As part of the Tennis Leaders programme, Tennis Wales offered free Wimbledon tickets to a selection of Tennis Leaders who had completed 125+ hours (aged 16&U). Those who registered their interest, were entered into a ballot and a lucky few were selected to attend on a day in the first week.
One of those lucky few included Jamie Hogg (aged 16), who had completed 131 hours at Mold Tennis Club. Jamie has kindly completed a short blog of his day at Wimbledon, which can be seen below.
Wimbledon Blog
My name is Jamie Hogg, I am 16 years old and I am a member of Mold Tennis Club. I have been playing tennis on a regular basis at the club for more than ten years, but since becoming a Tennis Leader in 2012, I have also been volunteering as an assistant coach. I have now completed over 125 hours of volunteering, helping out on training sessions for players aged between 5 and 10 and also umpiring at mini red and mini orange events. For this reason, I had the wonderful opportunity, thanks to Tennis Wales, of going to the Wimbledon Championships on the first Wednesday of the tournament.
This day saw the highest temperatures ever recorded in July in England and with Court 2 tickets, I was able to witness some of the greats of the game, such as Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams, battle the sweltering heat as well as their opponents. Despite the conditions, both came through their matches relatively comfortably. As well as watching the tennis on Court 2, I also saw some play on the outside courts, including a doubles match which featured an unusual character in Dustin Brown, who entertained the audience with some extraordinary shots. Little did we know, however, that he would use his unique talents to shock five-time finalist and two-time champion Rafael Nadal the next day in one of the matches of the tournament.
I think it’s fair to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Wimbledon and I would like to thank Tennis Wales for giving me the chance to go.
Jamie Hogg