February 4th 2022
Dear Members,
Welcome back to another week at Rackets Academy. We leave the first month of 2022 behind to jump into February. We have lots of new activities and tournaments coming up at Rackets Academy this month.
New Activities with Coach Thibaut
February starting off strong with three new activities for adults with coach Thibaut. We are starting a new Coffee Morning at Sofitel the Palm on Mondays from 8:30 – 10:30am. If you are a morning person, love to socialize and enjoy playing tennis we have the perfect plan for you. On Saturday morning from 8 – 10am we are starting at Motor City the Adult Social Morning. We have lessons available for all kinds of tennis levels, if you have never played tennis before and want to dive into the tennis world join the Adult Beginners Class starting at Motor City on Sunday from 8:30 – 9:30am. Book your space through our app!
Getting to know our coaches
Nathan Webster just joined the Rackets Academy coaching staff. Nathan has over twelve years of coaching experience. He has coached many different players from beginner level up to professional level players, Nathan also has experience in wheelchair tennis as he was the travelling coach for former number 45 wheelchair tennis player in the world. After coaching in various locations like the UK, Greece, Spain and Australia he is now settled in Dubai and thrives to see his players improve their tennis with him. Welcome Nathan!
Expo 2022
We are very excited to announce that Rackets Academy will be doing activities at the Expo 2022 coming up this month. Stay tuned for the chance to win free tickets!
School Extra Curricular Activities
The Extra Curricular Activities are back at SAFA Community School and Repton Al Barsha. The ECA are a great opportunity for students at these schools to start playing tennis and to improve with our coaching team. If you want more info and you are interested on ECA send us an email.
Travel Tour – Tournaments
Do not miss the chance to sign in for the Ten Pro Global Tournament in Mallorca happening next month. For those players in the categories of U10, U11, U12, U13, U14 and U15 that are interested in travelling to tournaments outside of Dubai, Coach Alejandro is putting together a package for the Rackets players that would want to travel to Spain in March and compete at the Ten Pro in the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca. The tournament goes from the 14th to the 20th of March and it is structured and organized in a way that all players are guaranteed a minimum of 4 or 8 matches. If you want more information, get in contact with Coach Alejandro.
Tournaments
A new tournament schedule for the rest of the term will be coming up very soon. This new term tournament format will be a Round Robin UTR format to guarantee three matches to each player and increase their UTR.
We start with Round Robon U16 Girls and Boys Nect weekend. Suign up here!
In the next week’s newsletter, we will go into detail on what UTR is.
Performance Squad
Coach Raduan has built up a very strong performance squad with players of ages from 10 to 14 but specially this term there is a number of 19 girls practicing in the performance squad.
“As every year there are always changes and for this 2022, the Rackets Academy is betting on the development of the Performance group. This program is getting bigger and stronger with the incorporation of very good players and a female coach Nuria Ormeño, who joined the team directly from the Rafa Nadal Academy” said Head of Performance Coach Raduan
Players will have the chance to have group lessons of 90 minutes between 2 to 4 days per week and an hour fitness lesson 3 times a week. With this new schedule we are building a program were the players between 10 -14 years old can maximize their abilities on court. You can join our Performance Squad on our website.
Tennis Shop
GIVEAWAY ALERT!!! We want to celebrate the partnership between Tennis Shop and Rackets Academy with a special giveaway. Check out the Rackets Academy Instagram to participate in the giveaway and win a Nike dress. Follow the steps on the post to participate.
Rackets Academy Ladies League
This week’s results:
Rackettes v No Strings Attached
Line 1 6/2, 6/1
Line 2 3/6 3/6
Rackettes win
Matchmakers v Matchpoint
Line 1 6/1, 6/0
Line 2 2/6, 5/7
Matchmakers win
Aces v Drop Shot Divas
Line 1 3/6, 5/7
Line 2 3/6, 6/1 10/6
Drop Shot Divas win
Interview of the week
Fairuz, Get a Grip Captain
Full name
Fairuz Hamid
Where are you from?
Malaysia
Team name
Get a Grip
First of all, welcome to the Rackets Academy Ladies League, how does it feel to enter a new league mid-season?
Thank you for welcoming us in the league, to be honest we were both apprehensive and excited at the same time. Apprehensive because we are taking over the spot from a team that dropped out and excited for the challenges ahead of us.
Get a Grip is the name of your team, any particular reason why you chose this name?
We looked up at other team names and saw the pattern. All the names are somehow (obviously) tennis related so our team came up with few suggestions and we decided on Get a Grip. We think that is our overall motto going into this league. Like the phrase Get a grip – to face the reality, to take it seriously but of course to enjoy it as well. Even though we joined mid-season we are hoping to do well.
Everyone from your team is new to the Rackets Academy league? Did you know each other before joining the league?
Yes except for one player the rest we are knew each other before and we are friends, we play social tennis every week together.
You have already played a few matches in the league; two out of two on victories, what an amazing start! How do you see your team?
As a Captain I have full confidence in my team strengths and commitment. Our motto is going out and playing our best tennis and at the same time trying to have fun with it. So far, I think we are doing so and it is working out.
Why did you decide to move to Rackets Academy Ladies League?
This is our 1st time joining a league as a team, before we were playing social tennis for few years together. We thought why not we go and try playing in a competition and see how we work together as a team and so far, I can say that we are quite happy with our team.
What is the biggest difference you see from the previous Ladies League you played for?
Personally, I can’t make the comparison because the last time I was in a team league was 6 or 7 years ago.
What do you like the most so far from the Rackets Academy League?
We are still new in the Rackets Academy so I can’t say much. But so far, I think we are really happy with it. The venue in Motor City is great. We enjoy the training and we are happy with our coach.
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