks he wouldn't have done so well if he had had too much time to think about his training. He just went out and did it.

He used Jo Pavey to illustrate his point. She has been quoted recently as saying that one of the reasons that she thinks she is performing well is precisely because she is so busy. Being a full time mum means she doesn't obsess over her sessions or worry about running so much. It is almost like the "other" (for Jo, full time motherhood, for Kevin a full time job) is a crucial factor in ensuring they run to the best of their abilities.

A recent article in the guardian encapsulates Jo's philosophy to running at the age of 41 with all that has gone before and all that is yet to come. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/20/jo-pavey-athletics-gold-medal-donald-mcrae

To summarise I think Kevin's running philosophy could be summed up as: keep it simple and maintain perspective in your running in relation to the bigger picture of your life.

pian and world class marathon runner 

Presentation at Helensburgh AC, Tuesday 29th October 2014

Thank you to Helensburgh AC for arranging this evening. It was inspirational and also a great learning experience to listen to someone who has achieved as much as Kevin Forster. I hadn't heard of him before the talk so, if you're like me, more information about him can be found here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Forster

Kevin is an accomplished speaker who delivered a polished performance that contained within it lessons learned from his own experiences underpinned by a wisdom enhanced with the perspective of time.

The Importance of Environment (Private sphere, Athletic sphere, Performance sphere)

1. He emphasised the importance of stability in the sphere of personal life. He was grateful for the understanding of his family and friends who were supportive of the demands of running up to 130 miles per week in training. He also said that having a secure job and a sport friendly employer had contributed to creating the right environment.

2. He extolled the benefits of belonging to a good running club (Gateshead Harriers). More about this below.

3. On a performance level, he described how he perhaps got the environment wrong in training for an overseas marathon. He moved his family to Boston for 6 weeks to train in warmer weather and afterwards he questioned if there had been any benefit to this over training in his familiar environment at home as he hadn't felt that it had enhanced his performance on race day.

Competition with other athletes

He was running in the 80s where even to win local races he would often have to beat a world class athlete. He was in no doubt that if it hadn't been for the core of quality athletes he had around him at his club and in the surrounding areas, he wouldn't have reached the heights that he did. Healthy competition was necessary for improvement.

Cross county underpins everything

For everyone out there starting to get fatigued with the mud and hills, take heart, it will give you the strength and endurance for great spring performances on the track and road. A fabulous grounding for everything else, according to Kevin.

Junior to Senior transition

From a coaching point of view he said this transition should be managed sensitively, particularly for juniors who had been performing at the top of their age groups. It is inevitable but manageable to work with their expectations that this will not happen straight away when they first run at senior level.

Fuelling and hydration 

Kevin never took on anything other than water in marathons. He also didn't have any special diet and in particular hadn't tried out carbohydrate loading which was in vogue at the time. If there was an underlying message from his presentation overall, it was don't over complicate things and this was reflected very well in his thoughts on food and drink. He said he tried to eat the right things but didn't over think it. His wife piped up at this point to say that the main thing to note re diet was that her grocery bills doubled when he was running!

Jo Pavey Analogy

He was asked by an audience member if he thought that if he hadn't had to work full time, did he think he would have been a better athlete. He answered with a very definite no and said that he would go as far as to say he would have done worse. It was good to have a job to focus on during the day and he thinks he wouldn't have done so well if he had had too much time to think about his training. He just went out and did it.

He used Jo Pavey to illustrate his point. She has been quoted recently as saying that one of the reasons that she thinks she is performing well is precisely because she is so busy. Being a full time mum means she doesn't obsess over her sessions or worry about running so much. It is almost like the "other" (for Jo, full time motherhood, for Kevin a full time job) is a crucial factor in ensuring they run to the best of their abilities.

A recent article in the guardian encapsulates Jo's philosophy to running at the age of 41 with all that has gone before and all that is yet to come. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/20/jo-pavey-athletics-gold-medal-donald-mcrae

To summarise I think Kevin's running philosophy could be summed up as: keep it simple and maintain perspective in your running in relation to the bigger picture of your life.

Friday 12th September 2014

It was foggy this morning as I jogged round the perimeter of the park almost as if the weather itself had a symbolic part to play in the mist that hangs over Scotland's future. 

I don't know much about politics and I'm more of an observer and a listener in the debate that is ubiquitous in Scotland at present. Some people appear to be polarised at either end of the spectrum, resolute that the lens through which they see the world is definitive. My lens, like many others, is a bit of a kaleidoscope: turn it to paint one picture, twist it again and you see another.

But everyone needs a framework to try and make sense of the world. While this has absolutely no weight to contribute to any political argument, it has been literature I've found myself recalling in an attempt to fashion a framework of understanding. For instance words from Sunset Song about the main protagonist, Chris Guthrie, "two Chrisses there were that fought for her heart and tormented her", a reference to the psychological battle between the "English Chris" of her learning and studies and the "Scottish Chris" who grew up on the land. Sunset Song is an early twentieth century novel but one whose overarching themes are as as relevant today as they were then. The narrative structure itself is written in English but mimicks the cadences of Aberdeenshire Scots mirroring the conflict of the double life Chris lives in her head. A book that is about the end of one era and the dawn of another, a book that concludes that "nothing endured at all, nothing but the land", and that "...the folk who wrote and fought and were learned, teaching and saying and praying, they lasted but as a breath, a mist of fog in the hills, but the land was forever, it moved and changed below you, but was forever...", a particularly poignant sentiment as we contemplate what next for the land of the Scots.

The theme of the divided self permeates Scottish literature: Jekyll and Hyde, Robert Wringhim and his alter ego in Confessions of a Justified Sinner, the double life that Sandy Stranger feels she inhabits in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a novel which echoes a feeling that many in Scotland today might share when Sandy considers that although she had lived through the same decade as many others in the same city, "when speaking to people whose childhood had been in Edinburgh, that there were other people's Edinburghs quite different from hers, and which she held only the names of districts and streets and monuments in common". 

Perhaps no matter what the outcome is next week, this is what it is to be Scottish: the ability to accommodate opposites, to think in one language and feel in another, this sense of the divided self that Hugh MacDiarmid dubbed the Caledonian antisyzygy, to contain within ourselves the nightingale's song:

Yet the nightingale remains supreme,

The nightingale whose thin high call

And that deep throb,

Which seems to come from different birds

In different places, find an emotion

And vibrate in the memory as the song

Of no other bird - not even the 

The love-note of the curlew - 

Can - do!

- Hugh MacDiarmid

Voyage of Recovery

This is the first in a series of posts about my ongoing recovery from an achilles injury.

Part One: Joy and Sorrow

13/04/2014

It has been 18 months since I last ran a marathon. I am absolutely thrilled to be here. In the interim period I have had to miss two marathons through illness and injury. This is the nature of the 26.2 mile monster: you train for months and make sacrifices that non runners just do not understand to line up and attempt to achieve peak performance in a set location on a set day at a set time in the story of your life. There is no room for deviating from your routine, no other race you can try again for next week or next month. This is it.

Today is extra special as I have gained entry to the championship start. Dedicated tents, small numbers, a VIP warm up where I run my strides alongside the warm up pace of E. Mutai. Conditions are perfect. I am surrounded by some of the best club athletes in the country. All the men have run sub 2:45 at a previous event and all the women sub 3:15 to earn their place to be here. I don't chat to anyone, trying to stay calm and in the zone that I have created in my head but inside my heart is dancing. I smile at the irony that I am just as excited about running about 29 miles today (including warm up and cool down) as I used to be about going out on a Saturday night. The delicious anticipation of it all.   

We are assembled behind the elite men, a respectable distance apart, but not so far that I can pinpoint my exact location later that day when I watch the race on the BBC iplayer. I bounce nervously up and down and it is only now that I feel the twinge that has been present all week in my achilles that I have explained away as just part of the taper. And then we're off.

I can't stop the smile that has spread across my face. It is a moment of complete joy to have arrived here, to be experiencing this again and to have the best possible chance of a good time under the circumstances (I am going for 2:54). But then I pull myself back mentally, I hear the words of my coach and coaches across the country: don't go off too fast.

Despite my privileged start position I am surprised at how busy the run is in the first 1-2 miles and this number increases as we merge with the other starts at 3 miles. I had forgotten how much mental effort was required at London just to make sure I don't fall over. The plus side of this is that the miles fly by in the early stages. As I cross the 5km mat, I am passed by my club mate Thomas who I know is going for a similar time and I am thoroughly cheered by seeing him. However I already know that something is not right. My right achilles is throbbing up the right hand side and I am hoping this is going to dissipate soon. All week I have run no further than 3 miles and I feel confident that a few miles more and I will have run this stiffness out.

At 6 miles, I am getting on target pace after slightly slower first few miles than planned. The pain is there and in fact it is worse. Doubts start to creep into my head about my ability to finish and I remember a conversation with my coach who said there is no shame in dropping out of a marathon. I remember agreeing with him at the time thinking that in the overall scheme of things, I am going to run many more marathons and hope to venture into ultras in the future too. I think how sensible I felt during this conversation thinking that I wouldn't sacrifice long term goals for short term glory. I had misjudged myself.

After 8 miles I started to think that I was doing myself permanent damage. I was still managing to stick to my splits and maintain form but I was in considerable pain which was had spread up into my calf. At 9 miles, disaster struck as I heard someone call my name and turned to see my brother Gerard in the crowd with a massive saltire flag waving encouragement. I had no idea he was going to be there until this moment and my heart began to somersault in waves of gratitude and love for his support and despair about letting him down. How much money had he spent flying down as a surprise?! 

At this point I determined to get to the halfway mark to at least say that I had run a half marathon. I trundled on and crossed the halfway mark around 1:27 ish which I couldn't quite believe. I was in a lot of pain but I was still running a good time. I was also feeling good within myself apart from the pain in my leg. Maybe it would still go away. Maybe Gerard being here was a sign that I should continue. I even prayed: please God tell me if I'm being stupid!!!

I decided to carry on. I knew my aunt Jacqueline and cousin Georgia were going to be at the 20 mile mark and I felt certain that Gerard would be between 13 and 20. In a previous London marathon he had managed to get to three separate points. My splits started to fall. I couldn't maintain form any more, this was getting serious.

Every mile I looked for Gerard but I couldn't see him. I realised I was going to have to pull out at 20 miles. I knew jacqueline would understand, I could collapse in a heap, she would call Gerard and I would save my leg. Mile 18, mile 19, no Gerard. I was walking when I could but the crowd wouldn't let me. Every time I staggered to the side to limp for a bit, the crowd would start clapping and yelling "come on 163, you can do it" and then break out into rapturous applause when I broken to a hobble as if I was none other than mo farah. This is the only way I got to 20.

I saw Jac and Georgia and ran over to them with tears in my eyes. "I'm injured, I can't go on". e

What are you talking about they yelled at me declaring the immortal words, "only 6 miles to go!!!" I couldn't believe it. I thought they would understand and allow me to walk off the course but I hadn't reckoned for the power of the supporters.

My thoughts switched back to Gerard. My baby brother would look after me. He would understand and look after me. As soon as I had been rejected by Jac, I had asked her where Gerard was and she said 21 or 22. I was overjoyed. Later I would find out she lied to make me keep going. I kept going walking at all the water stations as it was quite warm. The crowds were getting busier but still I couldn't see Gerard. Where is he? Mile 23 passed and then I remembered ALex, my friend who had promised to be at mile 24. I couldn't see him either. Between mile 24 and 25, there was alex! He nearly missed me but I had never been so glad to see anyone but him. We waved at each other and he screamed encouragement and pumped his fists at me. Some of his energy rejuvenated my spirit.

The end was near and although I was still in pain I was in a new head space. I knew I was going to finish. I wasn't going to get the time I wanted but I realised that by some miracle I could possibly get under 3:15 meaning I could come back and do this all again next year. I had retreated completely into myself, no longer aware of the crowds but focussing on form and getting there as quickly as I could. Just after mile 25 I heard Gerard again and felt his energy transmitting over to me. I even managed a fist pump any murray style which he reported back to the family that I was doing fine and there was nothing wrong with me. As I turned I to the finish, a scene I have played over and over in my head since, I was overcome with emotion. It had been so difficult but I had felt the love of my family and friends including those who I knew were tracking me from afar carry me home and I realised this was not just for me but for all of them too. Thank you to everyone, you all know who you are.

As I  ran down the home straight, the DJ was introducing a new song. I couldn't believe my luck when the village people came on and I crossed the line not with my arms in the air with joy but making the 'y' of YMCA.

3:13:20 on the clock. I was going to be able to return again next year.   

"When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight"

- Kahlil Gibran 

Ideas about how to spend the £6m investment in tennis after Andy Murray's Wimbledon victory

How can the tennis community inspire more people to take up the game?

Work with Local Authorities to create opportunities for more people to participate

Build practice walls in highly populated urban areas and more tennis courts in parks and public places.

Maximise the opportunities that already exist eg use badminton courts as mini tennis courts for adults and kids.

Encourage Parents to be aspirational with youngsters because in dreaming, we discover.

Instil in Coaches and Clubs a sense of responsibility towards the communities within which they operate 

Offer your services for free once a month. Visit a local primary school, run a Facebook competition with your members for a free one to one lesson or offer your courts to a community group to run their own session. You will reap what you sow.

As well as this, the tennis community need to invest in their workforce - the coaches - to develop a team of people that are not only capable of nurturing and inspiring the next generation of tennis players but also capable of promoting tennis as a game for everyone and work effectively to eradicate the elitism that exists around the sport. 

Always play in the rain if the players are willing...

Inspire PLAYers to look at tennis as a game for life

Promote practice, YouTube searches, watching tournaments, taking part in tournaments. Gather groups of children together to train because although tennis is an individual sport, children learn best when in an environment with other children. Foster in them a desire to ask questions of their peers, their parents and coaches. Make sure they have fun. But most of all...

PLAY the game!

You never know when this - 

can turn into this:

Let's have a ball in 2013!

The Dawn of a New Era

When I first started writing this blog over a year ago, I never imagined that my last night in Melbourne would be spent at the Rod Laver Arena watching Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open from a vantage point only a few seats away from Andy's player box. Dreams really do come true.

The story started at the semi - final in what was one of the most compelling games of tennis I have ever seen. My brother and his wife had a pair of tickets for the match but as they had a six week old son who was still breastfeeding, I was enlisted to play pass the baby in between sets. I watched from the screens outside the arena hoping that inside, no one was about to spit the dummy. I did get inside for the out of this world second set and the whirlwind fifth set where a frazzled Federer lay down at the hands of the Murray machine.

The night of the final was going to be my last night in Melbourne for quite some time. If there was ever a moment to try and achieve the impossible, the time was now. Chance favours the prepared mind, so they say, and in response to a tentative email, I was thrown a gauntlet of a challenge at 2 am after the semi that I had to accomplish by 9am the next day. If I could find Judy Murray a kilt for a 6"2, 32-34 inch male for the following afternoon (a whole other story), a golden ticket for the final would be my reward. I succeeded in my mission and Agent Gordon was duly rewarded by Mrs M.

Finals day loomed and with it the hopes and fears of a nation. Or at least that's what it felt like on entering Melbourne Park's Centre Court where the air was thick with Scottish accents. Had these ex pats bought tickets in advance with the expectation that Andy would be in the final? Or were they, like me, subscribers to the "where there's a will, there's a way" philosophy?

The crowd was a sea of saltires and blues and whites, of Jimmy hats and union jacks. It did seem that the tennis universe was with Andy that night and the shouts and cries from the crowd throughout the match served to confirm that.

It's difficult to explain what it felt like to be there. I was overwhelmed not only by the occasion but also by how lucky I was to be seated where I was. It was by far the best seat I have ever had at a match, not only to watch the tennis but also to observe at first hand the interaction between a player and his box, to experience the ebb and flow of the match through their eyes.

The overriding emotion I felt was tension. It seemed to me, as it often does with Andy's matches, that there was more than tennis at stake. Both Andy and Novak seemed on edge. Theirs is being hailed as the new rivalry in Men's tennis and it seemed at first that they were both feeling the weight of this new burden of expectation.

The first set tie break was a master class in tennis from Andy. He got every first serve in where Novak didn't get one. For those who like statistics, this seemed to suggest that Andy was the mentally stronger of the two although you can never take anything for granted with Djokovic.

And so it proved to be the case with Nole producing displays of defensiveness that belied belief. I have heard commentators say on many occasions that the best players in the world are often the best defenders and here were two of the best defenders in tennis battling for supremacy at the beginning of 2013.

It was not to be Murray's night. He seemed to struggle with blisters on his feet but, true professional that he is, he never gave up; it was just that Djokovic got better and better. I heard that after the match, Djokovic gave out chocolates at the press conference and left on a 3 am flight to get back to Europe as quickly as possible so that he could begin recovering and preparing for the Davis Cup. Is he a man or machine?

So where now for Andy? He played an incredible tournament and he has a steely glint in his eye and a belief in himself and his abilities that was evident not only against Federer but also in the final in spite of the result. Andre Agassi, commentating at the Australian Open this year, said that he thinks that 2013 will be "the year of the Murray".

I have to say that I couldn't agree more. What worries me now is not that Murray will have us all sitting at the edge of our seats in future finals wondering what if? What worries me is that we don't take the opportunity to capitalise on this new role model who embodies a self- belief and a 'can do' attitude that could transform not just the way we develop tennis in Scotland but also the collective mindset we have about ourselves as a nation.

Show me the way to go home...

I'm homeward bound at the end of the month and I must say I'm really looking forward to returning to Scotland to see all my family, friends, colleagues and tennis buddies.

Before that though, I have three of the best weeks of my life coming up and I'm going to try and record my training, travel and tennis for January.

I'm training for the London marathon on 21st April and part of a team called the 'Thistle Chicks' who are raising money for a well known children's charity so watch this space for our FUNdraising activities we'd love to get you involved in over the coming weeks.

I'm travelling around Australia and also New Zealand so I'm going to post about that too.

And finally, my brother has purchased a ticket package that will allow me to attend the men's and women's semis and finals so I feel like the luckiest tennis pundit on the planet and want to share lots of photos and experiences from there. He has bought 2 tickets to share among 4 of us with babysitting duties on the side so fingers crossed I get Andy's matches!

This week I am in the country town of Bright which is in Victoria about 3.5 hours from Melbourne. It is very peaceful and the area is dubbed 'Alpine shire' because of the abundance of pine trees. It is a mountainous region that is popular for skiing in the Australian winter. The river trails have been great for running and so far I've done an 8 mile run along a disused railway track and a 5 x 1/2 mile on, 400 m off along a rocky river path.

The area is also well known for its wineries and today a 20km cycle (round trip, not too strenuous) was punctuated by a wine tasting and a beautiful platter of meats and cheeses in a setting reminiscent of Tuscany.

Life is good. I'm very lucky.

New Year Tennis Resolutions for 2013

How can the tennis community inspire more people to take up the game?

Work with Local Authorities to create opportunities for more people to participate

Build practice walls in highly populated urban areas and more tennis courts in parks and public places.

Encourage Parents to be aspirational with youngsters because in dreaming, we discover.

Instil in Coaches and Clubs a sense of responsibility towards the communities within which they operate 

Offer your services for free once a month. Visit a local primary school, run a Facebook competition with your members for a free one to one lesson or offer your courts to a community group to run their own session. You will reap what you sow.

Always play in the rain if the players are willing...

Inspire PLAYers to look at tennis as a game for life

Promote practice, YouTube searches, watching tournaments, taking part in tournaments. Gather groups of children together to train because although tennis is an individual sport, children learn best when in an environment with other children. Foster in them a desire to ask questions of their peers, their parents and coaches. Make sure they have fun. But most of all...

PLAY the game!

You never know when this - 

can turn into this:

Let's have a ball in 2013!

Follow the Yellow Balloon

I had my very own 'Dorothy' moment yesterday.

The conditions were perfect: no tornadoes or wild winds from the West. There weren't even any winged monkeys to distract me from the task in hand. Nor was there a road of yellow brick.

But there was a yellow balloon.

I decided to aim for a finish time of 3.10 which means trying to run each km in 4 mins, 30 secs. I went through the first km in 4.25. So far, so good, only 41.2 to go. At 2k, the watch said 8:40 so I knew I had run a little faster and tried to calm myself down to a riot. At 3k my watch said 12:36 and I decided to suspend looking at the watch till 10k to offset the stress that was building about peaking too soon. That's when I spotted the yellow balloon.

I ran along behind it for a while trying to see what it said. It was attached to a man who looked rather fit and he was running beside another man who had a flag extending from his head. I soon realised they were 3 hour pacers and I decided in that moment to suspend what my scarecrow brain had planned for me and try and keep them in my sights.

They had attracted quite a following. I usually end up running on my own in races for some reason. It's always crowded at the start but I quickly fall into a running vacuum. It was a different experience to run with a large pack of 15-20, mainly men. There were 2-3 women including me. We were all slight, no taller than 5"2 and I have no doubt that running behind this group helped us all, like 'drafting' in cycling. Well, there have to be some advantages of hailing from the Land of Munchkins.

I couldn't keep up the whole time so I spent the race falling behind and catching up like the tide going in and out. At points I didn't have the heart to keep up, especially after drink stations where my strategy was to stop and walk for a bit while swallowing, as I can't really drink and run at the same time. A sense of pride provided bursts of energy when I heard voices from the crowd announcing in awe, "they're the 3 hour group", or, "that's 3 hour pace, son". Still, I held myself in check, not pushing too soon. Pride comes before a fall and I was nowhere near sub 3 yet.

I had heard of a dreaded hill at 35k and so I made a surge to stick with the pacers. This helped a lot as they spent the whole time commentating and chatting. "Tram tracks ahead!", "drinks station on the left", "hey, look there's that guy we paced in his first marathon in Bangkok!". I found it quite entertaining which was a great distraction from suffering and self-doubt. After running with them for a few minutes, I felt a new wave of courage come over me and I decided to make a break and move in front of the 3 hour group.

The feeling of elation that came over me at this point was the only power I could call upon to offset the pain. My heart and lungs were in great shape but my legs and my abdominal muscles were crying out for help. My head was starting to hurt a little too as the temperature crept up and dehydration kicked in.

But the end was nigh. There was a gift of a downward spiral into the MCG. "Take the camber, take the camber", I chanted to myself having no idea what it actually meant, as I approached the entrance to the stadium. I felt my legs continue to build speed as I heard first a steward call out, "marathoners to the right" and then my brother's voice rise up through the noise of the crowd, "come on Julie, you're doing a great time!". I sensed the excitement in his tone. He knew that I was on the verge of going sub 3 but I didn't dare look at my watch again. I had no idea how much further I had to go inside the MCG as I took the middle lane reserved for marathon runners. Glancing up, I could see that there was at least 200m left to the inflatable red archways that marked the end. My legs were going strong and I pushed through, overtaking one other runner on the way to my very own Emerald City.

After the race, I was overwhelmed by emotion and sobbed quietly to myself, clicking my heels together. Out of nowhere a man appeared with a huge microphone and beside him, a TV camera.

"Can we interview you for Marathon TV?"
"Of course." I replied, choking back the tears and wondering whether this was a real or imaginary moment, such is the feeling of post traumatic marathon disorder.
"Can you tell us a little bit about your experience today?"
"Well," I began, "there were no wild winds or winged monkeys, but there was a yellow balloon."

Julie finished the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday 14th October 2012 in 2:58:12 and wants to thank everyone who helped her on her journey. You know who you are.

Pressure is a privilege...

So goes the title of tennis legend Billie Jean King's book about lessons she has learned from life.

I'm going to adopt this as my mantra as I attempt to run the marathon tomorrow in 3.10 or better. I wonder if it will work as I struggle with the hill I hear is awaiting at 35k...

The coach at my running club in Australia posted a picture of the finish on Facebook a few minutes ago which is going to be etched in my mind's eye as inspiration.

My Scottish running coach always says, "you're only as good as your next race". This helps me keep a sense of perspective. No matter how well or how badly tomorrow goes, there will be other races, other moments in time to relish like this one.

I often find myself trying to convey this sense of perspective to the pupils I have who play tournaments. The reality is that most people lose more matches than they win, especially in the beginning. Players can get so disheartened but if they could see that it's all part of a long journey and become more goal orientated then I think it would help them to fulfil their potential in a more holistic way, learning valuable life lessons as they go.

For now it's early to bed, early to rise and hope to report on a good time tomorrow.

Back to the G

G is for guts.

The last six miles of a marathon show you what you're made of as a runner and as a person. You've exhausted the glycogen in your muscles and the benefit of your training has been used up. It's all down to the power of your mind.

In my case it's also down to physical guts. I've experimented with diet a lot over the last twelve months and I think healthier eating has allowed me to become leaner and faster. I've been consuming more good carbs and taken on more protein and good fats.

However, although my legs and lungs usually hold out ok, my stomach lining doesn't really like being pounded around for hours on end. I've been practising pre marathon meals but haven't found the right fit so I've concluded that its going to be porridge and toast for dinner on Saturday night. I'll liven it up with a selection of jams and peanut butters. Life in the fast lane, eh?

The race starts on Sunday at 7 am so it will be up at 4 am for a plate of porridge for breakfast too.

More in future posts about diet.

G is for goals.

When the race has been run next week, there will be nothing left to work for unless there's another goal in place. My goals for the rest of 2012 are to get my 5k and 10k times down and to do this in interesting locations in Australia or New Zealand!

'Mind is everything; muscles, mere pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.'

Paavo Nurmi, nine time Olympic hold medallist.

Commitment

I regularly listen to a running podcast called 'marathon talk' for hints and tips on training. it is hosted by Martin Yelling (husband of Liz Yelling) and Tom Williams (UK Director of parkrun).

A recent discussion on the show highlighted the importance of commitment in training. There are two aspects to this:

1. The commitment to turning up in the first place ie not missing a session where possible, getting out there every day to practise. Nae excuses!

2. The commitment you bring with you to each session in terms of intensity, purpose and quality

In terms of number 1, Tom and Martin got into a discussion about the triathletes, Alistair and Jonny Brownlee. Tom had been listening to their coach, Jack Maitland, talking about their commitment to training. There is a cycling group that trains in Leeds called the Chain Gang. Usually 50-100 riders turn up every Thursday night. One particularly wet night in the Spring of 2012 only seven people turned up. Three of those seven went on to win medals at the Olympics this year. They were Alistair and Jonny Brownlee and Lizzie Armisted.

Now of course I can't say that if you turn up to every session you will win an Olympic medal. But the story about training in the rain reminded me of all the children who turn up no matter what for coaching. Their parents tell me that, try as they will, they cannot dissuade them from coming to the club. They are an inspiration and it makes me realise more than ever the duty of care we have to all the children in front of us but perhaps these athletes deserve a little bit extra.

It is their commitment to the session, the enthusiasm, drive and determination they display that makes them a little bit special. I wish I could bottle up that commitment and take a spoonful every day with breakfast. The commitment that we decide to bring to a session is directly proportionate to the amount of value that we gain from a session. And I say decide because, for me, this is the mental side of things. It is never easy. I often want to skip a run, not try so hard, cut a few miles here and there. And I do admit to doing these things. But it's not worth it. You need to set the bar high and try your hardest to meet and exceed those expectations.

And so I will try and take my own advice in the next ten days as I build towards Melbourne Marathon 2012!

- Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

www.marathontalk.com if interested in a good running podcast.
Www.parkrun.com if interested in free 5k timed runs for the whole family all over the world!

Next blog.... Back to the G....

Motivation

What motivates me to run every day? As I write this, I am due to go out and run 17 miles as my final long run pre marathon. I feel a little light headed. Is is psychological? Am I dehydrated? Am I a hypochondriac? The doubts and fears creep in.

It was easier when I started running because there were more extrinsic drivers at play. The bad angel was hushed by telling myself that I had to get out there as people were sponsoring me for charity or a friend was relying on me to accompany them on a long run.

But this one's just for me. So it's more difficult because it's an internal journey and, in some respects, that means there's more to lose. No rewards if I miss my PB. Noone cares if I get my nutrition wrong or miss a couple of training sessions. The only person I'm letting down is me.

It's a very individual journey and very similar to being on a tennis court. This reflection has made me more empathetic to the children that I coach. How do they keep going when they're 4-0 down in the second set after losing the first? How do they maintain intensity in a training session when they have had a hard day at school? What inspires them to get up at 6 am in the morning to practise 7-815 am before school?

A lot of a participant's motivation for attending coaching or training can be attributed to the enthusiasm and energy of the coach. (And there is no excuse for a coach not giving 100% every session). But a coach isn't there when you're 4-0 down in the second set or you reach 20 miles in a marathon. There is only you. What do you want to see in that mirror?

The reflection that I am faced with in moments like this is what motivates me to run every day. I want to be able to look at myself and say that I did my best. This is what I wish for in the players that I coach and what makes my job such a privilege. If you can guide young people into preparing to cope as well as they can when the chips are down and still give their best, then you have entered into a territory that transcends sport into what it means to be a human being.

'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.'
- Aristotle

MCG

I am running the Melbourne Marathon on 14th October. I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to take part in this event not least of all because it finishes in the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is the biggest stadium in Australia and the biggest cricket ground in the world. It was the centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games, held in Melbourne in 2006, and referred to by locals as the 'G'. The tag line for this year's event is 'Back to the G' because it wasn't possible to finish there last year.

The promise of doing a lap of this stadium with the big screens displaying the action and the stands packed with spectators is what's keeping me going in the training now. It will be a once in a lifetime moment that I will be able to treasure forever and it feels like the ultimate finale to my first year in Australia. The effort I have invested in working towards this race has become symbiotic with my experience of being in Melbourne itself.

I have struggled with motivation for this, my fourth marathon, perhaps more than any other I have run. Yesterday, I ran with my iPhone using the mapmyrun app to give me some feedback on distance and speed. It is a hassle running with a phone but it had the benefit of allowing me to listen to the new Deacon Blue album I had just downloaded, The Hipsters. It was inspirational, particularly the title track that captures the spirit of a group of young people standing at the cliff edge of life, wondering what's going to happen and if they'll ever become the people they aspire to be.

It felt like an epiphany moment to combat the running misery I've been feeling recently and got me reflecting on what it's all about, really. I'm fond of an acronym so, since making it to the MCG has become my short term goal, I thought I would reflect on Motivation and Commitment in my next post. And...well, back to the G, what do you think it should stand for?

Back to the Future

Now that I'm back in Australia after a lovely ten weeks in Scotland, I have been pondering over a subject that I could write about on this blog that would be a) interesting b) allow me to post consistently and c) combine the challenges of tennis coaching and life.

The inspiration came to me today and, for those of you that know me, you'll wonder at it feeling like a lightbulb moment.

At some point this morning while taking part in an activity that I do every day, I had my eureka moment: write about running.

So I'm going to start writing about what I talk about when I talk about running. (Sorry Haruki!)

Triumphs and Tribulations

As I'm sure most tennis coaches and teachers can identify with, everyone can have a bad day at the office so to speak.

I have been coaching for 20 years (yes, I started at the ripe old age of 16 and, darn it, that's my age out of the bag too) and I do consider myself to be fairly experienced. However, I can still lose control especially now that I'm the new coach on the block.

I had one such day yesterday when a group of four 11 year old girls arrived for their lesson full of nonsense. I cottoned onto this straight away and tried to run a fairly tight warm up which usually does the trick. Not this time. I had asked one of them to do laps of the court within the first three minutes which is usually not a good omen for coach or player for the rest of the session.

The next 45 minutes continued in this vein and nothing I tried to do really worked. Matters were made worse when I called them in for a 'chat' as they just proceeded to giggle together and I started to think they were laughing at my Scottish turn of phrase which of course then became more accentuated. A memory of my past life as an English teacher flashed through my mind. I was scarred for at least a week when a room full of 16 year olds reduced me to tears with mobile phone pranks during a lesson on Philip Larkin. At least, I consoled myself at the time, they had grasped the concept of irony.

Finally, I got them onto an exercise where they were spread out and using the full court to play points against each other and this exercise engaged them sufficiently that I could end the lesson with an iota of self-respect still intact.

Two out of the next group of four arrived on skateboards. My inward groan reverberated across Melbourne. This lesson, however, could not have possibly gone better.

I began by asking them if they were any good on their skateboards and could they show me some tricks? (Rule one: engage them on their level.) They showed me one or two things and I quickly realised that I could use these boards to start off the lesson. (Rule Two: never be afraid to improvise or deviate from the plan.) I asked the 'boarders' to assume their positions while the other two girls were to throw balls to them, challenging them to catch without losing balance. This was perceived as great fun and they all had a turn on the boards. We managed to build it up to a team throwing and catching exercise involving three balls and all four girls, an exercise that pushed them but more than anything, prepared them to listen and learn for the rest of the hour.(Rule Three: start with something that they can succeed at but quickly push them into a zone that challenges them without being impossible). I had earned enough brownie points in the first five minutes by incorporating those boards to be able ask them to do anything I wanted for the rest of the lesson.

I'll need to come up with some similar trick for that other group next week and "begin afresh, afresh, afresh"!