Tennis | Repton School

TENNIS

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SPORT

TENNIS

Repton’s tennis programme is led by former world-ranked player, James Rushby, and offers an extensive provision for players of all ages and levels of ability. Recreational players are offered a full programme of training twice a week and the opportunity to represent the School in regular fixtures. Tennis is the main sport for girls during the Summer Term, with boys’ tennis also being catered for by Senior and Junior Squads. 

Recognised by Which Schools as one of the top six tennis schools in the country, Repton has a track record of consistently turning out county and national standard players and the programme has firmly established itself as one of the best in the country. The School has won the Boys’ National Schools’ Championship 11 times, the Independent Schools’ Championship 15 times and the Girls’ National Schools Championship on four occasions. 

For pupils who wish to play year-round, Repton provides a performance tennis programme that provides outstanding athletic development and academic support. There is an Elite Squad that trains on a daily basis and amongst them have International rankings and travel on the ITF and TE Circuit; a Performance Squad composed of players considered to have the potential to become County, Regional or National standard players, and a Development Squad for players of all ages and abilities. All programmes are led by LTA accredited coaches.

The tennis programme has seen significant development recently with the newly created Repton Rackets Club. This provides further opportunities for pupils to compete externally in various tournaments and fixtures against other clubs and university teams year-round.

 

DID YOU KNOW

Repton boasts a fine tradition of great tennis players. Our most famous being H F Lawford, Wimbledon champion 1887 and H W (Bunny) Austin, who twice reached the Wimbledon final in the 1930s.

COACHING STAFF

James Rushby  Director of Tennis

James Rushby
Director of Tennis

Former world-ranked player and Director of Tennis James Rushby is a highly experienced tennis coach. After reaching the National Schools Finals (Glanville Cup) himself as well as leading the Derbyshire men’s county team to become National Champions, James used his knowledge of high-level youth performance and turned to tennis coaching full time. Whilst working at Loughborough’s High-Performance Centre (formerly the LTA centre), James worked alongside junior players to the peak of their youth career, reaching the National U18 finals. Yet, he credits his understanding and delivery of advanced tennis programmes following his time as Performance Coach at The Cliff Drysdale Tennis Academy in Florida.

James has extensive links to the US tennis circuit, which has helped to guide pupils to achieve tennis scholarships for places at both top US and UK Universities. Alongside Assistant Performance Coach Ben, James now heads up the newly formed Repton Rackets Club.

Ben Rushby  Performance Tennis Coach

Ben Rushby
Performance Tennis Coach

Ben began coaching whilst still at school himself. Throughout his career, he has been an integral part of Derbyshire tennis both as a player and as a highly successful youth coach. Having competed in the Derbyshire Men’s LTA National Champion Team as well as being six-time singles and doubles County Champion. He has used his extensive experience to develop junior coaching programmes.

Ben captained the successful U14 Derbyshire County Cup team to the National Finals and his coaching has been recognised with him being awarded Derbyshire Junior Development Coach of the Year 2020/2021 and Former Head Coach of the Year for two years running. Before starting at Repton, he was Head Coach at a local Tennis Club for four years and will use this experience to further develop the coaching programme for the newly formed Repton Rackets Club.

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