As part of the LTA support of talented athletes, the County Team set 9 year old Ryan Hutchinson the challenge of writing a blog about his typical week. Ryan is a National standard player for his age group and on the AEGON Future Stars programme.
Since I can remember I was dragging a racket around the court that was far too big for my tiny 3 year old hands and was far too heavy for me to lift in the air whilst my older brother was playing tournaments. Back then all I wanted to do was be like an older person and play tennis properly by being able to hit the ball. Now at the age of 9 I am playing like the older ones and striving to be the best I can.
Being a national player is a lot more complex and tiring than you think it might be. My week is very different to that of a normal person. I play tennis most days but I always make sure that I have a rest day. I also make sure I play a variety of other sports so there are a lot of other things I can do. It isn’t good to put all your eggs in one basket.
My mum is my organiser, although she does sometimes forget to pack my socks, and she daren’t ever forget to bring my snack! I really appreciate what she does for me.
On Mondays I finish school early to fit in my training. I have an hour private lesson with my tennis coach, followed by an hour and half squad with the other players. Then it’s straight to the gym for half an hour to have a fitness session. I know that fitness is an extremely important part of modern tennis where movement and strength is vital.
On Tuesdays I finish school early, although it can be a bit annoying as we seem to do the fun things on a Tuesday. However I train for an hour and a half with some top-notch players. After a short break and some food, yet more fitness followed by another squad.
Wednesdays are my cricket days as I play for Hedge End. This is a great chance for me to play a team sport.
Thursdays I finish school early for another lesson with my coach followed by another squad and then I head up to Southampton Sports Centre for athletics which is great fun and helps me with my fitness.
On Fridays I hit with some older players and practice my serves at my local club.
At the weekends I am either training, hitting, playing tournaments, resting or playing a cricket match. So as you can see my week is full of sport (mainly tennis) but I love all the sports that I play. When I play tournaments I sometimes have to travel quite far to places such as the Midlands and for regional and national training, sometimes to London. But we get to stay in nice hotels overnight!
Email Nicky if you’d like to do a blog for our website on your tennis experience. You can be a player, parent, tournament organiser, coach or referee.