Backwell Tennis Club's Head Coach, Ben Tilling, ruptured his Achilles tendon whilst playing the almost certain winning point in a Summer League Match in June. For the Club, with nearly 200 juniors and some 30 adults taking weekly coaching sessions, it was a serious situation. For Ben, it couldn’t have been a worse injury, as not being able to work and being self-employed meant no income. The prospect of 9 weeks in plaster, 3 weeks in a boot, not being able to drive and many hours of physiotherapy thereafter before he could possibly think of picking up a racquet again to coach was daunting.
However, Ben had encouraged several of the Club’s older juniors, with financial support from the Club Committee, to train as coaches to LTA Level 1. This meant he had four to five Level 1 coaches from the junior ranks plus a senior member who was also a Level 1 coach to call upon in his hour of need.
Ben had 22 hours of squad coaching including Mini Tennis, Development Tennis, Performance and Adult coaching each week. Not one coaching session was cancelled as the team of Level I coaches rallied round to support Ben and the Club.
Working from home Ben wrote the lesson plans and e-mailed them across to the relevant coaches. With the support of family and friends he was able to visit the club as often as he could to ensure the programs and coaches were working to every ones satisfaction.
Some of the coaches left for University at the end of September, but with the remaining coaches and his injury repaired enough to allow him to gradually increase his work load up to 37 hours a week by the end of December he was almost fully recovered. Today he still walks with a limp.
Backwell Tennis Club is extremely grateful to Ben for the professional way he handled a very serious situation for both himself and the Club, and also to those who rallied to his aid in maintaining the full program of coaching and ensuring all those who wanted to receive lessons were not disappointed. A truly remarkable effort by all concerned.